Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 International agreements - Community agreements - Direct effect - Article 39(1) of the EEC-Algeria Cooperation Agreement

(EEC-Algeria Cooperation Agreement, Art. 39(1))

2 International agreements - EEC-Algeria Cooperation Agreement - Algerian workers employed in a Member State - Social security - Equal treatment - Refusal, on grounds of nationality, to grant disability allowance to the spouse of a retired Algerian worker residing with him in the Member State concerned - Not permissible

(EEC-Algeria Cooperation Agreement, Art. 39(1))

Summary

3 Article 39(1) of the Cooperation Agreement between the EEC and Algeria, which lays down in clear, precise and unconditional terms a prohibition of discrimination, based on nationality, against workers of Algerian nationality and the members of their families living with them in the field of social security, contains a clear and precise obligation which is not subject, in its implementation or effects, to the adoption of any subsequent measure.

It follows from the wording of that provision, and from the purpose and nature of the agreement in which it features, that it is capable of being directly applied, with the result that individuals to whom it applies are entitled to rely on it in proceedings before national courts.

4 Article 39(1) of the Cooperation Agreement between the EEC and Algeria must be interpreted as precluding a Member State from refusing to grant a benefit, such as disability allowance, provided for under its legislation in favour of nationals resident in that State and irrespective of whether they have been working in an employed capacity, to the disabled spouse of a retired Algerian worker who lives with her husband in the Member State in question on the ground that she is of Algerian nationality and has never been engaged in a trade or profession.

The persons covered by the above provision include not only the Algerian worker but also members of his family living with him in the Member State in which that worker receives an old-age pension after having worked there, and it is not appropriate to draw a distinction, in regard to those family members, between derived rights and personal rights, while the matters covered by that provision include all those benefits to which, by virtue of Article 4, Regulation No 1408/71 applies.