Keywords
Summary

Keywords

Social policy - Men and women - Equal pay - Article 119 of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 EC to 143 EC) - Applicability to private, inter-occupational, supplementary retirement pension schemes based on defined contributions and run on a pay-as-you-go basis - Criteria - Schemes discriminating in respect of the age of entitlement to a survivor's pension - Not permissible - Creating equal treatment for benefits payable in respect of periods of service subsequent to the date of the judgment in Case C-262/88 Barber

(EC Treaty, Art. 119 (Arts 117 to 120 of the EC Treaty have been replaced by Arts 136 EC to 143 EC); Council Directive 86/378, Art. 2(1))

Summary

$$Article 119 of the Treaty (Articles 117 to 120 of the Treaty have been replaced by Articles 136 EC to 143 EC) applies to private, inter-occupational, supplementary retirement pension schemes based on defined contributions and run on a pay-as-you-go basis to the extent that the purpose of those schemes is to supplement the benefits provided by statutory social security schemes or to replace them and where the pension is paid to the worker by reason of the employment relationship between him and his former employer, whether membership of such schemes is compulsory or optional.

That provision precludes, moreover, those schemes from discriminating between men and women in respect of the age at which their spouse is entitled to a survivor's pension following the death of those employees, its being clear that the equal treatment in the matter of occupational pensions may be relied on in relation to benefits payable in respect of periods of service subsequent to 17 May 1990, the date of the judgment in Case C-262/88 Barber, and that those schemes were therefore required to achieve equal treatment as from 17 May 1990.

( see paras 26, 31, 44-46 and operative part )