Case C-137/11

Partena ASBL

v

Les Tartes de Chaumont-Gistoux SA

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour du travail de Bruxelles)

‛Social security for migrant workers — Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Articles 13 and 14c — Legislation applicable — Self-employed persons — Social security scheme — Insurance — Person employed or unemployed in a Member State — Self-employed activity in another Member State — Company agent — Residence in a Member State other than the State where the company has its registered office — Management of the company from the State of residence — National legislation establishing an irrebuttable presumption of pursuing a professional activity as a self-employed person in the Member State where the company has its registered office — Obligatory insurance with that State’s social security scheme for self-employed persons’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 27 September 2012

1. Social security — Legislation applicable — Location where an activity takes place for the purposes of Articles 13, 14a and 14c of Regulation No 1408/71 — Concept of European Union law — Interpretation — Taking into account the context and the usual meaning of terms — Place where the person concerned carries out activities connected with employed or self-employed activity

   (Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 13, 14a(2), and 14c)

2. Social security — Legislation applicable — Person employed or unemployed in a Member State — Self-employed activity in another Member State — Person designated as a company agent — Residence in a Member State other than the State where the company has its registered office — National legislation of the Member State where the company has its registered office which irrebuttably provides for a company agent to be covered by the social security scheme for self-employed persons — Not permissible

   (Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 13(2) and 14c(b))

1.  The concept of the ‘location’ of an activity for the purposes of Articles 13 et seq. of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended by Regulation No 1606/98, must be considered to be a matter, not for the legislation of the Member States, but for European Union law and, consequently, for interpretation by the Court. For the purposes of interpreting that concept, the meaning and scope of terms for which European Union law provides no definition must be determined by considering their usual meaning in everyday language, while also taking into account the context in which they occur and the purposes of the rules of which they are part. In that regard, the concept of the ‘location’ of an activity must be understood, in accordance with the primary meaning of the words used, as referring to the place where, in practical terms, the person concerned carries out the actions connected with that activity.

   (see paras 52, 53, 56, 57)

2.  European Union law, in particular Articles 13(2)(b) and 14c(b) of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended by Regulation No 1606/98, and Annex VII thereto, precludes national legislation pursuant to which non-resident persons designated as company agents are covered by the social security scheme for self-employed persons in the Member State where the company has its registered office, in so far as it allows that Member State to presume irrebuttably that management from another Member State of a company subject to tax in the first Member State has taken place in that first Member State.

   (see para. 61, operative part)

Case C-137/11

Partena ASBL

v

Les Tartes de Chaumont-Gistoux SA

(Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour du travail de Bruxelles)

‛Social security for migrant workers — Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Articles 13 and 14c — Legislation applicable — Self-employed persons — Social security scheme — Insurance — Person employed or unemployed in a Member State — Self-employed activity in another Member State — Company agent — Residence in a Member State other than the State where the company has its registered office — Management of the company from the State of residence — National legislation establishing an irrebuttable presumption of pursuing a professional activity as a self-employed person in the Member State where the company has its registered office — Obligatory insurance with that State’s social security scheme for self-employed persons’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber), 27 September 2012

1. Social security — Legislation applicable — Location where an activity takes place for the purposes of Articles 13, 14a and 14c of Regulation No 1408/71 — Concept of European Union law — Interpretation — Taking into account the context and the usual meaning of terms — Place where the person concerned carries out activities connected with employed or self-employed activity

   (Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 13, 14a(2), and 14c)

2. Social security — Legislation applicable — Person employed or unemployed in a Member State — Self-employed activity in another Member State — Person designated as a company agent — Residence in a Member State other than the State where the company has its registered office — National legislation of the Member State where the company has its registered office which irrebuttably provides for a company agent to be covered by the social security scheme for self-employed persons — Not permissible

   (Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 13(2) and 14c(b))

1.  The concept of the ‘location’ of an activity for the purposes of Articles 13 et seq. of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended by Regulation No 1606/98, must be considered to be a matter, not for the legislation of the Member States, but for European Union law and, consequently, for interpretation by the Court. For the purposes of interpreting that concept, the meaning and scope of terms for which European Union law provides no definition must be determined by considering their usual meaning in everyday language, while also taking into account the context in which they occur and the purposes of the rules of which they are part. In that regard, the concept of the ‘location’ of an activity must be understood, in accordance with the primary meaning of the words used, as referring to the place where, in practical terms, the person concerned carries out the actions connected with that activity.

   (see paras 52, 53, 56, 57)

2.  European Union law, in particular Articles 13(2)(b) and 14c(b) of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended by Regulation No 1606/98, and Annex VII thereto, precludes national legislation pursuant to which non-resident persons designated as company agents are covered by the social security scheme for self-employed persons in the Member State where the company has its registered office, in so far as it allows that Member State to presume irrebuttably that management from another Member State of a company subject to tax in the first Member State has taken place in that first Member State.

   (see para. 61, operative part)