Case C-548/11

Edgard Mulders

Rijksdienst voor Pensioenen

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Arbeidshof te Antwerpen)

‛Social security — Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Article 1(r) — Definition of ‘periods of insurance’ — Article 46 — Calculation of retirement pension — Periods of insurance to be taken into consideration — Frontier workers — Period of incapacity for work — Aggregation of similar benefits paid by two Member States — No account taken of a period of incapacity for work as a period of insurance — Residence requirement — Nation rules precluding the cumulation of benefits’

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 18 April 2013

Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Admissibility — Need to provide the Court with sufficient information on the factual and legislative context

(Art. 267 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 23)
Social security — Migrant workers — Power of the Member States to organise their social security systems — Limits — Observance of European Union law — Treaty rules relating to freedom of movement for workers — Effect with regard to benefits granted under the legislation of just one Member State

(Arts. 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1408/71)
Social security — Migrant workers — Legislation applicable — Simultaneous application of more than one national legislative system — Not included — System of conflict rules — Complete system

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 13)
Social security — Migrant workers — Old-age and survivor’s insurance — Calculation of retirement pension — Periods to be taken into account — National legislation under which a period of incapacity for work during which sickness insurance benefit was paid, from which contributions were deducted by way of old-age insurance, cannot be regarded as a period of insurance on the ground that the worker concerned is not resident in that Member State and/or was in receipt of a similar sickness insurance benefit under the legislation of another Member State — Unlawful

(Arts. 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts. 1(r), 13(2)(a) and 46)

See the text of the decision.

(see paras 27, 28)
See the text of the decision.

(see paras 38, 45, 46)
See the text of the decision.

(see paras 39-41)
Articles 1(r) and 46 of Regulation No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, read in the light of Article 13(2)(a) of that regulation and Articles 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU, are to be interpreted, for the purpose of calculating a retirement pension in one Member State, as precluding the legislation of another Member State under which a period of incapacity for work during which sickness insurance benefit — from which contributions were deducted by way of old-age insurance — was paid in that other Member State to a migrant worker is not regarded as a period of insurance within the meaning of those provisions, on the ground that the person concerned is not resident in the latter State and/or was in receipt of a similar benefit under the legislation of the first Member State, which could not be combined with the sickness insurance benefit.

(see para. 49, operative part)

Case C-548/11

Edgard Mulders

Rijksdienst voor Pensioenen

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Arbeidshof te Antwerpen)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber), 18 April 2013

Questions referred for a preliminary ruling — Admissibility — Need to provide the Court with sufficient information on the factual and legislative context

(Art. 267 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 23)
Social security — Migrant workers — Power of the Member States to organise their social security systems — Limits — Observance of European Union law — Treaty rules relating to freedom of movement for workers — Effect with regard to benefits granted under the legislation of just one Member State

(Arts. 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1408/71)
Social security — Migrant workers — Legislation applicable — Simultaneous application of more than one national legislative system — Not included — System of conflict rules — Complete system

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 13)
Social security — Migrant workers — Old-age and survivor’s insurance — Calculation of retirement pension — Periods to be taken into account — National legislation under which a period of incapacity for work during which sickness insurance benefit was paid, from which contributions were deducted by way of old-age insurance, cannot be regarded as a period of insurance on the ground that the worker concerned is not resident in that Member State and/or was in receipt of a similar sickness insurance benefit under the legislation of another Member State — Unlawful

(Arts. 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU; Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts. 1(r), 13(2)(a) and 46)

See the text of the decision.

(see paras 27, 28)
See the text of the decision.

(see paras 38, 45, 46)
See the text of the decision.

(see paras 39-41)
Articles 1(r) and 46 of Regulation No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, read in the light of Article 13(2)(a) of that regulation and Articles 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU, are to be interpreted, for the purpose of calculating a retirement pension in one Member State, as precluding the legislation of another Member State under which a period of incapacity for work during which sickness insurance benefit — from which contributions were deducted by way of old-age insurance — was paid in that other Member State to a migrant worker is not regarded as a period of insurance within the meaning of those provisions, on the ground that the person concerned is not resident in the latter State and/or was in receipt of a similar benefit under the legislation of the first Member State, which could not be combined with the sickness insurance benefit.

(see para. 49, operative part)