12.11.2005

Official Journal of the European Union

C 281/10

Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Arbetsdomstolen by order of that court of 15 September 2005 in Laval un Partneri Ltd v Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet, Avdelning 1 of the Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet, Svenska Elektrikerförbundet

(Case C-341/05)

(2005/C 281/18)

Language of the case: Swedish

Reference has been made to the Court of Justice of the European Communities by order of the Arbetsdomstolen of 15 September 2005, received at the Court Registry on 19 September 2005, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings between Laval un Partneri Ltd and Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet, Avdelning 1 of the Svenska Byggnadsarbetareförbundet, Svenska Elektrikerförbundet on the following questions:

Is it compatible with rules of the EC Treaty on the freedom to provide services and the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of nationality and with the provisions of Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services for trade unions to attempt, by means of industrial action in the form of a blockade, to force a foreign temporary provider of services in the host country to sign a collective agreement in respect of terms and conditions of employment such as that set out in the above-mentioned decision of the Arbetsdomstolen, if the situation in the host country is such that the legislation intended to implement Directive 96/71 has no express provisions concerning the application of terms and conditions of employment in collective agreements?

The Swedish Medbestämmandelagen (Law on workers' participation in decisions) prohibits industrial action taken with the intention of circumventing a collective agreement concluded by other parties. That prohibition applies, however, pursuant to a special provision contained in part of the law known as the ‘lex Britannia’, only where a trade union takes measures in respect of industrial relations to which the Medbestämmandelagen is directly applicable, which means in practice that the prohibition is not applicable to industrial action against a foreign undertaking which is temporarily active in Sweden and which brings its own workforce. Do the rules of the EC Treaty on the freedom to provide services and the prohibition on discrimination on grounds of nationality and the provisions of Directive 96/71 constitute an obstacle to an application of the latter rule — which, together with other parts of the lex Britannia also mean in practice that Swedish collective agreements become applicable and take precedence over foreign collective agreements already concluded — to industrial action in the form of a blockade taken by Swedish trade unions against a foreign temporary provider of services in Sweden?