Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Preliminary rulings - Jurisdiction of the Court - Limits - Interpretation of the Agreement on the European Economic Area as regards its application in the States belonging to the European Free Trade Association - Not covered

(EC Treaty, Art. 177 (now Art. 234 EC); EEA Agreement)

2 Social policy - Approximation of laws - Protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer - Directive 80/987 - Insufficiently transposed into national law in a new Member State by the date of accession - Whether individuals may rely on the Directive or on attribution of liability to the State in relation to events prior to the date of accession - Not possible

(Council Directive 80/987)

Summary

1 Although the Court has jurisdiction in principle to give preliminary rulings concerning the interpretation of the Agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA) when a question arises before one of the national courts, since the provisions of that Agreement form an integral part of the Community legal system, that jurisdiction applies solely with regard to the Community, so that the Court has no jurisdiction to rule on the interpretation of the EEA Agreement as regards its application in the States belonging to the European Free Trade Association (EFTA).

The fact that the EFTA State in question subsequently became a Member State of the European Union, so that the question emanates from a court or tribunal of one of the Member States, cannot have the effect of attributing to the Court of Justice jurisdiction to interpret the EEA Agreement as regards its application to situations which do not come within the Community legal order. Thus, although the jurisdiction of the Court of Justice covers the interpretation of Community law, of which the EEA Agreement forms an integral part, as regards its application in the new Member States with effect from the date of their accession, the Court has no jurisdiction to rule on the effects of that Agreement within the national legal systems of the contracting States during the period prior to accession.

2 Community law does not entail that, upon the accession to the European Union of an EFTA State, individuals may rely before the courts or tribunals of that State, as of the date of entry into force of Directive 80/987 concerning the protection of employees in the event of the insolvency of their employer, on rights derived directly therefrom, or on attribution of liability to that State for damage caused to them by failure to transpose Directive 80/987 correctly, where the events which give rise to the operation of the guarantee provided for in the Directive occurred prior to the date of accession.