Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Social security for migrant workers ° Benefits payable under the legislation of one Member State for injury sustained in the territory of another Member State ° Right of recoupment of the institutions responsible for benefits against the liable third party ° Determination according to the national law of the institution responsible ° National law not allowing the institution to be subrogated or bring an action for recoupment ° Not effective against institutions of the other Member States

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 93(1))

Summary

Article 93(1) of Regulation No 1408/71 must be interpreted as meaning that the conditions and extent of the right of recoupment which a social security institution within the meaning of that regulation has against the party who has caused an injury in the territory of another Member State, which has entailed the payment of social security benefits intended to cover costs such as hospital and transport costs, are determined in accordance with the law of the Member State to which that institution is subject. In particular, provisions of a Member State excluding subrogation of the institution responsible for benefits to the rights which the recipient of the benefits has against the third party liable to make good the damage, and excluding the right of the institution to claim directly against the third party, do not exclude claims by institutions responsible for benefits in other Member States.

That provision has the object of allowing a social security institution, which has paid benefits following an injury sustained in the territory of another Member State, to exercise against the third party liable for the injury the rights of action provided for by the legislation which it administers, that being a logical and fair counterpart to the extension of the obligations of those institutions throughout the entire Community, and must be seen as a conflict-of-laws rule requiring the national court hearing an action for compensation brought against the party liable for the injury to apply the law of the Member State to which the institution responsible is subject, not only to determine whether that institution is subrogated by law to the rights of the injured party or has direct rights against the third party liable, but also to determine the nature and extent of the claims to which the institution responsible for benefits is subrogated or which it can bring directly against a third party.

The purpose of Article 93(1) is not, however, to alter the rules applicable for determining whether and to what extent there is non-contractual liability on the part of the third party who has caused the injury, so that that liability remains subject to the substantive rules which are normally to be applied by the national court before which proceedings are brought by the institution responsible or by the victim, in other words, in principle the legislation of the Member State in whose territory the injury has occurred.