Keywords
Summary

Keywords

1 Social security for migrant workers - Special non-contributory benefits - System of coordination provided for under Article 10a of Regulation No 1408/71 - Scope - Non-contributory and non-means tested disability benefit - Benefit mentioned in Annex IIa to Regulation No 1408/71 - Included

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Arts 4(2a) and 10a and Annex IIa, Section L(f), and Council Regulation No 1247/92)

2 Social security for migrant workers - Special non-contributory benefits - System of coordination provided for under Article 10a of Regulation No 1408/71 - Award of benefits in accordance with the legislation of the State of residence - Breach of Article 51 of the Treaty by reason of the non-application of the principle of waiver of residence clauses - No breach

(EC Treaty, Art. 51; Council Regulations No 1408/71, Arts 10 and 10a, and No 1247/92)

Summary

3 On a proper construction of Article 10a of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended and updated by Regulation No 2001/83, as subsequently amended by Regulation No 1247/92, read in conjunction with Annex IIa, a non-contributory and non-means tested benefit for disabled persons which is mentioned in Annex IIa, such as disability living allowance in the United Kingdom, falls within the scope of that provision and is therefore a special non-contributory benefit within the meaning of Article 4(2a) of that regulation, with the result that the position of a person who, after 1 June 1992 when Regulation No 1247/92 entered into force, satisfied the conditions for the award of that benefit is governed exclusively by the system of coordination established by the said Article 10a.

4 Regulation No 1247/92 amending Regulation No 1408/71 and adding Article 10a thereto is not contrary to Article 51 of the Treaty in so far as it sets aside, in the case of the special non-contributory benefits to which it refers, the principle of waiver of residence clauses laid down in Article 10 of Regulation No 1408/71. The very purpose of the coordination rules governing special non-contributory benefits established by Article 10a is to protect the interests of migrant workers in accordance with the provisions of Article 51 of the Treaty, and that article does not prohibit the Community legislature from imposing limits on the advantages which it confers on workers.

The possibility that the recipient of a disability allowance with the characteristics of a non-contributory benefit, having established his residence in another Member State, might not satisfy the conditions applied by his new State of residence to the award of invalidity benefit or might receive a lower benefit there than that which he hitherto received in another Member State is irrelevant in regard to the validity of the system established by Article 10a, since, in the absence of harmonization in social security matters, the Member States remain competent to define the conditions for granting social security benefits, even if they make them more strict, provided that the conditions adopted do not give rise to overt or disguised discrimination between Community workers.