Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Social security for migrant workers ° Unemployment ° Unemployed person going to another Member State ° Retention of right to benefit ° Special provision applicable to unemployed persons coming under Belgian legislation ° Requalification for benefits ° Conditions ° Inapplicable to the acquisition, under the conditions laid down by national law, of new benefit entitlements

(Council Regulation No 1408/71, Art. 69(4))

Summary

Article 69(4) of Regulation No 1408/71 as amended and updated by Regulation No 2001/83 applies not to an unemployed person' s acquisition of entitlement to benefits, but to his requalification for benefits, when he returns to Belgium after the three-month period prescribed by Article 69(1)(c) has expired. Article 69(4) does not permit entitlement to benefits to be denied to unemployed persons who, on the date of their application for benefits, fulfil the conditions imposed by Belgian law for acquisition of such entitlement. Where a worker has exercised the right given to him by Article 69 to seek work in a Member State other than the competent Member State while continuing to receive unemployment benefits, to prevent him from acquiring entitlement to such benefits unless he fulfils the conditions laid down for requalifying therefor after a stay of more than three months outside the competent State, when workers who have not left the competent State do not have to fulfil those conditions, would discriminate against migrant workers and discourage the mobility of persons seeking employment that Article 69 seeks to promote.