Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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1. Social security for migrant workers - Frontier worker - Concept within the meaning of Article 1(1)(c) of Regulation No 36/83 - Wholly unemployed frontier worker - Inclusion

(Regulation No 36/63 of the Council, Art. 1(1)(c) )

2. Social security for migrant workers - Sickness insurance - Invalidity insurance - Wholly unemployed frontier worker - Arrangements under Regulation No 36/63 and then Regulation No 1408/71 before its amendment by Regulation No 2793/81 - Benefits payable by the competent institution of the Member State in which the person concerned was last employed

(Council Regulations No 36/63, Art. 6(1), and No 1408/71, Art. 39(1) and (2), before the amendment introduced by Regulation No 2793/81)

3. Social security for migrant workers - Insurance periods - Periods treated as such - Wholly unemployed frontier worker required to claim unemployment benefit in the Member State of residence - Period of unemployment not recognized as an insurance period in the Member State of residence - Legislation of the Member State in which the person concerned was last employed treating periods of unemployment completed on its territory as periods of sickness insurance - Obligation on the Member State in which person concerned was last employed to treat the period of unemployment completed in the Member State of residence as an insurance period

(EEC Treaty, Arts 48 to 51; Council Regulations No 3, Art. 1(p), No 36/63, Art. 19(1), and No 1408/71, Art. 1(r) )

Summary

1. Article 1(1)(c) of Regulation No 36/63 on social security for frontier workers must be interpreted as meaning that a frontier worker does not lose that status by virtue of the fact that he is wholly unemployed.

2. Under Regulation No 36/63 and then Regulation No 1408/71 before its amendment by Regulation No 2793/81, a wholly unemployed frontier worker could claim benefits for incapacity for work by virtue of Article 6(1) of Regulation No 36/63 and thereafter invalidity benefits by virtue of Article 39(1) and (2) of Regulation No 1408/71 from the Member State in which he was last employed.

3. The period during which a frontier worker is wholly unemployed and required, pursuant to Article 19(1) of Regulation No 36/63, to claim unemployment benefit in the Member State of residence, although not recognized in that Member State as an insurance period or equivalent period, must be treated as such in the Member State in which the person concerned was last employed, where the legislation applicable at the material time treated periods of unemployment completed on its territory as periods of sickness insurance.

That is the appropriate solution notwithstanding the provisions of Regulations No 3 and No 1408/71 which state that "insurance periods" means periods defined or treated as such by the legislation under which they were completed, and which, if applied in such a case, would, because they would have the effect of depriving a migrant worker of advantages which he would have been able to claim under the legislation of a single Member State, be contrary to the objective pursued by Articles 48 to 51 of the Treaty.