Keywords
Summary

Keywords

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Social policy ° Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security ° Directive 79/7 ° Derogation allowed for the grant of increases in old-age benefits for dependent wives ° National rules attenuating but not abolishing pre-existing inequality by allowing certain women to have the increases ° Permissible

(Council Directive 79/7, Art. 7(1)(d))

Summary

Article 7(1)(d) of Council Directive 79/7 does not preclude a Member State which provided for increases in long-term old-age benefits in respect of a dependent spouse to be granted only to men from abolishing that discrimination solely with regard to women who fulfil certain conditions.

The purpose of the directive is to implement progressively the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security and it would be incompatible with that purpose and likely to jeopardize implementation of that principle if the directive were to be interpreted as meaning that in the case of benefits which a Member State has excluded from the scope of the directive pursuant to Article 7(1)(d) it could no longer rely on the derogation provided for by that provision if it adopted a measure which has the effect of reducing the extent of unequal treatment based on sex.