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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Court of Justice of the European Communities (including Court of First Instance Decisions) >> Kordel (Free movement of persons) [1999] EUECJ C-397/96 (21 September 1999) URL: http://www.bailii.org/eu/cases/EUECJ/1999/C39796.html Cite as: [1999] EUECJ C-397/96 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (Fifth Chamber)
21 September 1999 (1)
(Social security - Institution responsible for benefits - Right of action against liable third party - Subrogation)
In Case C-397/96,
REFERENCE to the Court under Article 177 of the EC Treaty (now Article 234 EC) by the Landgericht Trier, Germany, for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that court between
Caisse de Pension des Employés Privés
and
Dieter Kordel,
Rainer Kordel,
Frankfurter Allianz Versicherungs AG,
on the interpretation of Article 93(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, as amended and updated by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2001/83 of 2 June 1983 (OJ 1983 L 230, p. 6),
THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),
composed of: J.-P. Puissochet, President of the Chamber, P. Jann, D.A.O. Edward (Rapporteur), L. Sevón and M. Wathelet, Judges,
Advocate General: A. Saggio,
Registrar: H. von Holstein, Deputy Registrar,
after considering the written observations submitted on behalf of:
- the Caisse de Pension des Employés Privés, by Frank Peter, Rechtsanwalt, Trier,
- the German Government, by Ernst Röder, Ministerialrat in the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs, acting as Agent,
- the Luxembourg Government, by Claude Ewen, Social Security Inspector, First Class, acting as Agent,
- the Commission of the European Communities, by Peter Hillenkamp, Legal Adviser, acting as Agent,
having regard to the Report for the Hearing,
after hearing the oral observations of the Caisse de Pension des Employés Privés and the Commission at the hearing on 18 March 1999,
after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 4 May 1999,
gives the following
Community, as amended and updated by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2001/83 of 2 June 1983 (OJ 1983 L 230, p. 6, hereinafter 'the Regulation').
The relevant legislation
'If a person receives benefits under the legislation of one Member State in respect of an injury resulting from an occurrence in the territory of another State, any rights of the institution responsible for benefits against a third party bound to compensate for the injury shall be governed by the following rules:
(a) where the institution responsible for benefits is, by virtue of the legislation which it administers, subrogated to the rights which the recipient has against the third party, such subrogation shall be recognised by each Member State;
...'
'If a person entitled to a pension under this Part has a legal right, exerciseable against a third party, to compensation for loss or damage caused to him by reason of an invalidity or death which gives rise to his right to receive the pension, the right to compensation for loss or damage of the type covered by the pension shall pass to the pension fund up to the amount of the benefits paid. If the pension is a permanent pension, such right of recourse shall apply to the amount of the cover capital less accrued rights. The detailed rules for giving effect to this provision may be the subject of a Grand-Ducal regulation.'
liable third parties under Article 232 of the Social Insurance Code, Mémorial No 89 of 3 December 1992, p. 2545, hereinafter 'the Grand-Ducal Regulation') state as follows:
'Article 3. Where a person dies who is not entitled to a pension, the right of recourse shall relate to the net amount of survivors' pensions paid during the thirty-six months following the date of the death of the insured and shall be exercised annually on the basis of an account to be established by the pension fund.
...
Article 4. Where a person dies who is entitled to a pension, no recourse shall be exercised against a liable third party.'
The main proceedings
'How is Article 93(1)(a) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 to be interpreted? Does recognition by the Member States extend to the content of the subrogated right, as defined in another Member State (in this case, by the second sentence of Article
232 of the Luxembourg Social Insurance Code which, in conjunction with the relevant Grand-Ducal regulation, provides that the claim to which the Pension Fund is subrogated is to amount to the cover capital less accrued statutory rights), or merely to the subrogation as such?'
'Do provisions which prevent an institution of a Member State responsible for benefits, within the meaning of Article 93(1)(a) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408, from being subrogated to the right of a person in receipt of benefits to claim damages against a person liable for causing injury in another Member State, or prevent such an institution from asserting such a right, not also exclude the institution's right of recourse against the third party where the provisions in question are those of the Member State to which the institution belongs (the provision in this case being Article 4 of the regulation implementing Article 232 of the Social Insurance Code, under which, on the death of a person entitled to a pension, no right of recourse is to be exercised against liable third parties)?'
The questions referred
for benefits to those rights and the extent of such subrogation, and lastly, any limitations which the legislation of the Member State to which the institution belongs imposes upon the exercise of rights to which that institution is subrogated.
of depriving the survivors, if they had no right to maintenance, of any right to which the institution responsible for benefits could have been subrogated.
- on a proper construction of Article 93(1)(a) of the Regulation, where an injury has been sustained in the territory of a Member State and has given rise to the payment of social security benefits to the victim or those entitled under him by a social security institution (within the meaning of the Regulation) of another Member State, the rights of the victim, or those entitled under him, against the person who caused the injury and to which that institution may be subrogated, and the requirements which must be satisfied to enable an action in damages to be brought before the courts of the Member State where the injury was sustained, are to be determined in accordance with the law of that State, including any applicable rules of private international law;
- on a proper construction of Article 93(1)(a) of the Regulation, the subrogation of a social security institution (within the meaning of the Regulation) governed by the law of a Member State to the rights of the victim or those entitled under him against a person who, in the territory of another Member State, caused an injury which gave rise to the payment by that institution of social security benefits, and the extent of the rights to which that institution is subrogated, are to be determined in accordance with the law of the Member State to which the institution belongs, provided always that the exercise of the right to subrogation provided for by that law cannot exceed the rights, under the law of the Member State where the injury was sustained, of the victim, or those entitled under him, against the person who caused the injury;
- it is for the court hearing the action to identify and apply the relevant provisions of the legislation of the Member State to which the institution responsible for benefits belongs, even if those provisions exclude or limit the subrogation of such an institution to the rights of the recipient of the benefits against the person who caused the injury, or exclude or limit the exercise of those rights by the institution so subrogated.
Costs
28. The costs incurred by the German and Luxembourg Governments and by the Commission, which have submitted observations to the Court, are not recoverable. Since these proceedings are, for the parties to the main action, a step in the proceedings pending before the national court, the decision on costs is a matter for that court.
On those grounds,
THE COURT (Fifth Chamber),
in answer to the question referred to it by the Landgericht Trier by order of 29 November 1996, supplemented by order of 24 October 1997, hereby rules:
1. On a proper construction of Article 93(1)(a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, as amended and updated by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2001/83 of 2 June 1983, where an injury has been sustained in the territory of a Member State and has given rise to the payment of social security benefits to the victim or those entitled under him by a social security institution (within the meaning of that regulation) of another Member State, the rights of the victim, or those entitled under him, against the person who caused the injury and to which that institution may be subrogated, and the requirements which must be satisfied to enable an action in damages to be brought before the courts of the Member State where the injury was sustained, are to be determined in accordance with the law of that State, including any applicable rules of private international law.
2. On a proper construction of Article 93(1)(a) of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended and updated by Regulation No 2001/83, the subrogation of a social security institution (within the meaning of that regulation) governed by the law of a Member State to the rights of the victim, or those entitled under him, against a person who, in the territory of another Member State, caused an injury which gave rise to the payment by that institution of social security benefits, and the extent of the rights to which that institution is subrogated, are to be determined in accordance with the law of the Member State to which the institution belongs, provided always that the exercise of the right to subrogation provided for by that law cannot exceed the rights, under the law of the Member State where the injury was sustained, of the victim, or those entitled under him, against the person responsible for causing the injury.
3. It is for the court hearing an action to identify and apply the relevant provisions of the legislation of the Member State to which the institution responsible for benefits belongs, even if those provisions exclude or limit the subrogation of such an institution to the rights of the recipient of the benefits against the person who caused the injury, or exclude or limit the exercise of those rights by the institution so subrogated.
Puissochet
SevónWathelet
|
Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 21 September 1999.
R. Grass J.-P. Puissochet
Registrar President of the Fifth Chamber
1: Language of the case: German.