Gatto v Bundesanstalt fur Arbeit (Rec 1990,p I-557,Summ pub ) (Judgment): ECJ 22 Feb 1990

Europa 1.Social security for migrant workers – Family benefits – Concept – Assistance paid to families with children aged over 16 but under 21 who are unemployed – Included

2.Social security for migrant workers – Family benefits – Unemployed worker subject to the legislation of a Member State – Members of the family residing in another Member State – Entitlement to benefits provided for by the legislation applicable to the worker – Condition of entitlement to benefits equivalent to a clause requiring children to reside in the Member State providing the benefits – Inapplicable to a worker whose children fulfil an equivalent condition in the Member State in which they reside

(Regulation No 1408/71 of the Council, Art. 74)

1.Benefits intended to help families to meet the cost of supporting their children aged over 16 but under 21 who are unemployed fall within the definition of ‘family benefits’ in Article 1(u)(i) of Regulation No 1408/71.

2.The purpose of Article 74 of Regulation No 1408/71 is to prevent a Member State from being able to refuse to grant family benefits on account of the fact that a member of the worker’ s family resides in a Member State other than that providing the benefits. Such a refusal could deter Community workers from exercising their right to freedom of movement and would therefore constitute an obstacle to that freedom. It follows that a condition of entitlement to certain family benefits whereby a worker’ s child must be registered as unemployed with the employment office of the Member State providing the benefits, a condition which can be fulfilled only if the child resides within the territory of that State, comes within the scope of Article 74 and must therefore be considered to be fulfilled where the child is registered as unemployed with the employment office of the Member State in which he resides.

(The grounds of this judgment do not differ from those of the judgment ruling on the interpretation of Article 73 of Regulation No 1408/71, delivered on the same date : judgment of 22 February 1990 in Case C-228/88 Bronzino ((1990)) ECR 531.)

Citations:

C-12/89, [1990] EUECJ C-12/89

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Regulation No 1408/71 of the Council Art . 1(u)(i )

European

Updated: 01 June 2022; Ref: scu.160193