10.11.2014

Official Journal of the European Union

C 395/17

(Case C-318/13) (<span class="oj-super oj-note-tag">1</span>)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 79/7/EEC - Equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security - Accident insurance for workers - Amount of a lump-sum compensation for permanent incapacity - Actuarial calculation based on average life expectancy by sex of the recipient of that compensation - Sufficiently serious infringement of EU law))

(2014/C 395/20)

Language of the case: Finnish

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Operative part of the judgment

1)Article 4(1) of Council Directive 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security must be interpreted as precluding national legislation on the basis of which the different life expectancies of men and women are applied as an actuarial factor for the calculation of a statutory social benefit payable due to an accident at work, when, by applying this factor, the lump-sum compensation paid to a man is less than that which would be paid to a woman of the same age and in a similar situation.

2)It is for the referring court to assess whether the conditions for the Member State to be deemed liable are met. Similarly, as regards whether the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings constitutes a ‘sufficiently serious’ infringement of EU law, that court will have to take into consideration, inter alia, the fact that the Court has not yet ruled on the legality of taking into account a factor based on average life expectancy according to sex in the determination of a benefit paid under a statutory social security system and falling within the scope of Directive 79/7. The national court will also have to take into account the right granted to the Member States by the EU legislature, set out in Article 5(2) of Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services, and Article 9(1)(h) of Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation. In addition, that court should bear in mind that the Court has held, on 1 March 2011 (C-236/09, EU:C:2011:100), that the first of those provisions is invalid, since it infringes the principle of equal treatment between men and women.

(<span class="oj-super">1</span>) OJ C 233, 10. 8. 2013.