11.5.2015

Official Journal of the European Union

C 155/2

(Case C-266/13) (<span class="super">1</span>)

((Reference for a preliminary ruling - Social security - Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 - Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, of the one part, and the Swiss Confederation, of the other, on the free movement of persons - National of a Member State, in which he resides, employed on a pipe-laying vessel flying the flag of another third State - Person initially employed by an undertaking established in the Netherlands and subsequently by an undertaking established in Switzerland - Work performed, in succession, on the continental shelf adjacent to a third State, in international waters and in the part of the continental shelf adjacent to certain Member States - Scope ratione personae of Regulation No 1408/71 - Determination of the legislation applicable)

(2015/C 155/02)

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Appellant: L. Kik

Respondent: Staatssecretaris van Finaciën

Operative part of the judgment

1.Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council 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, in the version amended and updated by Council Regulation (EC) No 118/97 of 2 December 1996, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 307/1999 of 8 February 1999, must be interpreted to the effect that the persons covered by it include an employed person who, like Mr Kik, is a national of a Member State, in which he resides and in which his income is subject to tax, is employed on a pipe-laying vessel flying the flag of a third State and operating in various parts of the world, in particular above the part of the continental shelf adjacent to certain Member States, was previously employed by an undertaking established in his Member State of residence, changes employer and thereafter is employed by an undertaking established in Switzerland, whilst continuing to reside in the same Member State and to sail on the same vessel.

2.The provisions determining the national legislation applicable, which are contained in Title II of Regulation No 1408/71, must be interpreted as meaning that a national of a Member State, or of the Swiss Confederation (a State treated as a Member State for the purposes of applying the regulation), who is employed on board a vessel flying the flag of a third State and carries out his activities outside the territory of the European Union — including above the continental shelf of a Member State — but who is employed by an undertaking established in the Swiss Confederation, is subject to the legislation of the State in which his employer is established. However, in circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, if, pursuant to Regulation No 1408/71, that legislation entails him being insured under a voluntary insurance scheme or not being insured under any social security scheme, that national will be subject to the legislation of his Member State of residence.

Language of the case: Dutch

(1) OJ C 207, 20.7.2013.