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Case No. 73/1969 (1970) C.M.L.R. 409

The last curious case arising indirec'ly out of the

Agriculture Controls introduces us to the field of Crim-

inal Law. In the case of

Peeters v The Minister for

Finance

(1973) C.M.L.R. 190, the Belgian Court of

Cassation held that fraudulent export of butter from

Holland under Dutch Law designed to protect Dutch

Society was intrinsically different from the fraudulent

""Port of the same butter by the self-same act into

Belgium under Belgian Laws designed to protect Bel-

gian Society. Acquittal by the Dutch Courts of the

Dutch offence would not therefore prevent prosecution

Before Belgian Courts for the Belgian offence, as

the abolition of customs duties by EE.C. regulations

did not

ipso facto

abolish National procedural require-

ments such as import licences consequently the failure

to produce such a licence may lawfully justify prosecut-

ion under the national Criminal Law.

freedom of

Movement

Workers

The Section of the treaty dealing with free move-

ment of persons, services and capital is divided into

*°ur chapters. The first relating to workers, the second

l

o the right of establishment, the third to the supply of

services, and the fourth to the movement of capital.

There have not been many cases on the free circulation

of workers in itself, but there have been quite a number

a necessary corollary to free movement of workers

dealt with in Article 51 of the Treaty, namely their right

t 0

social security within the Community. Of the eases

w

«ere a State has endeavoured to restrict a National of

•mother member State from taking up residence, usual-

ly on the grounds of public order, the cases have gener-

ally taken the line that one isolated minor offence

does not constitute sufficient cause for the State to in-

voke the public order exemption. An interesting case

Bfs been referred by the English Courts to the European

~°urt for

a

decision as to whether the British Home

Secretary i

s

entitled to refuse admission to a Dutch

Scientologist who wishes to work at the Headquarters

of

the Church of Scientology in England. The case is

celled «

Van Duyn v The Home Office

", and involves

a

claim for a Declaration by a Dutch citizen who wishes

jo come and work In the College of Scientology in Eng-

j

a

nd, and who has been refused admission by British

Immigration Authorities, that he is entitled to a Declar-

ation of his entitlement to come to work in Britain—

s e

41/74 now reported in (1975) C.M.L.R. 1.

On 4 December 1974, the Court rejected the applic-

atl

on on the following grounds: —

The Court, interpreting Article 48 (3) EEC and Ar-

.

e

3 (1) of Directive 64/221, held (1) that Article 48

I

s

self-executing, (2) that Article 3 (1) of the directive

ls

self-excuting, (3) that current membership of and

p

a

rticipation in the activities of a frowned-upon organ-

nation may amount to 'personal conduct' within the

meaning of the directive, and (4) that such conduct

jjoes not have to be tainted with illegality before a

Member-State may exercise its discretion under Article

(3) and refuse a Community national entry into the

country.

Social Security

The general provisions of the Treaty and regulations

are that a worker is entitled to have taken into account

all contributions that he has made in any of the mem-

ber States but not to be entitled to accumulate bene-

fits from several systems of compulsory insurance re-

lating to the same period of insurance. This latter re-

striction is to be found in the 1972 regulation and may

affect an earlier decision in the case of

Old Age Pen-

sions Board of Parisian Salaried Workers v Duffy,

No.

34/1969 (1971) C.M.L.R. 391.

Madame Duffy had lived and worked in Belgium be-

fore her marriage and therefore had become entitled to

an old age pension from Belgium. She had married

Pierre Duffy who was a French National who had lived

and worked solely in France and therefore became en-

titled to an old age pension in France. When he died in

1965 she applied for a "reversionary" pension and the

French Insurance Fund declined to pay her a full pen-

sion but only paid her the difference between her Bel-

gian old age pension and what the reversionary pension

would have been. The Court held that in the particular

circumstances she was entitled to both pensions if en-

titlement o the benefits had been acquired independent-

ly of the E.E C. regulation 3 which has now been re-

placed by regulation 1408/71.

In the

Sotgiu

case, 153/73, not yet reported, the

Court held that an Italian worker who received a sep-

aration allowance because he was obliged to work at a,

place which was not his place of residence was entitled

to the same separation allowance as a German worker

who had to work at a place which was not his place

of residence. On the other hand in the

Kunz

case, 35/73

not yet reported, the Court has held that a person en-

titled to a pension under the legislation of several Mem-

ber States and who was resident within one of those

States has no right to benefit in kind from the State

within which he is resident when ihe legislaion of that

State does not provide for such benefits. (Holland does

not have a social security system which provides free

medical or dental services. Workers normally make vol-

untary contributions to a mutual sickness insurance

organization). In the

Manpower

Case, 35/1970, (1971)

C.M.L.R. 222, the Court held that a French worker

engaged by Manpower to work in Germany for three

days in August of 1969 was entitled to the benefit of the

regulations of the Community and that the French

Social Securi y Office should reimburse his medical ex-

penses to Manpower

In a similar case,

Nourrisson

(1973) C.M.L.R. 30, the

French Court of Cassation held that where a certifier te

of detachment which a French worker required when he

was sent to work in Belgium in order to maintain his

cover under the French Social Security system was ob-

tained by his employer but later cancelled because of an

irregularity in the application, the worker could not

lose his benefit, unless such cancellation has been noti-

fied to him, In the

Fiorini

Crse (1974) C.M.L.R. 300, an

Italian widow whose husband had lived and worked

in France, who had four children, the last two of whom

had been born in France, was held not to be entitled

to the reduced rates on French Railways allowed to

large families under the Act of 1924. The French Court

112