Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 14 June 2012 - European Commission v Kingdom of the Netherlands
(Case C-542/09)
(Failure of a Member State to fulfil obligations - Freedom of movement for persons - Access to education for migrant workers and their family members - Funding for higher educational studies pursued outside the territory of the Member State concerned - Residence requirement)
Language of the case: Dutch
Parties
Applicant: European Commission (represented by: G. Rozet and M. van Beek, acting as Agents)
Defendant: Kingdom of the Netherlands (represented by: C. Wissels, J. Langer and K. Bulterman, acting as Agents)
Intervening parties in support of the defendant: Kingdom of Belgium (represented by: L. van den Broeck and M. Jacobs, acting as Agents), Kingdom of Denmark, (represented by: V. Pasternak Jørgensen, acting as Agent), Federal Republic of Germany (represented by: J. Möller and C. Blaschke, acting as Agents), Kingdom of Sweden (represented by A. Falk, acting as Agent)
Re:
Failure to fulfil obligations - Infringement of Article 45 TFEU and Article 7(2) of Council Regulation No 1612/68 of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers within the Community (OJ, English special edition 1968(II), p. 475) - Access to education - Funding of studies abroad - Residence requirement - '3 out of 6 years' rule
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Declares that, by requiring that migrant workers and dependent family members comply with a residence requirement - namely, the 'three out of six years' rule - in order to be eligible to receive funding for higher educational studies pursued outside the Netherlands, the Kingdom of the Netherlands has failed to fulfil its obligations under Article 45 TFEU and Article 7(2) of Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 of the Council of 15 October 1968 on freedom of movement for workers within the Community, as amended by Council Regulation (EEC) No 2434/92 of 27 July 1992;
Orders the Kingdom of the Netherlands to pay the costs.
____________1 - OJ C 37, 13.2.2010.