Discrimination on Grounds of Language

The use of 24 official languages in the EU has inevitably raised the question of linguistic discrimination that the Court has addressed in its case-law.

In 2012, the Court held that the publication in three languages (German, English and French) of notices of competitions for the recruitment of European Union officials and the obligation to sit selection tests in one of those three languages constitutes discrimination on the ground of language (judgment of 27 November 2012, Italy v Commission, C-566/10 P).

Furthermore, the Court has held on several occasions that the principle of non- discrimination precludes any requirement that the linguistic knowledge required by reason of the nature of the post to be filled must have been acquired in the Member State in question or must be evidenced by means of a certificate issued by that Member State ( judgment of 28 November 1989, Groener, C-379/87 and judgment of 6 June 2000, Angonese, C-281/98).

In addition, the Court considered that a Member State cannot require, on pain  of nullity, all cross-border employment contracts concluded with a resident undertaking to be drafted in the official language or languages of that Member State (judgment of 16 April 2013, Las, C-202/11).