Language of document :

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Landessozialgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen (Germany) lodged on 4 May 2021 – VA v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund

(Case C-283/21)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landessozialgericht Nordrhein-Westfalen

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: VA

Defendant: Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund

Intervener: RB

Questions referred

Is under the legislation of the Netherlands – as the Member State which is competent under Title II of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004]1  – a child-raising period taken into account within the meaning of Article 44(2) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 2 by virtue of the fact that the period of child-raising in the Netherlands, as a pure period of residence, gives rise to a pension entitlement?

If Question 1 is answered in the negative:

Is Article 44(2) of Regulation No 987/2009 – following on from the judgments of 23 November 2000 in Case C-135/99 3 and of 19 July 2012 in Case C-522/10 4  – to be interpreted broadly as meaning that the competent Member State must also take into account the child-raising period if the person raising the child has completed pension-relevant periods before and after the child-raising due to education or employment only in the scheme of that State, but did not pay contributions into that scheme immediately before or after the child-raising?

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1     Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems (OJ 2004 L 166, p. 1).

2     Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems (OJ 2009 L 284, p. 1).

3     EU:C:2000:647, Elsen.

4     EU:C:2012:475, Reichel-Albert.