Case C‑620/15

A-Rosa Flussschiff GmbH

v

Union de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales (Urssaf) d’Alsace
and
Sozialversicherungsanstalt des Kantons Graubünden

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour de cassation (France))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Migrant workers — Social security — Legislation applicable — Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 — Article 14(2)(a) — Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 — Article 12a(1a) — Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation — Travelling personnel — Workers posted to another Member State — Swiss branch — E 101 certificate — Probative value)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (First Chamber), 27 April 2017

1.        Social security — Migrant workers — Legislation applicable — Workers posted to a Member State other than that in which the employer is established — E 101 certificate issued by the competent institution of the Member State of establishment — Probative value for the social security institutions of other Member States — Limits — Obligation to reconsider in the event of doubts expressed by an institution of another Member State — Conciliation procedure before the Administrative Commission for Social Security in the event of disagreement — Infringement proceedings in the event of non-conciliation

(Art. 4(3) TEU; Art. 259 TFEU; Council Regulations No 1408/71, Art. 14(2)(a), and No 574/72, Art. 12a(1a))

2.        Social security — Migrant workers — Legislation applicable — Workers posted to a Member State other than that in which the employer is established — E 101 certificate issued by the competent institution of the Member State of establishment — Probative value for the social security institutions of other Member States and for the courts of those Member States — Conditions under which the worker carries out his activities not falling within the material scope of Regulation No 1408/71 — Irrelevant

(Council Regulations No 1408/71, Art. 14(2)(a), and No 574/72, Art. 12a(1a))

1.      See the text of the decision.

(see paras 40-46)

2.      Article 12a(1a) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 of 21 March 1972 fixing the procedure for implementing 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, as amended and updated by Council Regulation (EC) No 118/97 of 2 December 1996, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 647/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 April 2005, must be interpreted as meaning that an E 101 certificate issued by the institution designated by the competent authority of a Member State pursuant to Article 14(2)(a) of Regulation No 1408/71, as amended and updated by Regulation No 118/97, as amended by Regulation (EC) No 647/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 April 2005, is binding on both the social security institutions of the Member State in which the work is carried out and the courts of that Member State, even where it is found by those courts that the conditions under which the worker concerned carries out his activities clearly do not fall within the material scope of that provision of Regulation No 1408/71.

Indeed, given that the Court has determined, through its case-law, the procedure to be followed in order to resolve any dispute between the institutions of the Member States concerned as regards the validity or the accuracy of an E 101 certificate, the institutions of those States applying Regulations Nos 1408/71 and 574/72, including the Swiss Confederation pursuant to the EC-Switzerland Agreement, must follow that procedure, even if it were established that the conditions under which the workers concerned carry out their activities clearly do not fall within the material scope of the provision on the basis of which the E 101 certificate was issued.

(see paras 53, 61, operative part)