Opinion of Mr advocate-general

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. This case arises from a reference for a preliminary ruling by the Arbeidsrechtbank (Labour Tribunal), Antwerp, which seeks an interpretation under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty of Article 84 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons and their families moving within the Community, which provides as follows: The authorities, institutions and tribunals of one Member State may not reject claims or other documents submitted to them on the grounds that they are written in an official language of another Member State. The questions submitted by the Belgian court raise the problem of determining the range of persons covered by that provision.

2. There is, in my opinion, no doubt that the rule in Article 84 (4) referred to is directly applicable in that it prohibits the authorities of the Member States from rejecting a worker's application solely because it is drawn up in the language of another Member State; the counterpart of that prohibition is a subjective right on the part of the individual, whose interests are protected by the rule. It prevails therefore, in favour of those who ratione personae are covered by Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, over any national rule whatsoever to the contrary relating to the use of languages in dealings with the authorities, especially in judicial proceedings.

3. However such an interpretation must I think be discarded, for three groups of reasons.

4. Having said this I nevertheless regard it as necessary to ask what the outcome would be of acceptance of the suggestion that the right conferred by Article 84 (4) should be construed more narrowly in order to avoid opening the door to an abuse of it.

5. For the foregoing reasons I suggest that the Court should reply to the questions of interpretation submitted for a preliminary ruling by the Labour Tribunal, Antwerp, under Article 177 of the EEC Treaty by ruling that the provision in Article 84 (4) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council overrides any national provision to the contrary and confers on all workers and the members of their families who are ratione personae covered by the regulation, regardless of nationality or residence, the right to use any one of the official languages of the Member States in the preparation of applications or documents submitted to the relevant authorities.

1 Translated from the Italian.