Opinion of Mr Advocate General Darmon

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. The Court has already been asked on a number of occasions to give preliminary rulings regarding the conditions of application of Article 73 (1) of Council Regulation No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 (hereinafter referred to as Article 73) and Article 10 (1) (a) of Council Regulation No 574/72 of 21 March 1972 (hereinafter referred to as Article 10) laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation No 1408/71. However, the particular circumstances of this case, which result, as the Commission has observed, from a coincidence, have not before been submitted to the Court.

2. The decisive issue in this case is whether or not Article 73 applies in such circumstances, particularly in the light of the judgment of the Court in Case 104/80 Beeck v Bundesanstalt fiir Arbeit, on which the respondent in the main proceedings largely relied in refusing to grant Mrs Burchell the benefits she had applied for under the British legislation.

3. I therefore propose that the Court give the following answer to the Social Security Commissioner:

1 Translated from the French.

2 Official Journal, English Special Edition 1971 (II), p. 416.

3 Official Journal, English Special Edition 1972 (I), p. 159.

4 Judgment of 19 February 1981 [1981] ECR 503.

5 Judgment of 3 February 1983 in Case 149/82 Robards v Insurance Officer [1983] ECR 171 at paragraph 12.

6 Judgment of 4 July 1985 in Case 104/84 [1985] ECR 2205.

7 Judgment of 15 January 1986 in Case 41/84 [1986] £CR 17.

8 See in particular the judgment of 12 June 1980 in Case 733/79 CCAFv Latera [1980] ECR 1915.

9 Kromhout, referred to above, in particular paragraph 13.