Opinion of Mr Advocate General Mancini

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. By an order of 21 January 1987, the Bundessozialgericht asks the Court whether, for the purpose of calculating the pension of a frontier worker, the periods during which he has been in receipt of full unemployment benefit must be taken into account by the competent institution of the State of residence or by the corresponding body of the country in which the pensioner carried on his working activity.

2. The BfA and the Italian Government point out first that the absence of a specific Community provision does not permit the interests of frontier workers to be ignored and the solution of the problem must be sought in the principles laid down in Regulation No 1408/71. In this respect they maintain that, by making the State of residence liable to pay unemployment benefit, Article 71 introduced an exception to the general rule according to which it is for the country in which the migrant worker carries on his working activities to take all social and social security measures.

3. The question referred to the Court by the Bundessozialgericht highlights the existence of a serious lacuna in Regulation No 1408/71 and it is evident that the interests of an important category of Community workers, namely frontier workers, require that it be filled.

4. In the light of the foregoing considerations, I suggest that the Court reply as follows to the question put by the Bundessozialgericht by order of 21 January 1987 in the proceedings pending before it between Mr Josef Rebmann and the Bundesversicherungsanstalt für Angestellte:

1 Translated from the Italian.