Opinion of Mr Advocate General Mancini

Mr President,

Members of the Court,

1. By order of 19 February 1987, received at the Court Registry on 19 March 1987, the Raad van Beroep (Social Security Court), Arnhem, asked the Court for a preliminary ruling on the application ratione temporis of Council Directive 79/7 of 19 December 1978 on the progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security (Official Journal 1979, L 6, p. 24).

2. The answer to the first question is not difficult. In the judgment of 4 December 1986 in Case 71/85 (State of the Netherlands v Federatie Nederlandse Vakbeweging [1986] ECR 3855), it was precisely in relation to the Netherlands rule on unemployment benefit that the Court interpreted the obligation not to discriminate between men and women which Article 4 (1) of Directive 79/7 lays down in respect of social security. I would recall that at the time of the facts of that case the Netherlands had not yet implemented Directive 79/7. Article 13 (1) of the WWV was therefore in force and a transitional rule was in the process of being adopted and was to be incorporated in the Law of 24 April 1985 (for more details of the Netherlands rules on unemployment benefit and the problems raised in that country by the transposition of Directive 79/7 I should like to refer to my Opinion in that case delivered on 2 July 1986).

3. The second question concerns the possibility of giving retroactive effect to measures implementing a directive which were adopted after the expiry of the period allowed to the Member States for that purpose. The question put by the national court is related to the particular situation in which it is called upon to give judgment but more generally it is concerned with the manner in which obligations under directives are implemented in national law. The lawfulness of retroactive laws must therefore be determined on the basis of national laws.

4. n the basis of those considerations I propose that the following answers should be given to the questions put by the Raad van Beroep, Arnhem, by order of 19 February 1987 in the cases between A. Dik and A. Mekutos-Demirci and the Municipality of Arnhem Commune and between H. G. W. Laar-Vreeman and the Municipality of Winterswijk:

1 Translated from the Italian.