On the 2nd March 2011, the MFSA had issued a note for information notifying the insurance market that the European Court of Justice had delivered a judgement (Test-Achats ruling) on the legality of the opt-out derogation contained in Article 5(2) of Council Directive 2004/113/EC of  13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services. In the said judgement, it had stated that the opt-out derogation contained in the said article was deemed to be incompatible with European law and in this respect, had ruled that Article 5(2) of the said Council Directive was invalid with effect from 21 December 2012.

Since the Test-Achats ruling will have implications in all Member States, following the said judgement, the European Commission has issued guidelines on the application of Council Directive 2004/113/EC to insurance, in the light of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C-236/09 with the aim to facilitate compliance with the Test-Achats ruling at national level.

Click here to access Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:373:0037:0043:EN:PDF

Click here to access the Test-Achats ruling: http://www.mfsa.mt/Files/Announcements/Notices/ECJ_judgment.pdf

Click here to access the European Commission Guidelines on the application of Council Directive 2004/113/EC to insurance, in the light of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union in Case C 236/09 : http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:011:0001:0011:EN:PDF

MFSA Ref: 07-2012