Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2006, publiée 96ème session CIT (2007)

The Committee notes the information provided in the Government’s report in response to its previous comments.

Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention. Under section L.311-1 of the Social Security Code, the social insurance of the general scheme cover risks and expenses relating to illness, invalidity, old age, death, widowhood, maternity and paternity, under the conditions set forth in the subsequent sections. With regard to foreign workers, section L.311-7 provides that, with the exception of old-age insurance benefits, the receipt of these benefits is conditional upon justification of their residence in France. In its previous comments, the Committee noted that the condition of residence for the provision of benefits also applies to foreign nationals insured under the agricultural scheme (section 1027 of the Rural Code) and the mines scheme (section 184 of Decree No. 46-2769 of 27 November 1946), that the condition of residence in France must be fulfilled particularly when entitlement is acknowledged and that it primarily affects nationals of countries which have not concluded a bilateral agreement with France. With regard to the receipt of benefits, the Committee recalls that, under Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention, equality of treatment shall be accorded without any condition of residence, which includes the initial acknowledgement of entitlement, to nationals of all member States that have accepted the requirements of the Convention and not only to nationals of countries that have concluded a reciprocal bilateral or multilateral agreement. In this respect, the Committee recalls that the Council of State, Litigation Section, in its ruling of 23 April 1997 (23 April 1997, Information and Support Group for Migrant Workers – GISTI), found that Article 4, paragraph 1, of the Convention is directly applicable in French internal procedures. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the legal scope and the effect in practice of the decisions adopted by the Council of State. Moreover, the Committee once again hopes that the Government will take the necessary steps to ensure the application of this provision of the Convention, both in law and in practice, in respect of all the branches of social security covered by the Convention which have been accepted by France and, in particular, branch (d) (invalidity benefit), which was referred to in the Committee’s previous comments, in all cases in which the insured person is covered by the French social security system and fulfils the general conditions for entitlement to invalidity benefit at the time of the contingency.