• The purpose of Article 7 of Regulation No 1612/78 relates to employment and the equality of treatment of workers in Member States.
  • Article 7 has four sections, which are laid out below:
  1. A worker, who is a national of a Member State may not, in the territory of another Member State, be treated differently from national workers by reason of his nationality in respect of any conditions of employment and work, in particular as regards remuneration, dismissal, and should he become unemployed, reinstatement or re-employment.
  • He shall enjoy the same social and tax advantages as national workers.
  • He shall also, by virtue of the same right and under the same conditions as national workers, have access to training in vocational schools and retraining centres.
  • Any clause of a collective or individual agreement or of any other collective regulation concerning eligibility for employment, employment, remuneration and other conditions of work or dismissal shall be null and void in so far as it lays down or authorises discriminatory conditions in respect of workers who are nationals of the other Member States.

Editor’s notes

  • Article 7 of Council Regulation No 1612/68 is instrumental to bringing about equality in the treatment of workers within the European Union, in different Member States. It joins Article 45 Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union as an important piece of legislation which promotes one of the key functions of the European Union: the free movement, and equal treatment of workers.
  • Of course, as you can see from Article 7 above, this is a qualified right, and only applies to workers. That is why therefore, there are a number of cases which are focused around this article, and more specifically, whether somebody is indeed a worker within the European Union.

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