JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

of 20 January 2005

in Case 306/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling by the Juzgado de lo Social no 3 de Orense): Cristalina Salgado Alonso v Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS), Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) (1)

(Social security of migrant workers - Articles 12 EC, 39 EC and 42 EC - Articles 45 and 48(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 - Old age and death - Unemployment - Minimum periods of insurance - Periods of insurance taken into account for calculating the amount of benefits but not for acquiring the right to those benefits - Periods of unemployment - Aggregation)

(2005/C 57/18)

Language of the case: Spanish

In Case 306/03: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Juzgado de lo Social no 3 de Orense (Spain), made by decision of 24 June 2003, received at the Court on 16 July 2003, in the proceedings between Cristalina Salgado Alonso and Instituto Nacional de la Seguridad Social (INSS), Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social (TGSS) – the Court (Second Chamber), composed of C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, R. Silva de Lapuerta, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur), P. Kūris and G. Arestis, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; M. Múgica Arzamendi, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 20 January 2005, in which it has ruled:

Articles 39 EC and 42 EC and Article 45 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, in the version amended and updated by Council Regulation (EC) No 118/97 of 2 December 1996, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1606/98 of 29 June 1998, must be interpreted as not precluding a national provision, such as that set out in the 28th Additional Provision of the General Social Security Law, which does not allow the competent authorities of a Member State to take into consideration, for the purposes of acquiring the right to a retirement pension under the national scheme, certain periods of insurance completed on the territory of that State by an unemployed worker during which contributions to old-age insurance were paid by the unemployment benefit agency, such periods being taken into consideration solely for the calculation of the amount of that pension.

(1)  OJ C 226 of 20.09.2003.