Marguerite Maris, wife of Roger Reboulet v Rijksdienst voor Werknemerspensioenen (55/77)

The second and third questions

These questions deal with the field of application ratione personae of Article 84 (4) of Regulation No 1408/71.The regulation does not in any way restrict the field of application of that provision; the latter applies therefore to any of the persons covered by the regulation. They are defined in Article 2 (1), (2) and (3) of the regulation, which does not contain any exception for the case of a person filing an application in a court of the Member State of which he is a national or persons residing in the territory of the Member State where the application is filed.The purpose of Article 84 (4) of Regulation No 1408/71 is to help workers who avail themselves of freedom of movement within the Community to overcome any linguistic difficulties which they may encounter in the exercise of the rights conferred upon them by the Community by allowing them to express themselves in a language which they can use more easily than the language of the host country.Not only foreign nationals but also nationals of a Member State who have lived for so long abroad that they have less mastery of the language of the country of which they are nationals are entitled to take advantage of such a provision. To ensure that the work of the courts of first instance is not made too complicated Regulation No 1408/71 provides for the setting up of an Administrative Commission which has the duty to carry out any necessary translations at the request of the competent courts of the Member States.These findings are confirmed by implication by the case-law of the Court on the corresponding provisions of Regulation No 3 of the Council of the EEC of 25 September 1958 concerning social security for migrant workers (JO of 16. 12. 1958, p. 561), especially by its judgment of 5 July 1967 in Case 6/67 Teresa Pace (nee Guerra) v Institut National d'Assurance Maladie-Invalidité[67] ECR 219 and by its judgment of 13 December 1972 in Case 45/72 Giuseppe Merola v Nationaal Pensioenfonds voor Mijnwerkers [1972] 2 ECR 1255.