42However, in a situation such as Mr Kik’s, the finding that the work carried out on board a pipe-laying vessel cannot be treated as work carried out on the territory of a Member State when the vessel is located above the part of the continental shelf adjacent to that Member State is not, on its own, capable of calling into question the applicability of Regulation No 1408/71. Indeed, the mere fact that a worker carries on his activities outside the territory of the European Union is not sufficient to exclude the application of the EU rules on the free movement of workers, as long as the employment relationship retains a sufficiently close connection with the Union (judgment in Aldewereld, EU:C:1994:271, paragraph 14).
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