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Burri, Susanne --- "Equal treatment: The EU approach" [2015] ELECD 1173; in Pennings, Frans; Vonk, Gijsbert (eds), "Research Handbook on European Social Security Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015) 231

Book Title: Research Handbook on European Social Security Law

Editor(s): Pennings, Frans; Vonk, Gijsbert

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781782547327

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: Equal treatment: The EU approach

Author(s): Burri, Susanne

Number of pages: 26

Abstract/Description:

Equal treatment is a multifaceted and multi-layered concept, in particular in EU law. EU equal treatment legislation and case law is extensive and complicated, in particular in the field of social security. EU equal treatment law has developed since 1957, with the first provision on equal pay between men and women and a prohibition of discrimination based on nationality in the EEC Treaty. Nowadays, the principle of equal treatment is enshrined in many Treaty provisions (both in the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU)), in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and in diverse directives. Member States have in addition their own national legal systems, with often an important role for their Constitution in addition to Labour Code provisions and specific sex equality and/or anti-discrimination Acts. They also have obligations based on international treaties, in particular UN and ILO Treaties. The accession of the EU to the European Convention on Human Rights raises even more questions on the interplay between the Court of Justice of the EU (hereafter: Court of Justice or Court) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The European Social Charter (ESC) is also relevant. At the core of all these legal instruments and their interpretation by courts and supervisory committees are different conceptualisations of the principle of equality.