2008-0140-Discrimination-ST06115.EN10
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION |
| Brussels, 5 February 2010 | ||
Interinstitutional File: 2008/0140 (CNS) |
| 6115/10 LIMITE | ||
| SOC 77 JAI 109 MI 40 | |||
NOTE
from : | The General Secretariat |
to : | The Working Party on Social Questions |
No. prev. doc. : | 6015/10 SOC 62 JAI 103 MI 33 |
No. Cion prop. : | 11531/08 SOC 411 JAI 368 MI 246 |
Subject : | Proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation |
Delegations will find attached a note from the Austrian delegation with a view to the meeting of the Working Party on Social Questions on 18 February 2010.
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AT proposal
Changes in relation to doc. 5188/10 are indicated as follows: additions are in bold and deletions are marked […]
Article 2(7)
a) Notwithstanding paragraph 2, in the provision of financial services, the Member States may provide that proportionate differences in treatment […] on the grounds of age shall not be considered discrimination for the purposes of this Directive, if age is a determining factor in the assessment of risk and this assessment is based on relevant actuarial principles and accurate statistical data […].
b) In the provision of insurance, the Member States may provide on an individual basis that proportionate differences in treatment on the grounds of disability shall not be considered discrimination for the purposes of this Directive, if the state of health of the person concerned is a determining and genuine factor in the assessment of risk and this assessment is based on relevant actuarial principles, accurate statistical data and medical knowledge.
Explanatory Statement
The above wording takes into account the Presidency proposal in Doc. 5188/10 and aims to ensure coherence with Article 5(2) of Directive 2004/113/EC.
The AT proposal makes a distinction between unequal treatment based on age in the area of financial services in general, and unequal treatment based on disability in the area of insurance services alone. It is not necessary to extend the provision concerning proportionate differences of treatment on the grounds of disability (Article 2(7)(b) to cover financial services in general, as insurance for the safeguarding of credits is in any case covered by insurance services.
It is the AT delegation’s firmly held view that differences of treatment based on disability should only be allowed if the state of health of the person concerned is a determining and genuine factor in the assessment of risk.
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