[Strasbourg, 30 September 2010] The Advocate General of the European Court of Justice has declared that that insurance companies shouldn’t be able to charge men and women different rates for products – Article 5 of the European directive on gender equality in goods and services (2004/113) is declared incompatible with the principle of equality!
This opinion is in line with the constant position of the EWL since the adoption process of the directive, saying that basing the pricing of insurance products on is ‘incompatible with the principle of equality as stated in European law’. This is a case that was brought by the Belgian consumers’ organisation Test achats, with whom the EWL has been working since 2004 on the follow up of the 2004/113 directive.
The next step will be the actual judgment of the European Court of Justice. It is not guaranteed that the Court will follow the opinion of the Advocate General, but the Court has adopted favorable judgments in previous cases related to insurance issues.
Press release in English: http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2010-09/cp100093en.pdf
