Brussels, 6/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling issued on Tuesday 6 November in Case C-286/12, the European Court of Justice ruled that new Hungarian legislation lowering the retirement age for certain judges and notaries from 70 to 62 introduces unjustified age-based discrimination outlawed by the EU Directive on equal treatment for employment and labour (Directive 200/78/EC). The Court of Justice says that the measure is not needed to achieve the Hungarian government's objective of ensuring a uniform retirement age for civil service professionals and introduce a lower retirement age for the justice system to help young lawyers enter the profession. The Court agrees with the Commission, which lodged the case in January 2012, calling for a speedy decision. The Court rules that the legislation cover social policy and could therefore be granted exemption from the anti-discrimination rules for age under the EU directive, but says that before 1 January 2012, the judges and notaries covered by the new legislation were able to remain in their jobs until the age of 70 and this encouraged them to believe they would continue working until that age. Alongside the sudden and huge reduction in the retirement age (when retirement becomes compulsory), no transition measures were introduced to protect the legitimate belief of the people in question that they would remain in their post, who were forced to leave their job and labour market without having time to take any preventative measures to look after their finances. The Court of Justice found a contradiction between the immediate lowering of the retirement age by eight years without phasing it in, and the rise by three years (from 62 to 65 years) in the retirement age for other workers which will be phased in over eight years from 2014 onwards. This suggests that the interests of the people concerned by the sudden reduction in the retirement age have not been taken into account in the same way as the interests of the general population of civiil servants for whom the retirement age has been raised. This contradiction also affects pursuit of the aim of a more balanced retirement age to enable young lawyers to gain access to the profession because although the introduction of new blood will be sped up in the first year when people otherwise forced to retire over the following eight years all have to leave at once, the rotation will then slow right down. The Court of Justice rules therefore thta Hungarian legislation introduces a difference in treatment that is not suitable or necessary for achieving the desired objective and which contravenes the EU directive. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding said that Hungary must now take measures to respect the ruling without delay. (FG/transl.fl)