Brussels, 05/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - The union between two people in the Netherlands formalised by a "samenlevingsovereenkomst" (cohabitation agreement) gives the spouses of European civil servants the right to enjoy the Communities' Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS). This was the verdict of the Court of First Instance, in its T-58/08 P ruling on Monday 5 October. This confirms the earlier ruling of the Civil Service Tribunal of 2007 (F-122/06). The Commission had refused to give Anton Pieter Roodhuijzen, a Dutch national and Eurostat civil servant, the right to include his partner in the JSIS. The Commission justified its position by arguing that the samenlevingsovereenkomst can also apply to groups of more than two people, or to two people who are closely related, and should therefore not be considered as a non-matrimonial partnership. Mr Roodhuijzen brought the matter before the TFP, which ruled in his favour, taking the view that his situation corresponded to a non-matrimonial partnership even though it is applied by Dutch legislation to other forms of association. The Commission appealed to the Court of First Instance against this initial verdict, but the second court confirmed the findings of the TFP in this Monday's verdict. In this particular case, the Court explains, Mr Roodhuijzen's partnership is effectively similar to a marriage, even if it is not directly comparable: as this partnership is also formalised in a document provided by the State, the Commission must provide Mr Roodhuijzen's partner with the advantages due to her as his spouse. (C.D./trans.fl)