Katherine Apps in CJEU case on free movement and the A8 Accession Treaty

The CJEU has handed down judgment in C-618/16 Prefeta v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions answering questions referred by the Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) in RP v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKUT 0422 (AAC)

The questions referred asked whether the UK's Accession (Immigration and Worker Registration) Regulations 2004 were compatible with the Accession Treaty by which Poland and the other A8 member states joined the EU in 2004, and whether a person who had not completed 12 months registered work under the UK's worker registration scheme, could retain worker status under Article 7(3) of the Citizenship Directive 2004/28 EC after they ceased working.

The CJEU held that the UK's worker registration scheme could lawfully exclude A8 nationals from the provisions regarding retention of worker status in the Citizenship Directive during the transition period if individuals had not completed 12 months registered work. The UK were permitted to derogate from the usual provisions for the free movement of workers during this period where workers had not satisfied the requirements of the worker registration scheme.

Katherine Apps was instructed by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions in the Upper Tribunal and by the Department for Exiting the European Union in the CJEU proceedings.