Palacios de la Villa v Cortefiel Servicios SA C-411/05 (ECJ); [2007] IRLR 989

In Palacios de la Villa v Cortefiel Servicios SA C-411/05 the ECJ held, contrary to the Advocate General's opinion, that national laws on retirement are within the scope of the Equal Treatment Framework Directive, notwithstanding recital 14 which states that the Directive is without prejudice to national laws setting out retirement ages. Acknowledging that retirement provisions were prima facie discriminatory, the court ruled that Spanish law on retirement nevertheless met a legitimate policy aim in seeking to promote employment opportunity. It went on to hold that, in meeting legitimate policy aims, member states enjoy a broad discretion as to the balance of different interests and the measures adopted, provided the measures are not "inappropriate and unnecessary". In this case, the court upheld the Spanish law.