§ Mr. Austin MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what is his estimate of the cost(a) to business and (b) to the Exchequer of implementing the second protocol of the Maastricht treaty.
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§ Miss WiddecombeAssuming the Maastricht treaty is ratified, this protocol will limit retrospective application of the ruling of the European Court of Justice in the case of Barber v. Guardian Royal Exchange Assurance Group to pensionable service from 17 May 1990, the date of that ruling. In that case the court ruled that occupational pensions were pay and so must be equal between men and women according to article 119 of the treaty of Rome. The question of the retrospective effects of the Barber ruling is also under consideration by the European Court of Justice in the case of Coloroll Pensions Trustees Ltd. v. Russell and Others.
There is no cost to either business or the Exchequer arising from the protocol. On the contrary, it will save British industry the estimated £51 billion cost of a fully retrospective interpretation of the Barber ruling.