CMNT_TITLE

The Committee has noted the information supplied by the Government in its report for the period ending June 1989.

Articles 3, 5 and 10, paragraph 1, of the Convention, branch (e) (old-age benefits). In its previous comments the Committee had drawn the attention of the Government to the fact that the "social pension" to which all Italian citizens are entitled, who are above the age of 65 years and who satisfy certain means criteria, under the terms of article 26 of Law No. 153 of 30 April 1969, should be regarded as falling within the scope of this Convention, especially since the payment of this benefit is automatically guaranteed if the required conditions of the means test are fulfilled, and it is therefore not a benefit excluded from the purview of the Convention, but is a non-contributory social security benefit of the type indicated in Article 2, paragraph 6(a) of the Convention. The Government had referred in its earlier report to a European Community Court of Justice Judgement of 5 May 1983, according to which a benefit such as the one provided under article 26 of Law No. 153 of 30 April 1969 in principle falls within the scope of social security, inasmuch as, on the one hand, it confers a legally defined position on the beneficiaries, apart from any individual or discretionary assessment of personal situations or needs and, on the other hand, it helps to ensure supplementary income to the beneficiaries of social security benefits. The Committee has noted this information with interest. In the light of this judgement and these comments, the Committee once again expresses the hope that the Government will re-examine its position with regard to the true character and designation of "social pension" with a view to applying the Convention and that it will indicate progress made in this respect in its next report.