Judgment

Case C-57/12

Decision:

"On those grounds, the Court (First Chamber) hereby rules:

1.      Article 2(2)(f) of Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market must be interpreted as meaning that the exclusion of healthcare services from the scope of that directive covers any activity intended to assess, maintain or restore the state of health of patients, where that activity is carried out by healthcare professionals recognised as such by the Member State concerned, regardless of the ways in which the facilities in which that care is provided are organised and financed or whether they are public or private. It is for the national court to ascertain whether day-care centres and night-care centres are excluded from the scope of that directive, having regard to the nature of the activities carried out by the healthcare professionals in those centres and whether those activities constitute a principal part of the services offered by those centres.

2.      Article 2(2)(j) of Directive 2006/123 must be interpreted as meaning that the exclusion of social services from the scope of that directive includes any activity relating, inter alia, to the care and assistance of elderly persons, where that activity is carried out by a private service provider which has been mandated by the State by means of an act conferring, in a clear and transparent manner, a genuine obligation to provide such services under specific conditions. It is for the national court to ascertain whether day-care centres and night-care centres are excluded from the scope of Directive 2006/123, on the basis of the nature of the principle activities of care and assistance of elderly persons carried out in those centres, and the status of those centres under the applicable Belgian legislation."