Fact Check: did the European Court of Justice increase the price of insurance for women?

Michael Gove, UK Justice Secretary, in a speech on 19 April 2016 at Vote Leave said that 'The European Court now has the perfect legal excuse to grab more power – the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which goes even further than the older post-war European Convention on Human Rights … It has even used the charter to increase the price of insurance for women'.

The author questions this assertion. She suggests that the ECJ did not use the EU Charter to increase the price of insurance for women, although its ruling in ECJ Case C-236/09 Test-Achats in 2011 may have caused some adjustments in insurance industry pricing. On the contrary, the court’s ruling in Test-Achats constitutes another step on the long fight for equality between the sexes in which the ECJ has played a leading role – a consequence of which is that men cannot be discriminated against.

ESO: Background information: Judgment in Case C-236/09. Association belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL and Others v Conseil des ministres http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-judgment-in-case-c-236-09-association-belge-des-consommateurs-test-achats-asbl-and-others-v-conseil-des-ministres/

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

ESO: Background information: Michael Gove: ‘The Facts of Life Say Leave’. Why Britain and Europe will be better off after we vote leave http://www.europeansources.info/record/michael-gove-the-facts-of-life-say-leave-why-britain-and-europe-will-be-better-off-after-we-vote-leave/

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