Memo: Court of Justice rules Hungarian forced early retirement of judges incompatible with EU law

On the request of the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union have ruled that the abrupt and radical lowering of the retirement age for judges, prosecutors and notaries in Hungary violates EU equal treatment rules (Directive 2000/78/EC).

According to the Court's judgment (case C-286/12), the forced early retirement of hundreds of judges and prosecutors in the course of 2012 as well the notaries in 2014 under a new Hungarian law constitutes unjustified age discrimination. On the basis of its new Fundamental Law, Hungary had issued implementing legislation lowering the mandatory retirement age for judges, prosecutors and public notaries from 70 to 62 years within a very short transition period. In January 2012, the European Commission therefore decided to launch infringement proceedings and referred the case to the Court. Following a request from the Commission and given the urgency of the matter, the Court dealt with this case in an expedited procedure, issuing its judgment in less than five months.

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