The Principle of Equality in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and Age Discrimination

Abstract

The place of age as a distinctive protected characteristic is examined within the general system of non-discrimination at EU as well as national level. Perhaps one of the most intriguing questions to answer is: How are rules applied in practice? Differentiation in treatment based on age remains common both in Austria and Hungary. Some key areas such as mandatory retirement for judges, general schemes of salary in the public sector, expiration of rights and retroactive effect of Directive 2000/87/EC have been recently put to the test of the CJEU.