Facts
Maisie B., born in 1927, married, a British and Canadian national living in Montreal (Canada), applied in the course of March 1990 to be granted an old-age pension from the OASIA. She indicated that she had been gainfully employed in Switzerland from 1 November 1951 to 31 May 1953. The Swiss Compensation Office rejected the application, as the applicant had Canadian nationality and there was no convention with Canada. The appellant appealed on the basis of her British nationality, but the appeal was dismissed by the Single Judge of the Federal Appeals Commission for Old-Age, Survivors' and Disability Insurance for persons residing abroad. The appellant then filed an administrative law appeal with the Federal Supreme Court.Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court first examined the question of the appellant's effective nationality, applying Art. 23(2) PILA by analogy. It then specified that, when the entitlement to an ordinary old-age or survivors' pension depends on the nationality of the insured person, the decisive nationality is that of the person concerned either at the time of payment of contributions to the OASIA or at the time of the opening of the entitlement to the pension. If the insured person has multiple nationalities, including Swiss nationality or the nationality of a country that has concluded a social security agreement with Switzerland, the latter nationality is always considered decisive.
Applying these principles to the case at hand, the Federal…