Request for a preliminary ruling from the Rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Mechelen (Belgium) lodged on 7 June 2013 — Openbaar Ministerie v Edgard Jan De Clercq and Others

(Case C-315/13)

2013/C 252/32

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Rechtbank van eerste aanleg te Mechelen

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Openbaar Ministerie

Defendants: Edgard Jan De Clercq, Emiel Amede Rosa De Clercq, Nancy Genevieve Wilhelmina Rottiers, Ermelinda Jozef Martha Tampère, Thermotec NV

Question referred

Must the provisions of Articles 56 and 57 TFEU (previously Articles 49 and 50 EC Treaty) and Article 3(1) and 3(10) of Directive 96/71/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 1996 concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services (OJ 1997 L 18, p. 1), whether or not read in conjunction with Article 19 of Directive 2006/123/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2006 on services in the internal market (OJ 2006 L 376, p. 36), be interpreted as precluding Article 141 of the Programmawet (I) (Programme Law (I)) of 27 December 2006 under which a person for whom work is performed, either directly or through subcontracting, by posted employees or posted trainees, is placed under an obligation to make a declaration to the Rijksdienst voor Sociale Zekerheid (National Office for Social Security) by electronic means (or failing that, by fax or by letter), prior to the commencement of the employment of those persons, of the identification data of those persons who do not have the possibility of submitting the acknowledgement of receipt delivered to their employer of his prior declaration, in conjunction with Article 157 of the Programmawet (I) of 27 December 2006 and Article 183(1)(1) of the Sociaal Strafwetboek (Social Criminal Code), which penalises non-compliance with that obligation by criminal sanctions?