I besvarelse af de to spørgsmål henviste Domstolen til sin afgørelse i forenede sager 48,106 og 107/88 — Achterberg-te Riele, hvori den havde fastslået, at direktivets personelle anvendelsesområde var fastsat i artikel 2, hvorefter det fandt anvendelse på den erhvervsaktive befolkning, på personer, der søgte arbejde, samt på arbejdstagere, hvis erhvervsarbejde var blevet afbrudt af en af de i artikel 3, stk. 1, litra a), nævnte risici.
In replying to both questions, the Court mentioned its ruling in Joined Cases 48, 106 and 107/88 — Ach-terberg-te Riele, in which it had held that the scope of the Directive with regard to persons was determined by Article 2, under which the Directive applied to the working population, those seeking employment, as well as those whose employment had been inter rupted by one of the risks specified in Article 3(1 )(a).