Council Directive 2000/78 prohibits all forms of discrimination in employment and occupation based on age (among other grounds). Since its adoption in 2000, the European Court of Justice has had the opportunity to interpret the provisions on the prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of age on eight occasions, while five further cases remain pending. The issues at stake in these cases are compulsory retirement ages, maximum recruitment ages, young workers (not taking into account service before a certain age for employment benefit purposes), national rules allowing the application of fixed term contracts to workers over a certain age or the application of pension schemes. The briefing will discuss the emerging interpretation of Article 6 of Council Directive 2000/78 by the European Court of Justice, as well as the particular problems in Germany with the transposition of the Directive in respect of age.