Employers in the European Union can prohibit religious clothing or the display of religious symbols provided they apply the policy universally without distinguishing between faiths, the European Court of Justice has ruled.

A ban would not constitute direct discrimination as long as it was applied in “a general and undifferentiated way,” the Luxembourg-based institution said.

Its decision arose from a four-year dispute in Belgium between a social housing company and a Muslim woman applying for an internship.

The company said she would not be able to wear a headscarf because it did not allow employees to wear hats, caps or head coverings of any kind.

The court added that indirect indiscrimination could result if an employer's policy results “in persons adhering to a particular religion or belief being put at a particular disadvantage”.

The employers would have to show their policy was “objectively justified by a legitimate aim” and the means of achieving it “appropriate and necessary”.