New European Regulation of Social Security

December 2010 

 

 

The coordination of social security systems aims at facilitating the free movement of citizens in the European Union (EU). This coordination is founded on ...

 

 

The coordination of social security systems aims at facilitating the free movement of citizens in the European Union (EU). This coordination is founded on the cooperation of national social security administrations. In this respect, this Regulation improves and completes the basic principles established previously in Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71.

The new Regulation applies to all Member State nationals who are or who have been covered by the social security legislation of one of the Member States, as well as to the members of their family and their survivors. This means that not only employees, self-employed persons, civil servants, students and pensioners, but also non-active persons will be protected by the coordination rules.

The provisions of the new Regulation apply to all the traditional branches of social security – sickness, maternity, accidents at work, occupational diseases, invalidity benefits, unemployment benefits, family benefits, retirement and pre-retirement benefits, and death grants. Hence the scope of the Regulation is extended to cover statutory pre-retirement schemes, which means that the beneficiaries of such schemes will have a guarantee that benefits will be paid, will be covered for health care and will receive family benefits even if they reside in another Member State. This is quite a new feature of this Regulation.

The Regulation also recognizes the principle of the aggregation of periods, pursuant to which periods of insurance, employment or residence in the legislation of a Member State are taken into account in all the other Member States. This means that a Member State must take into account, for the purposes of the acquisition of the right to benefits, periods of insurance, employment, self-employment or residence in another Member State.

In case of person who pursues a paid activity in a Member State on behalf of an employer, who normally carries out their activities there, and who is sent by this employer to carry out work on their behalf in another Member State, shall continue to be subject to the legislation of the first Member State, on the condition that the anticipated duration of this work does not exceed 24 months and that said person is not sent to replace another person.

 

Source: official page of the EU