Coordination: Purpose, Actors and Administrative Challenges

15 September 2011trESS Irish seminar, Dublin

Pr. J.-Ph. Lhernould, TRESS visiting expert

Impact of national rules on migrants

• Migration patterns– EU citizen having his professional career in at least two Member

States (MS) and claiming retirement pension(s)– EU citizen residing in one MS and working in another one– EU citizen working in one MS and family residing in another MS– EU citizen staying in another MS for holidays or for a short work

mission– EU citizen having his professional career in one or more MS and

retiring in another MS– EU citizen losing job in one MS and seeking job in another MS– EU non-active person moving to another MS – etc.

Impact of national rules on migrants

• National schemes are based on the principle of territoriality

• Cross-border situations may therefore create problems for migrants• No affiliation or double affiliation• No entitlement to benefits • Fragmented contribution record• Loss of benefits if move to another country

Impact of national rules on migrants

• Coordination rules aim at facilitating international careers and mobility within the EU– Coordination rules are intended to prevent the migrant

worker, as a result of his migration from one MS to another, from losing the benefit of his periods of employment and thus being placed at a disadvantage in relation to the position in which he would have been if he had completed his entire career in only one MS

– Coordination rules facilitate mobility of non-active persons (pensioners, students, tourists, etc.) by ensuring that their mobility will not affect their right to be insured or to be entitled to social security benefits

Free movement of workers and citizens

• Coordination of social security introduced in 1958 • To remove obstacles to freedom of movement of

workers between Member States

• In support of objectives of the Treaty of Rome (internal market)

Harmonisation versus coordination

• Drafters of Treaty of Rome considered two approaches to solving the problems of social security for people exercising their right of free movement within the Community: - One to harmonise the different social security systems of

the member countries - The other to coordinate them

• Opted for coordination – coordination links social security systems in such a way that national competence is preserved

The Treaty, Art.48• The European Parliament and the Council shall (…) adopt

such measures in the field of social security as necessary to provide freedom of movement for workers; to this end, they shall make arrangements to secure for employed and self- employed migrant workers and their dependants:– (a) aggregation, for the purpose of acquiring and retaining the

right to benefit and of calculating the amount of benefit, of all periods taken into account under the laws of the several countries;

– (b) payment of benefits to persons resident in the territories of Member States.

II. ActorsThe EU social security legislation•Co-decision procedure: • Council: social security ministries of 27 • European Parliament• On equal footing: 2 readings + conciliation committee• + Opinion of national Parliaments: eight-week period

shall elapse between a draft legislative act being made available to national Parliaments and the date when it is placed on a provisional agenda for the Council for its adoption of a position under a legislative procedure

European Commission

• Put forward legislative proposals– Internal resources: DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, unit B4

(free movement of workers Coordination of social security schemes)…but other DGs’ interested in social security

– External resources: reports by independent experts

• Establishes institutional links:– between Council and Parliament– With the Administrative Commission (AC)

• Guardian of the Treaties: ensures Regulations are implemented

Administrative Commission• The AC for the Coordination of Social Security Systems

(art. 77 of 883/2004): – composed of a government representative of each of the MS, assisted,

where necessary, by expert advisers. – Representatives of the EC attend the meetings in an advisory capacity. – Secretariat provided by the EC.

• Deals with administrative questions and questions of interpretation arising from the coordination regulation.

• Facilitates the uniform application of regulations, in particular by promoting exchange of experience and best administrative practices

Administrative Commission• Helps to reach agreements on questions of principle

which have arisen between the MS• Decides on the technical and procedural details for

exchanging information between MS’ institutions, which is necessary for awarding/paying benefits or for determining the legislation applicable

• Need for amendments and changes to the coordination regulation can be discussed

• Makes interpretative decisions and recommendations

Advisory Committee

• Composition: – one government representative / MS – one representative from the trade unions / MS – one representative from the employers' organisations / MS

• Powers and functions:– to examine general questions or questions of principle and

problems arising from the implementation of the regulations

– to formulate opinions on such matters for the Administrative Commission and proposals for any revisions of the said provisions

III. Administrative challenges• Principle of good administration

• Authorities and institutions of the Member States shall lend one another their good offices and act as though implementing their own legislation

• Authorities and institutions of the Member States may communicate directly with one another and with the persons involved or their representatives

• Institutions and persons shall have a duty of mutual information and cooperation to ensure the correct implementation of this Regulation

• The institutions, in accordance with the principle of good administration, shall respond to all queries within a reasonable period of time and shall in this connection provide the persons concerned with any information required for exercising the rights conferred on them by this Regulation (Art, 76 BR)

Good administration

• Persons concerned must inform the institutions of the competent Member State and of the Member State of residence as soon as possible of any change in their personal or family situation which affects their right to benefits under this Regulation

• Authorities, institutions and tribunals of one Member State may not reject applications or other documents submitted to them on the grounds that they are written in an official language of another Member State (Art, 76 BR)

Good administration• Backed up by electronic exchange of data (EESSI)

• to exchange social security information only by electronic means• a communication system allowing national social security institutions to

exchange social security information in a secure manner concerning persons covered by the regulation. Information is exchanged via structured electronic documents (SED), replacing the paper E-forms used under old regulation.

– EESSI consists of 3 parts:• a central unit (CN) to be hosted in the Commission Data Centre and including

the EESSI Directory Services • the international parts of the access points of the Member States (up to 5 for

each Member State) which are connected via a safe network with the CN and through which all electronic data have to be exchanged between Member States;

• an application to be deployed in the national administrations.

Administrative challenges: national level

Organisational questions• more intense collaboration with other MS• bad organisation can be more harmful than bad

legislation: need for modernising local, regional and central administration.

• bad national coordination also has an impact on international coordination: lot of administration is required (eg. sickness benefits) so administration needs to be prepared (data exchange) with indication of competent institutions (who delivers certificates ? centralised or decentralised ? )

Administrative challenges : national level

Staff requirement• increase of people involved• workload and involvement in several fields (see eg. Adm.

Com, Audit board, Consultative Committee, Technical Committee, Social working Party council, relation with bilateral countries

• follow-up of ECJ case law and EU political agenda (increasing soft law = non binding legislation)

Administrative challenges : national level

• Administration needs to be prepared to handle international files, sent information, language aspects, arrange financial matters

• All other fields of social security (equal treatment, supplementary pensions, SPC, Missoc, impact internal market) ... closely related to Regulations, so internal structure might reflect that and not artificial split

Where to find practical information?

• DG EMPL: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=849

• TRESS:– http://www.tress-network.org/

• Brochure: “The EU provisions on social security - Your rights when moving within the European Union - Update 2010”– http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en

&pubId=486&type=2&furtherPubs=no