EUROPEAN COMMISSIONEMPL/01743/12 - EN
AdvC06/12Report of the Chair of the Administrative Commission on its activities
SECRETARIAT –20.09.2012
Orig. EN
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
FORTHE COORDINATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS
Subject:Report of the Chair of the Administrative Commission on the coordination of social security systems on its activities
Note from the Secretariat of 20 September 2012
This report covers the main activities of the Administrative Commission since the last meeting of the Advisory Committee on 20 October 2011. The Administrative Commission met on the following dates: 17 November 2011 (Working Party on recovery), 13-14December 2011, 18 April 2012, 14-15 March 2012, 18 April 2012 (Working Party on family benefits), 12-13 June 2012, 4 October (Working Party on applicable legislation) and 17-18 October 2012.
The main outcomes of the work of the Administrative Commission can be summarised as follows:
1. As regards the adoption of new interpretative texts, one new decision and one new recommendation were adopted:
- Decision No U4 of 13 December 2011 concerning the reimbursement procedures under Article 65(6) and (7) of Regulation (EC) No883/2004 and Article 70 of Regulation (EC) No987/2009 (OJ C 57, 25.2.2012, p. 4).
- Recommendation No S1 of 15 March 2012concerning financial aspects of cross-border living organ donations (OJ C 240, 10.8.2012, p. 3).
2. Following extensive discussions that took place on the social security coverage of non-active persons moving to another Member States, an agreement was found on a methodology aiming at identifying how the habitual residence test is applied. This exercise is necessary in order to take stock of the factual situation of the issue and to have a comprehensive understanding of how the current legal framework is functioning. An Ad-hoc Group was mandated by the Administrative Commission on 12 June 2012 to work on the issue and is expected to present the results of its work in February 2013.
3. The Administrative Commission started to reflect on the future evolution of the social security coordination rules in the field oflong-term care benefits and unemployment benefits. As regards long-term care, Member States provided comments on a report elaborated by trESS think tank and were invited to give their opinion on the various options for coordination of long-term care benefits, if possible with supportive data and statistics.As regards unemployment benefits, Member States welcomed the initiative of the Commission of opening a broad discussion on the current provisions in the unemployment field. A report currently being draftedby trESS will be presented at the meeting of the Administrative Commission in December 2012.
4. At the meeting in June 2012, the Commission presented an interpretative note drafted jointly by DG EMPL and DG SANCO which aims at accompanying Member States in the transposition of Directive 2011/24/EU on cross-border healthcare and clarifies its relationship withRegulation (EC) No 883/2004. The next step will consist of the elaboration of guidance documents for institutions and citizens which will support a smooth application of the two instruments. The Administrative Commission will continue to work on this issue.
5. A lot of attention was still devoted to international issues, especially in the context of the Commission's Communication on the external dimension of EU social security coordination (COM(2012) 153 final) and of an increasing interest by Member States in negotiating bilateral agreements with China.
As regards the relationship between EU social security coordination and bilateral agreements, the Commission recalled the supremacy of EU law and that, therefore, the social security coordination rules would always govern the situation whenever there is a cross-border element between Member States.
With the objective of strengthening cooperation at European level and achieving a more coherent approach to social security coordination with third countries, the Administrative Commission discussed several possible ways forward.
In the same spirit, a first informal meeting of Member States currently negotiating bilateral agreements with China took place.
Finally, the Administrative Commission agreed to continue the cooperation on social security coordination with Latin American and Caribbean countries.
6. The Administrative Commission started to examine the amendments made by Regulation (EU) No 465/2012 in the field of applicable legislation, which requires some clarification in the Practical Guide on applicable legislation. At the same time, Member States expressed a need to discuss the interpretation of some provisions on the determination of the applicable legislation. On this basis, the Cyprus Presidency proposed to devote the October 2012 Working Party to applicable legislation issues.
7. At the Working Party on family benefits, agreement was reached that it is not necessary for the Administrative Commission to adopt decisions taking over some elements of the obsolete Decisions Nos 147 and 150. Most importantly, a number of practical issues relating to the calculation and payment of the differential supplement were discussed.
8. Miscellaneous amendments
The Administrative Commission discussed requests for technical amendments to the social security coordination rules submitted by the Member States’ delegations and agreed that a number of them should be proposed by the Commission for adoption by the European Parliament and the Council and requested that the Commission amend certain entries into annexes to the coordination rules by way of Commission Regulation.
9. The Administrative Commission continued to perform a close monitoring of the EESSI Project
The work conducted in the course of autumn 2011 and spring 2012 has confirmed that there are certain gaps between the model that was developed for EESSI and the actual operational needs by clerks to process their business cases. During autumn 2011, aperiod of intensive testing took place, which also involved the pilot countries. The Technical Commission and Administrative Commission therefore agreed to a reflection period of three months to further assess the findings of the business model review and the results from the tests conducted by the pilot countries.In June, the Technical Commission and the Administrative Commission agreed that the reflection period has produced outcomes that necessitate that the business and technical requirements as well as the specifications for the baseline version of the EESSI system are reviewed.
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