1. Activities of the Member States in the
Administrative Commission
on the implementation of the
new Regulations in the field of
coordination of the social
security systems
Cristina ABAGIU, Counsellor for European Affairs,
Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Protection
Bucharest, November 3rd, 2011

2. • In 2010 and 2011 the Member States took
part intensively to the activities in the
Administrative Commission to complete the
set of tools available for social security
institutions in order to provide guidance and
to facilitate their understanding and
application of Regulations (EC) No 883/2004
and 987/2009.

3. • At the same time, within the Administrative
Commission, the Member States devoted
their energy to discussing strategic issues, in
particular as regards the relationship of the
social security coordination rules with other
legal instruments having an impact on free
movement of persons.

4. New and Revised Interpretative Decisions and
Recommendations adopted by the
Administrative Commission
• By entering into force on 1 May 2010 of the new
Regulations in the field of coordination of the social
security systems, almost 70 interpretative Decisions
and Recommendations of the Administrative
Commission on the implementation of Regulations
(EEC) No 1408/71 and 574/72 had to be reviewed
and adapted.

5. New and Revised Interpretative
Decisions and Recommendations
• This process, which started in 2009, has been
successfully completed:
• 25 new Decisions and Recommendations of the
Administrative Commission have been published in
the Official Journal between April and June 2010.
• Since December 2010, two additional decisions (H6
and S8) have been adopted and published in the
Official Journal of the European Union and the
complete Practical Guide on Applicable Legislation.

6. Legal questions arising from
Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and 987/2009
• In addition to the formal decisions which are
published in the Official Journal of the
European Union, the Administrative
Commission also takes decisions and adopts
guidance which are not published there but
rather reported in the minutes of the
meetings or published by other means
(usually on the European Commission's
website on social security coordination) as
separate documents.

7. Legal questions arising from
Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and 987/2009
• Extensive work has been brought to a successful
end in the field of applicable legislation.
• Guidance on the posting provisions and
Guidance for situations where an activity is
performed in two or more Member States was
adopted by the Administrative Commission.
• Together, these two elements form the Practical
Guide on applicable legislation.

8. Legal questions arising from
Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and 987/2009
• As for the transport sector, a monitoring
procedure and questionnaire in order to
identifying practices and possible issues to
determine applicable legislation for
international transport was presented by the
Secretariat in the 328th meeting of the
Administrative Commission (AC Note 476/11).

9. Legal questions arising from
Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and 987/2009
• Child-raising periods (new Article 44 of
Regulation (EC) No 987/2009): in the AC
Working Party meeting on 14 April 2011, the
MS representatives had the opportunity to
discuss extensively this new provision and
held a first exchange of views on a common
interpretation of how these periods should be
defined and taken into account.

10. Legal questions arising from
Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and 987/2009
• Reimbursement mechanisms between
Member States for unemployment benefits
provided to frontier workers (new Article
65(6) and (7) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004:
the MS discussed extensively in the AC
meetings the interpretation of these
provisions which aim at distributing the costs
between the MS of residence and the MS of
last activity.

11. Miscellaneous Amendments 2011
• At its 327th meeting in June, the
Administrative Commission discussed the
proposals from the Member States for
Miscellaneous Amendments 2011 to
Regulations (EC) Nos 883/2004 and 987/2009.
• Traditionally, this exercise is carried out in
order to reflect legal changes at national level
and take stock of recent developments in
cross-border mobility which can affect social
security coordination.

12. Miscellaneous Amendments 2011
• The proposals for non-substantial change of a
technical nature put forward by the Member States
may be included in a Commission proposal for an
amending regulation.
• This is part of an annual exercise which will lead to
the preparation of a formal proposal by the
European Commission for a Commission Regulation
and a Regulation of the European Parliament and of
the Council based on the proposals from the
Commission and Member States.

13. Other ongoing strategic discussions
• Social security coordination is not isolated from
other policy areas where free movement of persons
is a key principle. Therefore, in the Administrative
Commission MS are discussing the inter-relation
between social security coordination rules and other
legal instruments, such as the Residence Directive
(Directive 2004/38/EC on the right of citizens of the
Union and their family members to move and reside
freely within the territory of the Member-States) or
Cross-border healthcare (Directive 2011/24/EU).

14. Other ongoing strategic discussions
• In this respect, on the 328th Administrative
Commission meeting under point V.
"Relationship between Regulation (EC) No
883/2004 and Directive 2004/38/EC“, has
been presented the
“trESS analytical study 2011 on social
security coverage of non-active persons
moving to another Member State”
(AC Note 471/11)

15. Other ongoing strategic discussions
• The AC Working Party of 4 October 2011 was
dedicated to the examination of issues related
to cross-border healthcare, in the context of
the forthcoming transposition of the directive.
• In addition, ongoing discussions include a
reflection on the concept of long-term care
benefits, with a view to examining how these
benefits could be defined and how social
security coordination could apply to them.

16. Monitoring of the EESSI (Electronic Exchange of
Social Security Information) Project
• In the past two years, the Administrative Commission
has been very busy monitoring the overall progress
of the EESSI project, with regular reports being made
at its meetings.
• At its October 2011 meeting, a comprehensive report
on the overall status of the project was presented to
the Administrative Commission by the Commission
and the EESSI Steering committee:
“EESSI Progress Report” of 31 August 2011
(AC Note 329/11).

17. Monitoring of the EESSI project
• In addition to the Technical Commission, the
Administrative Commission is supported by the EESSI
Steering Committee, in which experts from the
Member States and from the Commission meet.
• The role of this EESSI Steering Committee is in
particular to bring in experience and expertise in the
overall monitoring of the project, to follow-up on the
implementation of EESSI in Member States and to
give advice to the Administrative Commission for the
strategic orientations.

18. Monitoring of the EESSI project
• Several elements of the EESSI project on which work
in the Administrative Commission is carried out:
- Agreed on the format and the content of the
Portable Documents (PD) that will be delivered to
the citizens, providing information and certification
with regards to their rights.
- Review and finalisation of the new Structured
Electronic Documents (SEDs) that will replace the E-
forms. For this purpose the Administrative
Commission has set up several Ad Hoc Groups.

19. Monitoring of the EESSI project
• Steering preparations at national level for
implementing EESSI project and ensuring
cooperation between Member States, on the
basis of the recommendations of the EESSI
Steering Committee and the Technical
Commission.

20. Monitoring of the EESSI project
• On this basis, the Administrative Commission
discussed on the extension of the duration of
the transitional period which Member States
can use in order to put in place successfully all
practical arrangements for electronic
exchange of social security data and adopted
in its last meeting Decision E3 concerning the
transitional period as defined in Article 95 of
Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009.

21. Enhanced Cooperation under the
new Regulations
• One of the key features of the new social
security coordination rules is enhanced
cooperation between Member States and
between institutions in the Member States,
in order to exchange of good practices and
reflect on common tools.

22. Enhanced Cooperation under the
new Regulations
• Two areas of cooperation were discussed
during 2010 and 2011:
- The external dimension of social security,
with a reflection on the possibility to develop
a common EU approach to bilateral social
security agreements with third countries.
- The measures against Fraud and Error:
based on the recommendations of two
reports from the Ad Hoc Group on combating
Fraud and Error - Decision H5.

23. Enhanced Cooperation under the
new Regulations
• Decision H5 aims to strengthening the
cooperation on combating fraud and error in
the context of the coordination rules.
• Measures against Fraud and Error:
investigations are being undertaken in order
to define possible ways of cooperation,
especially when it comes to the identification
of persons and to the notification of deceased
persons.

24. Thank you!