Federal Department of Home Affairs Federal Social Insurance Office Intrenational Affairs, Agreements Prerequisites for a Social Security Agreement (SSA) Stephan Cueni Head of International Agreements Zagreb, 16 February 2011
Overview Political conditions Material conditions Practical conditions The Social Security Agreements of Switzerland in the light of the prerequisites 2
Political conditions Recognition of the contracting partner Importance of an agreement, assessment on the basis of the: potential number of persons concerned; social, economic, financial and political interests/advantages; general national and foreign policies; political acceptance; 3
Material conditions Feasibility of an agreement: assessment on the basis of the: existence of a functioning legal social security system with defined benefits and coverage; ability to coordinate the national schemes; need to coordinate the national schemes convenient type of agreement 4
Practical requirements Applicability of an agreement: assessment on the basis of the national social security infrastructure: competent authorities; competent institutions; contact point/liaison body for a smooth international cooperation; existence of officially recognized health care providers; implementing tools: registers of inhabitants and civil status; use of foreign languages/alphabets and translation; international bank transfers/secure payments; data protection 5
Particular challenges Provisions of the agreement should be applicable in practice; Identification of the beneficiary; Verification of the status of the beneficiary; Reliability and correctness of medical examinations, reports, life certificates, certificates on civil and/or family status, education certificates, income assessments Risk of fraud and error; Insufficient exchange of information; Dispute settlement; 6
Assessment tools Analysis of the national social security system of the possible contracting partner; Submission of questionnaires to the possible contracting partner; Bilateral exploratory expert talks; will mostly lead to expectations concerning the conclusion of an agreement. 7
Network of CH- Social Security Agreements 8
Social Security Agreements of Switzerland in relation to EU-Member States: annex II of the bilateral agreement on free movement of workers (coordination based on EU-Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 ); in relation to EFTA-Member States: appendix 2 annex K of the EFTA-agreement (coordination based on EU- Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72); in relation to non EU/EFTA-States: 14 bilateral agreements (AUS, CDN, CL, HR, IND*, IL, JP*, ME*, MK, PH, SE*,TR, USA, YU*); 9
CH-Social Security Agreements in the light of the prerequisites Agreement CH-EU : AT, BE, BG,CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FR, FI, UK, GR, HU, IT, IE, LT, LV, LU, MT, NL, PL, PO, RO, SE, SK, SL EFTA-Agreement: IS, LI, NO Bilateral agreements: AU, CA, CL, HR, IL, IN, JP*, ME*, MK, PH, SE*,TR, USA, Ex-YU (BA); 10
Conclusion Large number of prerequisites for a SSA; Systematic overall assessment recommended; Practical conditions should not be neglected; Some SSA do not fulfill all the requirements; Difficulties can therefore arise in the application of the SSA and reduce their political acceptance. 11