12 Coordination of social security schemes
| (a)
(19764)
5133/99
COM(98) 779
(b)
(24821)
12094/03
COM(03) 468
(c)
(24953)
12465/03
COM(03) 596
(d)
(25138)
16066/03
—
|
Draft Council Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No.1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community.
Draft Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No.1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community and Regulation (EEC) No. 574/72 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71.
Amended draft Regulation on coordination of social security systems.
Draft Regulation amending Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71 on the application of social security systems to employed persons, self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community.
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| Legal base | Articles 42 and 308 EC; co-decision; unanimity
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| Document originated | (d) 12 December 2003
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| Deposited in Parliament | (d) 15 December 2003
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| Department | Work and Pensions
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| Basis of consideration | (d) Minister's letter and EM of 12 December 2003
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| Previous Committee Reports | (a) HC 34-xviii (1998-99), paragraph 2 (5 May 1999), HC 34-xxvii (1998-99), paragraph 1 (21 July 1999), and HC 23-iv (1999-2000), paragraph 2 (15 December 1999)
(b) HC 63-xxxiii (2002-03), paragraph 16 (15 October 2003)
(a), (b) and (c) HC 63-xxxvii (2002-03), paragraph 4 (12 November 2003)
(d) None
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| To be discussed in Council | 22 December 2003
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | (All) Cleared
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The documents
12.1 Regulation (EEC) No.1408/71 makes provision for the coordination
of Member States' social security schemes in order to protect
the rights of people moving within the European Union.
12.2 In December 1998, the Commission presented a
proposal (document (a)) for the simplification and modernisation
of the 1971 Regulation. The proposal has been under discussion
ever since.
12.3 Last July, the Commission made a further proposal
(document (b)) to amend Regulation 1408/71 so as to reflect
recent changes in national legislation and decisions of the European
Court of Justice.
12.4 In September, the European Parliament adopted
47 amendments to the Commission's proposal of December 1998. Document
(c) sets out the European Parliament's amendments and explains
why the Commission was willing to accept most of them but not
others.
12.5 When we considered documents (a), (b) and (c)
in November, we concluded that we would be unable to reach a view
on any of the three documents until the disagreements on all three
of them had been settled and we could see a complete revised text.[22]
12.6 Document (d) supersedes documents (a), (b) and
(c). It is the revised text of the proposed Regulation except
for three of the Annexes. The revised text reflects the agreements
reached by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer
Affairs Council (ESPHCA) on 1 December. The revised text also
reflects the ESPHCA's conclusions on the amendments the European
Parliament had proposed.
The Government's view
12.7 In his letter of 12 December, the Parliamentary
Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions
(Mr Chris Pond) tells us that four main issues needed to be resolved
by the ESPHCA on 1 December. They were:
- which Member State should be
responsible for paying unemployment and family benefits;
- retention of unanimity in decision-making by
the Administrative Commission on coordination of social security
systems;
- recovery of overpaid benefits and underpaid
contributions; and
- transitional provisions.
12.8 The Minister says that the Presidency put a
text to the Council on 1 December which reflected an agreed position
on all of these matters except the question of the Member State
which should be responsible for the payment of unemployment, family
and healthcare benefits to frontier and seasonal workers who have
worked in one Member State but live in another.
12.9 The Council reached agreement on a compromise
which provides that:
- the Member State of residence
would be responsible for healthcare and family benefits;
- the Member State of residence would be responsible
for paying unemployment benefit but would be reimbursed for up
to five months by the State of former employment if the unemployed
person had worked in the State of employment for 12 of the preceding
24 months; and
- Luxembourg would have the right to reach bilateral
agreements with Belgium, France and Germany on the reimbursement
of unemployment benefit payments.
12.10 The Minister also tells us that there is agreement
on eight of the eleven Annexes. The remaining three Annexes are
more complex or contentious. They are:
- Annex II which deals with bilateral
agreements remaining in force;
- Annex X which deals with special non-contributory
benefits; and
- Annex XI which contains special provisions for
the application of the legislation in each Member State.
12.11 It appeared unlikely that an agreed position
could be reached on these three Annexes by 22 December. Accordingly,
the Presidency proposed that the Annexes should be left blank
for now, the contents to be discussed further and settled before
the rest of the Regulation comes into effect.
12.12 The Minister regards this as a sensible and
pragmatic approach. The Government has no particular concerns
about either Annex II or Annex XI (although some other Member
States have). But the Government has serious concerns about Annex
X because it wishes to ensure that UK disability benefits remain
unexportable.
12.13 The Irish delegation has indicated that its
Presidency will aim to achieve completion of the three outstanding
Annexes before May 2004. When they have been drafted, the proposed
texts of the Annexes will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.
12.14 The Minister's Explanatory Memorandum of 12
December brings us up to date on the 47 amendments to the previous
draft of the Regulation which had been proposed by the European
Parliament. As we noted when we considered those amendments in
November,[23] the Government
found only a minority of them unacceptable. The Minister tells
us that on 1 December the Council, with the Government's concurrence,
accepted most of the amendments in whole or part because they
reflected decisions already made by the ESPHCA.
12.15 The Minister concludes his letter to us as
follows:
"I know that the Committee has been concerned
about the length of time it has taken to complete work on the
simplification and modernisation of Regulation 1408/71. This has
been an intensive four and a half years' effort requiring a line
by line examination of text as it applies to the very different
social security systems of Member States. We have now reached
the stage where the bulk of the work has been completed and we
now have a text which is acceptable to the UK. This is the text
which will go to the 22 December Council for political agreement.
I would very much hope that the Committee would be minded to agree
to lift its scrutiny reserve to enable the agreement to be reached.
"I very much share the Committee's views about
the need to resolve differences about exportability of tax-funded
benefits. However, this aspect has been removed from the text
going to Council and will be dealt with as a separate dossier
under the Irish Presidency…Any agreement on the lifting of
the reserve on the simplification dossier would be on the clear
understanding that our Parliamentary reserve on the outstanding
items will be maintained. I hope that this gives the Committee
the reassurance it seeks".
Conclusion
12.16 We are glad that, after so much time and
effort, agreement is near on this important proposal to simplify
and modernise the Union legislation on social security systems.
We are grateful to the Minister and his Department for keeping
us regularly and helpfully informed of the progress of the negotiations.
12.17 We share the view that it is sensible to
reach political agreement now on all but Annexes II, X and XI
of document (d). We have no questions to put to the Minister on
the text of the document and we clear it from scrutiny.
12.18 Revised texts of Annexes II, X and XI do
not yet exist. When they are available, we shall need to consider
them, and particularly the proposed treatment of UK disability
benefits. Meanwhile, we keep under scrutiny the matters to be
covered by the three Annexes.
12.19 Document (d) supersedes documents (a),
(b) and (c) and so we clear them from scrutiny.
22 See HC 63-xxxvii (2002-03), paragraph 4 (12 November
2003). Back
23
See HC 63-xxxvii (2002-03), paragraph 4 (12 November 2003). Back
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