The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU is trying to revive negotiations with the European Parliament to coordinate social security systems. According to information gleaned over the last few days, it has submitted a new proposal informally to the European Parliament negotiating group to unblock the negotiations on prior notification before sending a worker to another Member State by proposing two types of notification.
Thus, on prior notification (Article 15 of Regulation 987/2009), the Presidency wants to move closer to the European Parliament’s position, it says, according to the document seen by EUROPE, and impose a mandatory prior notification except for business trips.
The notification would be made digitally with respect to the regulation on the single digital gateway as soon as it enters into force. Then the competent authority receiving the notification would issue an acknowledgement/receipt document, which would also be done digitally. This document should contain the basic information and indicate that the notification was sent before the worker started working in the host Member State.
However, the Presidency proposes that the A1 form (the certificate concerning the social security legislation applicable to the worker) should only be issued for postings of a certain number of days, without specifying how many (it says “X” days). In the latter situation, the document/receipt proposed by the Presidency would also be issued to ensure that the notification has already been made in case the A1 form has not been issued before the activity starts.
Thus, the Presidency introduces two types of prior notification: one for short stays not requiring the publication of an A1 form and another for longer stays requiring the publication of an A1 form. Little information seems to have been leaked about the content of the acknowledgement/receipt document.
Furthermore, regarding the definition of pluriactivity to determine the place of activity, the Presidency proposes to delete the criterion dedicated to working time. In the Council’s view, the “working time” criterion, as proposed by the European Parliament, would be difficult to apply in practice and would entail an excessive administrative burden both for employers and for social security institutions.
Moreover, cumulative working time would not be a reliable criterion for highly mobile workers such as those in the international transport sector, says the Presidency, and could directly impact their social security rights. This criterion could lead to a situation where the same company could have different head offices depending on the employee’s individual situation, which would lead to a fragmentation of the worker’s contribution during their career, the Presidency explains.
The European Parliament negotiating group is expected to meet on Monday 31 May to decide on the proposal to potentially resume the negotiations, which stalled last March (see EUROPE 12669/24). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)