At
present, changing job or country can mean losing occupational
pension benefits in some Member States. But today’s proposal would
mean avoiding major losses and in many cases allowing benefits to
transfer with the worker across sectors and countries in the
EU.
The Directive will help the growing numbers of EU workers who
are switching jobs. In the original 15 Member States, one worker in
three changes jobs every five years and 9% of employees change
employer each year.
The Directive will support the Commission's 'Jobs and Growth'
strategy by making it easier for workers to move jobs and
countries. As worker flexibility increases, so do the opportunities
to fit the right skills in the right parts of the labour market
across the EU. The Directive comes at a time of increased focus on
supplementary pensions in the EU, with many countries introducing
reforms in anticipation of the effects of ageing populations.
Vladimír Špidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social
Affairs and Equal Opportunities, said: "If we expect workers to be
mobile and flexible we cannot punish them if they change jobs.
Pension rights must be fully transferable. This Directive has been
long overdue."
This proposal is designed to reduce the obstacles to mobility
within and between Member States caused by present supplementary
pension schemes provisions. These obstacles relate to: the
conditions of acquisition of pension rights (such as different
qualifying periods before which workers acquires rights), the
conditions of preservation of dormant pension rights (such as
pension rights losing value over time) and the transferability of
acquired rights. The proposal also seeks to improve the information
given to workers on how mobility may affect supplementary pension
rights.
Once signed into law, a regular review will take place to see
how the Directive's provisions are working. A separate review will
take place after 10 years of Member States' option to exempt book
reserve schemes and support relief funds, commonly found in
countries such as Germany.
This exemption option, along with the one for pay-as-you-go
schemes, was introduced to avoid the possibility of transferability
leading to financial difficulties for schemes or undertakings.
Exemptions also allow these schemes a smoother adaptation in taking
on the Directive's more flexible labour market requirements.
The Commission's proposal deals only with those pensions related
to the workplace (occupational pensions) – laws allowing for the
mobility of state (statutory) pensions have been in place under EU
legislation for over 30 years. Nor does it deal with tax or
indexation of pension issues. However, the Commission services will
continue to investigate the consequences of tax legislation on the
portability of supplementary pension rights.
Agreement on the wording of the proposal took some time to
arrive due to the complexity and diversity of the supplementary
pension provisions across the EU and the extensive consultations
the Commission engaged in. These took in the opinions of the
pension forum, which includes the social partners (employer and
employee representatives), the Member States and pension industry
figures.
