This Directive lays down rules aimed at facilitating the exercise of the right of workers to freedom of movement between Member States by reducing the obstacles created by certain rules concerning supplementary pension schemes linked to an employment relationship.
Article 2 -
Scope
1. This Directive applies to supplementary pension schemes with the exception of schemes covered by Regulation (EC) No 883/2004.
2. This Directive does not apply to the following:
(a)
supplementary pension schemes that, on the date of entry into force of this Directive, no longer accept new active members and remain closed to them;
(b)
supplementary pension schemes that are subject to measures involving the intervention of administrative bodies established by national legislation or judicial authorities, which are intended to preserve or restore their financial situation, including winding-up proceedings. This exclusion shall not extend beyond the end of that intervention;
(c)
insolvency guarantee schemes, compensation schemes and national pension reserve funds; and
(d)
a one-off payment made by an employer to an employee at the end of that employee's employment relationship which is not related to retirement provision.
3. This Directive does not apply to invalidity and/or survivor's benefits attached to supplementary pension schemes, with the exception of the specific provisions of Articles 5 and 6 relating to survivor's benefits.
4. This Directive applies only to periods of employment falling after its transposition in accordance with Article 8.
5. This Directive does not apply to the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights of workers moving within a single Member State.
Article 3 -
Definitions
For the purposes of this Directive the following definitions apply:
(a)
'supplementary pension' means a retirement pension provided for by the rules of a supplementary pension scheme established in accordance with national law and practice;
(b)
'supplementary pension scheme' means any occupational retirement pension scheme established in accordance with national law and practice and linked to an employment relationship, intended to provide a supplementary pension for employed persons;
(c)
'active scheme members' means workers whose current employment relationship entitles them or is likely to entitle them, after fulfilling any acquisition conditions, to a supplementary pension in accordance with the provisions of a supplementary pension scheme;
(d)
'waiting period' means the period of employment, required under national law or by the rules of a supplementary pension scheme or by the employer, before a worker becomes eligible for membership of a scheme;
(e)
'vesting period' means the period of active membership of a scheme, required under national law or the rules of a supplementary pension scheme, in order to trigger entitlement to the accumulated supplementary pension rights;
(f)
'vested pension rights' means any entitlement to the accumulated supplementary pension rights after the fulfilment of any acquisition conditions, under the rules of a supplementary pension scheme and, where applicable, under national law;
(g)
'outgoing worker' means an active scheme member whose current employment relationship terminates for reasons other than becoming eligible for a supplementary pension and who moves between Member States;
(h)
'deferred beneficiary' means a former active scheme member who has vested pension rights in a supplementary pension scheme and is not yet in receipt of a supplementary pension from that scheme;
(i)
'dormant pension rights' means vested pension rights retained within the scheme in which they have been accrued by a deferred beneficiary;
(j)
'value of the dormant pension rights' means the capital value of the pension rights calculated in accordance with national law and practice.
Article 4 -
Conditions governing the acquisition of rights under supplementary pension schemes
1. The Member States shall take all necessary steps to ensure that:
(a)
where a vesting period or a waiting period, or both, is applied, the total combined period shall under no circumstances exceed three years for outgoing workers;
(b)
where a minimum age is stipulated for the vesting of pension rights, that age shall not exceed 21 years for outgoing workers;
(c)
where an outgoing worker has not yet acquired vested pension rights when the employment relationship is terminated, the supplementary pension scheme shall reimburse the contributions paid by the outgoing worker, or paid on behalf of the outgoing worker, in accordance with national law or collective agreements or contracts, or, where the outgoing worker bears the investment risk, either the sum of the contributions made or the investment value arising from these contributions.
2. Member States shall have the option of allowing the social partners to lay down different provisions by collective agreement, to the extent that those provisions provide no less favourable protection and do not create obstacles to the freedom of movement for workers.
Article 5 -
Preservation of dormant pension rights
1. Subject to paragraphs 3 and 4, Member States shall adopt the measures necessary to ensure that the vested pension rights of outgoing workers can remain in the supplementary pension scheme in which they vested. The initial value of those rights for the purposes of paragraph 2 shall be calculated at the moment in time when an outgoing worker's current employment relationship terminates.
2. Member States shall, having regard to the nature of the pension scheme rules and practice, adopt the measures necessary to ensure that outgoing workers' and their survivors' dormant pension rights or their values are treated in line with the value of the rights of active scheme members or the development of pension benefits currently in payment, or are treated in other ways which are considered as fair, such as:
(a)
where the pension rights in the supplementary pension scheme are acquired as an entitlement to a nominal sum, by safeguarding the nominal value of the dormant pension rights;
(b)
where the value of accrued pensions rights changes over time, by adjusting the value of the dormant pension rights by applying:
(i)
a rate of interest built into the supplementary pension scheme; or
(ii)
the return on investments derived by the supplementary pension scheme;
or
(c)
where the value of the accrued pension rights is adjusted, for instance, in accordance with the inflation rate or salary levels, by adjusting the value of the dormant pension rights accordingly subject to any proportionate limit set by national law or agreed by the social partners.
3. Member States may allow supplementary pension schemes not to retain the vested rights of an outgoing worker but to pay, with the worker's informed consent, including as regards applicable charges, a capital sum equivalent to the value of the vested pension rights to the outgoing worker, as long as the value of the vested pension rights does not exceed a threshold established by the Member State concerned. The Member State shall inform the Commission of the threshold applied.
4. Member States shall have the option of allowing the social partners to lay down different provisions by collective agreement, to the extent that those provisions provide no less favourable protection and do not create obstacles to the freedom of movement for workers.
Article 6 -
Information
1. Member States shall ensure that active scheme members can obtain, on request, information on how a termination of employment would affect their supplementary pension rights.
In particular, information relating to the following shall be provided:
(a)
the conditions governing the acquisition of supplementary pension rights and the effects of applying them when the employment relationship is terminated;
(b)
the value of their vested pension rights or an assessment of the vested pension rights that has been carried out no more than 12 months preceding the date of the request; and
(c)
the conditions governing the future treatment of dormant pension rights.
Where the scheme allows early access to vested pension rights through the payment of a capital sum, the information provided shall also include a written statement that the member should consider taking advice on investing that capital sum for retirement provision.
2. Member States shall ensure that deferred beneficiaries obtain, on request, information regarding the following:
(a)
the value of their dormant pension rights or an assessment of the dormant pension rights that has been carried out no more than 12 months preceding the date of the request; and
(b)
the conditions governing the treatment of dormant pension rights.
3. For survivor's benefits attached to supplementary pension schemes, paragraph 2 shall apply to surviving beneficiaries as regards the payment of survivor's benefits.
4. Information shall be provided clearly, in writing, and within a reasonable period of time. Member States may provide that such information need not be provided more than once a year.
5. The obligations under this Article shall be without prejudice to and shall be in addition to the obligations of the institutions for occupational retirement provision under Article 11 of Directive 2003/41/EC.
Article 7 -
Minimum requirements and non-regression
1. Member States may adopt or maintain provisions on the acquisition of supplementary pension rights for workers, on the preservation of supplementary pension rights of outgoing workers and on active scheme members' and deferred beneficiaries' right to information which are more favourable than those set out in this Directive.
2. The transposition of this Directive shall not under any circumstances be used as a reason for reducing existing rights for the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pensions or to scheme members' or beneficiaries' right to information in the Member States.
Article 8 -
Transposition
1. Member States shall adopt the laws, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive by 21 May 2018, or shall ensure that the social partners introduce the required provisions by way of agreement by that date. Member States are required to take the necessary steps enabling them to guarantee the results imposed by this Directive. They shall immediately inform the Commission thereof.
2. When Member States adopt the measures referred to in paragraph 1, they shall contain a reference to this Directive or shall be accompanied by such reference on the occasion of their official publication. The methods of making such reference shall be laid down by the Member States.
Article 9 -
Report
1. Member States shall communicate all available information concerning the application of this Directive to the Commission by 21 May 2019.
2. By 21 May 2020, the Commission shall draw up a report on the application of this Directive and submit it to the European Parliament, to the Council and to the European Economic and Social Committee.
Article 10 -
Entry into force
This Directive shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
