RECOMMENDATION No A1

of 18 October 2017

concerning the issuance of the attestation referred to in Article 19(2) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council

(Text with relevance for the EEA and for Switzerland)

(2018/C 183/06)

THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMISSION FOR THE COORDINATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEMS,

Having regard to Article 72(a) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems (1), under which the Administrative Commission is responsible for dealing with all administrative questions or questions of interpretation arising from the provisions of this Regulation and Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems (2),

Having regard to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 concerning the legal value of documents and supporting evidence showing the position of a person,

Having regard to Article 19(2) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 concerning the attestation of the applicable legislation pursuant to Title II of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004,

Acting in accordance with the conditions laid down in Article 71(2) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004,

Whereas:

(1) Article 19(2) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 provides that at the request of the person concerned or of the employer, the competent institution of the Member State whose legislation is applicable pursuant to Title II of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 shall provide an attestation that such legislation is applicable and shall indicate, where appropriate, until what date and under what conditions.

(2) The Administrative Commission determines the structure and the content of the Portable Document A1 concerning the applicable legislation which applies to the holder.

(3) Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 provides that this document shall be accepted by the institutions of the other Member State as long as it has not been withdrawn or declared invalid by the Member State in which it has been issued.

(4) The principle of sincere cooperation, as also laid down in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union and specified in Article 76 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, requires that institutions conduct a proper assessment of the facts relevant for the determination of the legislation applicable in the matter of social security and consequently to confirm the correctness of the information contained in a Portable Document A1.

(5) These documents establish a presumption that the holder is properly affiliated to the social security system of the Member State whose institution has issued it,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS TO THE COMPETENT SERVICES AND INSTITUTIONS THAT:

1. In order to prevent falsification of the Portable Document A1, for example by exchanging pages between different documents, it is recommended that authentication features should be included in the certificates issued, namely: (a) where the documents are issued electronically, they should bear a serial number or identification number on each page. In this case, a manual signature or ink stamping is no longer necessary; (b) where the documents are issued manually, they should be printed on both pages of a sheet and the sheets should be connected together in such a way that they cannot easily be separated. This can be achieved, for example, by folding the top left hand corner, stapling this corner and putting a stamp on the reverse side.

2. In addition, it is recommended that each issued Portable Document A1 is registered in such a way that its authenticity can easily and quickly be verified.

3. The Member States should inform the Administrative Commission about the different ways the Portable Documents A1 are issued by their institutions. The delegations in the Administrative Commission should share this information with their respective inspectorates.

4. It is recommended that, prior to issuing a Portable Document A1, institutions assess all the relevant facts, whether by means of data contained in official sources, or by requesting the applicant to provide the necessary information. To guide institutions, a non-exhaustive standardised list of common questions and questions specific to the different relevant articles of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 can be found in the Annex. These may be adapted as appears appropriate in the case involved.

5. A disclaimer should be included in the application forms by which the applicant declares that he/she has answered all questions correctly to the best of his/her knowledge and that he/she is aware of the possibility of checks with the consequence that the document can be withdrawn retroactively.

6. It is recommended that the competent institutions have the information about Portable Documents A1 issued available, preferably in an electronic database. They should notify each other, by means of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) System, of any decision taken regarding the applicable legislation in the event of an activity pursued in the other Member State pursuant to Article 15(1) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009.

7. This Recommendation shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union . It enters into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication.

The Chair of the Administrative Commission Agne NETTAN-SEPP

(1) OJ L 166, 30.4.2004, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 284, 30.10.2009, p. 1.