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COMMISSION OPTHEEURQEBAN
COM(75)645 final .
Brussels .15December 1975
GUIDELINES OPTHE COMMISSION FOR TILE DEVELOPMENT
OFAPERMANENT INFORMATION
SYSTEM ONSOCIAL SECURITY INAGRICULTURE . ■
(Report from theCommission totheCouncil )
COM(75 )646final

GUIDELINES OFTHE COMMISSION FOR TH3 DEVELOPMENT
OFAPERMANENT INFORMATION
SYSTEM OHSOCIAL SECURITY INAGRICULTURE
BACKCrROUND
1.TheCommission has "been studying social security inagriculture fora
good many years .
FortheEuropean Conference onSocial Security held inBrussels inDe­
cember 1962 ,adocument wasproduced outlining thebenefit schemes and
themethods offinancing the'social security system foragriculture in
theMember States asat30June 1962 ,
This work wascontinued ,improved andupdated regularly bytheCommis­
sion inclose cooperation with agroup ofexperts .
2.Basing itself on "bilateral work carried outbyFrance andtheFederal
Republic ofGermany ,thegroup approached thestudy from aninteresting
angle byexamining thesocial security element infarmers 1incomes .
3.Thegroup 'swork culminated inthestudy entitled "Thefinancing of
social security inagriculture ",which waspublished bytheCommission
in1970 asn®20inthecollection entitled "Studies "inthesocial
policy series .
Thestudy deals ,foreach ofthesixoriginal Member States ,with :
-theadministrative organization andmethod offinancing asat1Ja­
nuary 1967 , .
-financial developments from i960 to1965 ,infive statistical
tables :

-2-
4.-TABLEI
Overallfinancingofsocialsecurityforpersonsinagriculture ,by-
receiptsbrokendownbyinsurancebranchaccordingto:
-contributions .
-Statesubsidiesorsubsidiesfromvariousothersources.
-TABLEII
Statutorysocialbenefitsforfarmersandthoseentitledunderthem,
brokendownbyinsurancebranch.
-TABLEIII
Averagecosts(contributions )andtotalofsocialbenefitsperfarmer
orperpersonengagedinagriculture onanunpaidbasis.
-TABLEIV
Calculationofacomparable farmincome.
-TABLEV'
Socialbenefitsasaproportionoffarmers1totalincome.
5.Summarytablesallowcomparisonofthefinancialinformation appearing
intheabovetablesrelatingtothesixMemberStates,
Aninterimreportdealingwiththeperiod1966-1970waspreparedbythe
Commission'sservicesandwasforwardedin1972tothenationaldele­
gationsinthegroupofexperts.
AttheCommissions request,the'statisticaltableswereupdatedeach
yearandforwardedtothenationaldelegations ,inordertoensurethe
continuedusefulnessofthiswork.'
Similarly,thescopeoftheinformationcontainedinthepublishedstu­
dywaswidenedtotakeiniiheprincipalchangesinsociallegislation
^elatingtoagricultureineachMemberState.■'
6.Despiteitsexistinggapsandimperfections ,especiallyasregards
comparability ofdata,thestudyhasprovedtobeofundoubtedvalue

-3-
totheCommission and theMember States .Ithasenabled acomparison
tobemade ofthe situation offarmers inthe sixMember States in
respect oftheir social contributions andbenefits andtheincidence
ofsocial security ontheir total income .
II.MANDATE GIVEN BYTHE COUNCIL TOTHE COMMISSION
7.Pursuant toArticle 118oftheTreaty ,under which theCommission is
given thetask ofpromoting close cooperation between Member States in
thesocial field ,particularly inmatters relating tosocial security ,
theCommission submitted totheCouncil astudy onthefinancing ofso­
cial security inagriculture ,inaddition totwoother studies .Oneof
these concerned theeconomic effects ,andtheother thefinancial pro­
blems ,ofsocial seourity ....
8.TheCouncil examined these studies on26November 1970 inthecontext
ofaction inthefield ofsocial security policy ,andtook thefollo­
wing deoision regarding thestudy onthefinancing ofsocial security
inagriculture .-
"Thestudy onthefinancing pfsocial security inagriculture wasa
first attempt atanalysing andassessing ,onthebasis ofuniform cri­
teria ,thevery different andcomplex social security schemes inagri­
culture andthefinancial problems they encountered ,upto1965 .
9.Onaccount ofthedevelopments which hadoccurred since thestudy was
prepared andongoing trends ,andalso asaresult of'thecontinuing
shortcomings indata comparability ,theCouncil pointed outthat ,in
itsview ,thestudy should beupdated andshould include ,inparticu­
lar ,acomparison ofthedefinitions (farmer ,farm worker ,farm income )
which appeared inthelegislation ofthesixcountries concerned and
also ofthebenefits available tofarmers' under national schemes .
Furthermore ,itwould bedesirable toextend thescope ofthestudy
asfaraspossible tocover social security provision forfarm workers
onthe same lines asfor farmers ".
/

III .EXECUTION OPTHE COUNCIL 'SMANDATE
10.Thus ,theCouncil entrusted theCommission with three tasks :
1!-toimprove thecomparability ofthedata provided bytheMember
,States ,especially asregards thedefinitions oftheterms
"farmer ","farm worker "and "income ";
2-toextend theBtudy tocover farm workers ;
3-tocontinue updating thework -onaregular fcasisv
11.Togive effect totheCouncil 'sdecisions ,in1971 theCommission set
upagroup ofexperts oomposed ofrepresentatives ofthecompetent
authorities ofthesixoriginal Member States .In1973 trepresentati­
vesofthecompetent authorities ofthethree newMember States ,
after preparatory meetings with theCommission ,joined thegroup ,and
took avery active part initswork soastoenable thestudy tooo-
verallnine Member States .Itshould berioted that ,while thegroup
wasengaged incarrying outtheCouncil 'smandate,' thework ofbrin-
• J . .■ 'i
ging thestatistical andlegislative information uptodate wascon­
tinued inthemanned laid down earlier .
Thework wascarried out several stages - •'
:? •
A.drawing upaquestionnaire in1972 .'
B.dravfing upanintermediate report in1973 »
C. .guidelines .
A*Ques tionnairedrawnupin1972
12.During 1972 ,aquestionnaire ,drawn upbytheCommission 'sservices
with the "assistance ofexperts from theBelgian andtheFederal Repu-
/ .
blic ofGermany ,wascompleted bytheexperts from thesixoriginal
Member -States .
Asaresult ,thefollowing information wasassembled -\
a)Comparability
13» 'Itwasnoted that thedefinition of"farmer "used inthevarious
■branches ofsocial security varied considerably from oneMember
.State toanother andalso within oneand thesame Member State ,
where different branches ofsocial security existed .

-5-
Asregardsold-ageandsicknessinsurance,family "benefitsand
insuranceagainstindustrialinjury,thefollowingweredefined:
0-membershipcriteria,
-thenumberofpersonscontributing ,
-thenumberofpersonsinreceiptofbenefits,accordingto
thefollowingbreakdown: N
•headsofundertakings ,
•theirspouses,
•familyhelpers,
afurtherdistinctionbeingmadebetweenpersonsemployedin
agriculture onafull-timebasisandthoseemployedonapart-time
basis.
b)Extensionofthestudytoincludefarmworkers
14#.Onlyworkersinpr.idc-ndpermanentemploymontweretakeninto
account.Figureswerecollectedconcerningemployers *andworkers'
contributions ,thesharebornebytheStateandothersourcesof
financeoutsideagriculture ,andalsothebenefitsavailableinthe
followingbranches:
-sicknessandmaternity,
-old-ageandsurvivors,
-industrialaccidentsandoccupational diseases,.
-invalidity,
-unemployment ,
-familybenefits.
15.Foreachoftheabovesocialsecuritybranches,thenumberofinsured
farmworkerswascalculatedasapercentageofallinsuredworkersin
alloccupations. '.
;
Thesevariousmattersgaverise,intheinitialstage,tofrequent
discussions betweentheexpertsfromthesixoriginalMemberStates
andtheCommission'sservices.

-6-
B.Interim repor tsubmitted in1973
16.Atthe "beginning of1973 »aninterim report wasdrawn up'bytheGerman
expert inclose collaboration with theCommission 'sservices .This do­
cument brought outthepoints ofagreement anddisagreement between
national legislations .
Theexpert made several proposals forovercoming thedifferences ob­
served a.nd forreaching aconsistent solution .
Following discussions ,theCommission 1sservices inclose collabora­
tion with theexperts ftora thesixoriginal Member States arrived at
certain findings anddrew upseveral proposals :
Findings
a)Definitions
17.Contributions ,theamount offinance from' non-agricultural sources ,
andbenefits received were calculated foragiven number offarmers ,
with noaccount being taken ofthefact that thedefinitions of
"farmer "used inthevarious Member States and insurance branches
differ . ■ '
b)Number ofpersonscovered ''
18.Thenumber ofpersons covered byasocial security scheme foragri­
culture canonly becalculated inMember States where aspecific
agricultural scheme exists forallorsome ofthebranches ofsocial
security ,asisthecase inFrance ,Luxembourg ,Italy andtheFede­
ralRepublic ofGermany . t
IntheNetherlands andBelgium ,farmers arecovered bygeneral sche­
mes ortytheschemes applicable toselfr-employed workers ;their
number hastobecalculated onthebasis ofdemographic oremploy­
ment statistics .
19.Itshould beemphasized that inthesixoriginal Member States
-apart from France ,which has*aspecial social security scheme for
agriculture -noseparate statistics areavailable ,relating toall
branches ofsocial security ,forallfarmers andfarm workers covered .

-7-
Thefigures supplied aretherefore inmost cases estimates ,necessa­
rily implying some degree ofinaccuracy .
c)Membership criteri a
20. InPrance ,Italy ,Luxembourg andtheFederal Republic ofGermany ,
thetwomembership criteria arethefollowing :
-aminimum size ofholding ,
-farming being thesubject 'smain occupation .
Theminimum size does ,ofcourse ,vary from onecountry toanother
andthecriterion ofmain occupation did notapply inall insuran­
cebranches .
The same situation obtains forthemembers ofafarmer 'sfamily .
These differences innational rules result inamembership rate for
persons inagricultural occupations which maybeonthehigh side or
thelowside ,thus distorting thecompsxison ofthesocial situation
offarmers inthe Member States .
C.Guidelines
a)Concept of"farmer "
21. Inview ofthese difficulties ,theconcept of"farmer "isretained
andthat of"member ofthefamily engaged inagricultural activi­
ties "isrejected since the latter waseven more vague than the
former .
Consequently ,Table III (benefits andsocial charges related tothe
active non-worker population )will beconfined ,forthecomparison
ofpercapita averages ,tofarmers alone .
b)Determination ofthenumber offarmers andfarm workers
22. Several methods were examined fordetermining foreach Member State
thenumber offarmers which would serve asabasis forestablishing
avalid comparison :
-comparison between insurance branches ,since themembership crite­
riavary from onebranch toanother ;
-overall comparison accompanied byamicro-economic analysis ;
-/■

78-
-average number ofinsured persons calculated with regard tothe
amount of "benefits granted ineach branch ofinsurance ,asapro­
portion ofthetotal amount ofbenefits granted tofarmers .This
proportion isacoefficient applicable for each branch ofsocial
■security tothetotal number ofinsured persons inagriculture ,
thevarious figures thus obtained being added together .
23* These various methods were notadopted ,either because they could
notbeapplied inalltheMember States orbecause they involved
complexities which would notnecessarily beanaidtoaccuracy .
Farmers
24. Consequently ,itissuggested that allMember States take thenumber
offarmers asbeing that given infarm statistics andnotthat ap­
pearing insooial security statistics orbased onestimates .
Thenumber offarmers is .obtained from thefarm employment statistics
drawn upbytheStatistical :Office oftheEuropean Communities on
thebasis cfnational employment surveys .These statistics form a
harmonized series which ,until 1970 ,were drawn upbytheStatisti­
calOffice atintervals ofseveral years butwhich since that date
have been ,andaretobe,drawn upeach "year .They include allfar­
mers with aholding -ofatleast onehectare ofworked farmland
whose work output isatleast' equal to50$ofoneannual' labour
unit . -" *
25, This series ofstatistics does notgive thenumber ofpersons
employed inforestry .If,however ,there isasignificant number
ofpersons active inthis sector ,that number must beadded tothe
number offarmers ,but itisforMember States alone tomake this
calculation .

-9-
TheStatistical Office oftheEuropean Communities will provide
theexperts with themost up-to-date statistical information .If,
however ,theinformation necessary fortheyear under considera­
tion isnotyetavailable ,Member States will provide provisional
estimates based ontheir national statistics ,which ,where neces­
sary ,will have tobecorrected thefollowing year when thesta­
tistics drawn upbytheStatistical Office become available .
26. With regard tothestatistical tables forthis category ,itis
suggested that thefive tables already referred toonpages 1and
2beretained ,inview ofthechanges agreed upon below .
Itshould bementioned that inthe "farmers "tables ,thecontri­
butions tobeshown arethose paid bythehead oftheundertaking
tocover himself andthemembers ofhisfamily .Thebenefits tobe
considered arethose provided forhimandallmembers ofhisfamily .
27..Intable III "Benefits and contributions relative tothenumber of
farmers "thefollowing formulas should beadopted :
-benefits forfamilies divided bythenumber offarmers ,
-contributions paid byfarmers divided bythenumber -offarmers#
28. Itshould bepointed outthat inDenmark each member ofafarmer 's
family isentitled tobenefits without paying contributions and
that theconcept ofthefarmer alone having acontribution liabi­
lity does net exist .
Farm workers
29. Thesame statistical sources will beused forestablishing the
number offarm workers asf.orfarmers .Thefollowing statistical
tables forthis category will beused :
/

10-
TABLEI-FINANCING
Punotions -^
ReceiptsContrit
Workers ■
i>utions i– -i
Employers |"Sharebornebythe
|Stateandlocal
'r,uthoriti9o
I
Sickness
Maternity
Invalidity
Old-ageandsurvivors
Death
•Industrialaccidentsand
occupational diseases
Familybenefits
Unemployment
Others j
Subtotals
TOTALI[
i
i
ii_■]
.!,[LJ
;.i
TABLEII-BENEFITS
[_Funotioûs Amount -J
JSickness |r
Maternity
Invalidity
Old-ageandsurvivors
Death
Industrialaccidentsand■- ■-
Joccupationaldiseases ;
Familybenefits
IUnemployment
Others L J
TOTAL
•Λ

-11-
TABLE III -CONTRIBUTIONS AND BENEFITS INTERMS OFTHE NUMBER
OFFARM WORKERS
I 1Average perfarmworker {
Total offarmworkers *contributions
divided bythenumber offarmworkers
–– "- ■!' 1,1 –– ––––––– ■■■■'■
Total ofbenefits
divided bythenumber offarmworkers
c)Nature andduration oftheworktobecarried out
30,Thefollowing plan forimplementing theCouncil 'sinstructions is
suggested :
-Every twoyears ,by15November ,each Member State will provide ,
inaccordance with the layout attached tothis document ,areport
onthelaws andregulations inforce on1July .
•~Every intervening year Member States will report ,also inNovember ,
..anymajor changes intheir legislation .
■-Each year ,inNovember ,Member States will provide statistical ta­
bles forthetwopreceding years (N-landN-2).Fortheearlier
year ,thestatistics will befinal .:
31.-Every three years theCommission will draw upasummary report ba­
sed onall these documents .
Thereport will highlight ,inparticular ,thesimilarities anddif­
ferences innational legislation andwill compare thesituation of
farmers with that ofself-employed persons outside agriculture and
witli that ofworkers .Itwill also compare thesituation offarm-
workers with that ofworkers inthedistributive and industrial
sectors . " .
Only thereports with astatistical appendix andthesummary report
will bedistributed inalltheCommunity languages .
/.

T .12 .-
32.Inthis context xtissuggested that thetitle used forthework
should be"Social Security inAgriculture?' ,instead' .a.f."Financing of
Social Security inAgriculture ".
FINAL REMARKS .
33.Theguidelines oftheCommission contained inpart III (C.points
21-32 )should make itpossible tocarry outthemandate assigned to
iton26November 197°t thefinal objective .ofwhich wastoprovide
apermanent source ofinformation onthesituation ofsocial securi­
tyinagriculture (forself-employed persons andworkers )both as
regards thelegislative provisions andregulations andfrom thesta­
tistical andfinancial point ofview (expenditure andreceipts ).
These guidelines canbeimplemented immediately after their adoption
bytheCouncil ,Itshould benoted that they have been agreed to,at
atechnical level ,bytheexpert ^ofalltheMember States .
34.These guidelines are ,however ,merely onestage intheprocess of
extending thestudy andimproving itsinternal comparability -alrea -
:dymarkedly improved compared with earlier work inthis field .
Inthis respect ,itshould bementioned that during themeeting the
experts expressed thewish toseethefollowing achieved atalater
stage .
-Animprovement intheconcept ofcomparable agricultural income
byusing theintegrated system ofeconomic accounts for r,better
link between social and economic matters .
-Anextension ofthestudy byamicro-economic comparison ,based
ontheCommunity *sfarm accountancy information system .Inthis
way ,itwould bepossible tocompare theincomes ofsimilarly
constituted families ineach Ilember State farming certain types
ofholdings ,talcing into account both social security contribu­
tions andbenefits ,particularly family benefits andold-age in­
surance , '

-Acomparison offamily benefits andofold-age "benefits provided
inthevarious Member States ,inorder totake more account ofde­
mographic trends inagriculture .
-Extension ofthestudy toinclude social assistance measures and
their financing .
-Development ,inaddition tothestatistical tables on"farmworkers "
(mentioned inpara .29)»ofa"Table IV"showing theproportion of
social security intheincome ofworkers .This income could possi­
blybeobtained from "Table IV-Farmers "relating tocomparable
farm incomes .
TheCommission recognises theinterest ofthese suggestions but ,
before taking aposition onthem ,considers that they recpiire closer
examination .

ANNEX -
LAYOUT OFTHERETORT ON_SOCIAL_SECURIT Y_INAGRICULTURE
Thereport falls into twoparts :
I.Social security forfarmworkers
II.Social security forfarmers .
ι
Ineach section ,sickness ,maternity ,old-age andsurvivors ,invalidity ,
family benefits ,.industrial accidents andoccupational diseases ,and
unemployment aredescribed under thefollowing herv^.inr-a :
1-Légal bases
2.Risks covered
3.Schemes (general orspecial )
4.Organization (institutions ,control )
5.Benefits
-Type ofbenefits ;
.benefits inkind
•cash benefits
-Reimbursement
-Amount ofbenefits
-Beneficiaries
-Conditions governing theaward ofbenefits
6»Financing
-Contributions
-Sources offinance outside agriculture .