Opinion of the Commission pursuant to Article 251 (2), third subparagraph, point (c) of the EC Treaty, on the European Parliament's amendments to the Council's common position regarding the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, and determining the contents of its annexes amending the proposal of the Commission pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the EC Treaty
Date: 2009-06-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU law, free movement of persons, proposal (EU), social security, social security legislation, social-security harmonisation

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 5.6.2009 
COM(2009) 265 final 

2006/0008 (COD) 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 

pursuant to Article 251 (2), third subparagraph, point (c) of the EC Treaty, 
on the European Parliament's amendments 
to the Council's common position regarding the  
proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, 
and determining the contents of its annexes 

AMENDING THE PROPOSAL OF THE COMMISSION pursuant to Article 250 (2) of the 
EC Treaty 

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2006/0008 (COD) 

OPINION OF THE COMMISSION 

pursuant to Article 251 (2), third subparagraph, point (c) of the EC Treaty, 
on the European Parliament's amendments 
to the Council's common position regarding the  
proposal for a 

REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
AND OF THE COUNCIL 

amending Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, 
and determining the contents of its annexes 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Article 251(2), third subparagraph, point (c) of the EC Treaty provides that the Commission is 
to  deliver  an  opinion  on  the  amendments  proposed  by  the  European  Parliament  at  second 
reading.  The  Commission  sets  out  its  opinion  below  on  the  four  amendments  proposed  by 
Parliament.  

2. 

BACKGROUND 

Date of transmission of the proposals to Parliament and Council: 

- concerning the proposal COM(2006) 7 final (2006/0008/COD) 

24 January 2006 

- concerning the proposal COM(2007) 376 final (2007/0129 (COD) 

3 July 2007 

Date  of  the  opinion  of  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee: 

26 October 2006 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, first reading: 

9 July 2008 

Date  of  transmission  of  the  amended  proposal  (COM(2008)  648 
final) (2006/0008/COD) 

15 October 2008 

Date of adoption of the common position: 

17 December 2008 

Date of adoption of Commission's communication: 

7 January 2009 

Date of the opinion of the European Parliament, second reading: 

22 April 2009 

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3. 

PURPOSE OF THE PROPOSAL 

On  29  April  2004,  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  adopted  Regulation  (EC)  No 
883/20041 on the coordination of social security systems which will replace Regulation (EEC) 
No 1408/712. 

Regulation  883/2004  has  a  number  of  Annexes  which  contain  provisions  in  respect  of 
individual Member States. The content of some of these annexes had not been determined at 
the time of the adoption of Regulation 883/2004. The latter therefore provides that the content 
of Annexes II (provisions of conventions which remain in force), X (special non-contributory 
cash benefits) and XI (special provisions for the application of the legislation of the Member 
States)  should  be  determined  before  the  date  of  application  of  the  Regulation.  Furthermore, 
some  of  the  Annexes  to  Regulation  883/2004  must  be  adapted  to  take  account  of  the 
requirements of the Member States that joined the European Union since the adoption of the 
Regulation, as well as recent developments in other Member States. 

Against this background, the Commission adopted two proposals on 24 January 2006 and 3 
July 2007, respectively: 

-  Proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  amending 
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems, and determining 
the content of Annex XI; 

-  Proposal  for  a  Regulation  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  amending  the 
annexes to Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems. 

The  Commission  presented  its  amended  proposal  on  15  October  2008  taking  on  board  the 
amendment of the European Parliament to merge the two original proposals into a single text. 
The  procedure  concerning  the  proposal  (2007/0129/COD)  was  abandoned  as  a  result  of  it 
being incorporated into the procedure relating to the first proposal (2006/0008/COD). 

The  proposal  for  a  Regulation  determining  the  content  of  Annex  XI  provides  for 
supplementary  rules  regarding  specific  aspects  of  individual  Member  States’  legislation  to 
ensure  that  Regulation  883/2004  is  applied  smoothly  in  the  Member  States  concerned.  In 
accordance  with  the  general  objective  of  simplification,  the  proposal  contains  fewer  entries 
than the corresponding Annex VI in Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71. 

Annexes II and X of Regulation 883/2004 have equivalent provisions to those in Annexes III 
and IIa of Regulation 1408/71. The other Annexes need to be complemented to take account 
of the Member States which joined the EU after the adoption of Regulation 883/2004. Some 
of these Annexes also have corresponding provisions in Regulation 1408/71. However, Annex 
I Part 1 (advances of maintenance payments) and Annexes III and IV (special rules for health 
care benefits) are new.  

4. 

OPINION  OF  THE  COMMISSION  ON  THE  AMENDMENTS  BY  THE  EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT 

4.1. 

Amendments accepted by the Commission 

The Commission accepts all 4 amendments adopted by Parliament. 

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2 

OJ L166, 30.4.2004, corrected version in OJ L 200, 7.6.2004, p.1 
Council  Regulation  (EEC)  No  1408/71  on  the  application  of  social  security  schemes  to  employed 
persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community, OJ 
L 149 of 5.7.1971, p. 2.  

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The  4  amendments  concern  Annex  III,  which  contains  a  list  of  Member  States  applying 
“restriction of rights to benefits in kind for members of the family of frontier workers” in the 
competent Member State. The text provides a review of Annex III no later than 5 years from 
the  date  of  entry  into  force  of  the  Regulation.  The  corresponding  four  amendments  (new 
recital 7 a, article 1 - point 7, article 1 - point 8 and article 1 - point 9 – point b a new) all aim 
to clarify that the aim of the revision is, in principle, to have Annex III repealed, unless there 
are compelling reasons to do otherwise. 

5. 

CONCLUSION 

Pursuant to Article 250(2) of the EC Treaty, the Commission amends its proposal as set out 
above. 

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