REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE on the application of Directive 2014/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility between Member States by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights
Date: 2020-07-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
Subjects: application of EU law, free movement of workers, job mobility, retirement conditions, social-security harmonisation, supplementary pension, transfer of pension rights, worker (EU)

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.7.2020  COM(2020) 291 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE    on the application of Directive 2014/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility between Member States by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights          
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  free  movement  of  workers  is  a  fundamental  freedom  of  citizens  of  the  European 
Union  and  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  internal  market.  It  is  enshrined  in  Article 45  of  the 
Treaty  on  the  Functioning  of  the  European  Union  (TFEU).  This  right  has  been  further 
developed  through  secondary  law,  in  particular  Regulation  (EU)  No  492/2011  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  5 April  2011  on  freedom  of  movement  for 
workers  within  the  Union.  It  has  also  been  developed  further  by  the  case-law  of  the 
European Court of Justice. 

An essential element in facilitating free movement of workers is the preservation of their 
social  security  rights,  among  which  pensions.  The  social  protection  of  workers  with 
regard  to  pensions  is  guaranteed  by  statutory  social  security  schemes  together  with 
supplementary pension schemes linked to the employment contract. Primary competence 
for this lies with the national social security systems.  

To protect the rights of persons exercising their right to free movement, the EU adopted 
at a very early stage on the basis of Article 48 TFEU measures with a view to protecting 
the social security rights of workers moving within the European Union and of members 
of  their  family,  the  so  called  Regulations  on  coordination  of  social  security  systems1. 
However, these Regulations concern in principle only statutory pension schemes and do 
not  apply  to  supplementary  pension  schemes2.  Therefore,  it  was  essential  to  adopt 
specific rules concerning supplementary pension rights.  

As  a  first  step  in  removing  obstacles  to  free  movement  relating  to  supplementary 
pensions,  not  covered  by  the  above  coordination  EU  Regulations,  Council  Directive 
98/49/EC3  on  safeguarding  the  supplementary  pension  rights  of  employed  and  self-
employed persons moving within the Community sets out certain rights for members of 
supplementary pension schemes. According to this Directive, the vested pension rights of 
a  person  who  stops  making  contributions  to  a  supplementary  pension  scheme  because 
he/she  moves  to  another  Member  State  must  be  preserved  to  the  same  extent  as  for  a 
person  who  remains  in  the  same  Member  State  but,  similarly,  is  no  longer  making 
contributions  to  the  pension  scheme.  Beneficiaries  of  a  supplementary  pension  scheme 
are entitled to receive their benefits in any Member State.  

The Report4 on the implementation of Directive 98/49/EC, however, concluded that the 
Directive was only the first measure which contributes to the removal of obstacles to the 
free movement of workers as regards supplementary pensions, but obstacles still existed. 

1   These are the Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 of 29 April 2004 and (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 of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems. 

2   Except for schemes which are covered by the term ‘legislation’ as social security systems as defined 
by  the  first  subparagraph  of  Article  l(l)  of  Regulation  (EC)  No  883/2004  or  in  respect  of  which  a 
Member State makes a declaration under that Article. 

3   Council  Directive  98/49/EC    of  29  June  1998  on  safeguarding  the  supplementary  pension  rights  of 

employed and self-employed persons moving within the Community  

4   COM(2006) 22 final of 26. 1. 2006 

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The Commission therefore submitted a ‘proposal for a directive improving the portability 
of supplementary pension rights’5.  

Directive 2014/50/EU on minimum requirements for enhancing worker mobility between 
Member States by improving the acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension 
rights (the Supplementary Pensions Directive6, further ‘the Directive’) was adopted on 16 
April  20147.  It  can  be  considered  as  a  second  step  in  removing  obstacles  to  free 
movement relating to supplementary pensions and in further facilitating worker mobility 
between Member States. 

The  Directive  aims  to  promote  worker  mobility  by  reducing  the  obstacles  created  by 
certain  rules  concerning  supplementary  pension  schemes  linked  to  an  employment 
relationship.  Supplementary  pensions  are  becoming  increasingly  important  in  many 
Member States as a means to secure people's standard of living in old age. It is therefore 
important that certain minimum requirements for acquiring and preserving pension rights 
are put in place to reduce obstacles to workers' freedom of movement between Member 
States.  

The Directive's requirements concern in particular: 

• 

Conditions of acquisition of rights under supplementary pension schemes: 

The Directive establishes a maximum waiting period, i.e. period before a worker 
can become a member of a pension scheme and a maximum vesting period, i.e. a 
period  of  active  scheme  membership  after  which  the  entitlement  to  the 
accumulated supplementary pension rights is triggered as well as an age limit for 
vesting of the rights.  

• 

Preservation of dormant pension rights:  

The  Directive  lays  down  the  right  for  effective  preservation  of  supplementary 
pension rights.  

• 

Information standards:  

The  Directive  ensures  a  right  to  obtain  adequate  information,  especially  on  the 
impact of mobility on pension rights. 

The Directive came into force on 20 May 2014 and Member States had to transpose it by 
21  May  2018.  This  relatively  long  transposition  period  was  provided  in  order  to  give 
Member States sufficient time, which was considered necessary due to the complexity of 
the subject and diverse nature of supplementary pension schemes in individual Member 
States.  

5   COM(2005) 507 final of 20.10. 2005 
6   Directive 2014/50/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on minimum 
requirements for enhancing worker mobility between Member States by improving the acquisition and 
preservation of supplementary pension rights, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/50/oj 

7   https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2014/50/oj 

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According  to  Article  9  (1)  of  the  Directive  Member  States  had  to  communicate  all 
available information concerning the application of the Directive to the Commission by 
21 May 2019.   

Article 9  (2)  of  the  Directive  requires  that  the  Commission  draws  up  a  report  on  the 
application of the Directive in the Member States.  

The report is mainly based on the measures that  Member States have communicated to 
the  Commission  under  Article 8  of  the  Directive.  References  to  the  national  laws 
transposing  the  Directive  can  be  found  on  the  Eur-Lex  webpage8.  Information  on  the 
application of the Directive as communicated by the Member States under Article 9 of 
the  Directive  was  used  for  this  report.    The  Commission  has  also  used  information 
collected  by  its  network  of  legal  experts  on  the  free  movement  of  workers  and  social 
security  coordination9.  The  Commission  has  further  consulted  the  members  of  the 
Advisory  Committee  on  the  Free  Movement  of  Workers10  by  sending  them  a  detailed 
questionnaire11  (hereinafter  'the  questionnaire')  and,  afterwards,  the  draft  report.  The 
Commission also requested clarifications on transposition measures from the members of 
the Technical Committee on the Free Movement of Workers12.  

2.  TRANSPOSITION PROCESS 

In  accordance  with  Article 8  of  the  Directive,  Member  States  had  to  transpose  the 
Directive by 21 May 2018. 

To  help  Member  States  with  the  transposition  and  implementation,  the  Directive  was 
discussed  at  several  meetings  of  the  committees  mentioned  above  between  2016  and 
2018. 

However,  by  the  transposition  deadline,  only  10  Member  States  had  notified 
transposition measures and declared a complete transposition of the Directive13.  

In  July  2018  the  Commission  started  infringement  procedures  against  10  Member 
States14  that,  at  that  moment,  had  still  failed  to  notify  a  complete  transposition  of  the 
Directive. In January 2019 the Commission continued infringement procedures against 4 
Member  States15.  Finally,  by  September  2019  all  Member  States  notified  a  complete 
transposition. The infringement proceedings were therefore closed. 

The  Commission  is  currently  finalising  its  analysis  of  the  conformity  of  national 
measures  to  ensure  that  the  Directive  is  correctly  transposed.  As  part  of  the  ongoing 
conformity check it is in contact with the Member States on the issues identified in this 
report. 

8 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/NIM/?uri=CELEX:32014L0050&qid=1562160328388 
9 http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=1098. 
10 Committee established under Article 21 of Regulation 492/2011. 
11  The  questionnaire  focused  on  the  clarification  of  certain  transposition  issues  and  on  the  practical 
application  of  the  Directive.  23  Member  State  governments  and  8  social  partners  (trade  union 
organisations and employers’ organisations) provided replies (by the end of January 2020). 

12 Committee established under Article 29 of Regulation 492/2011. 
13 DE, EE, FI, HR, HU, LV, LT, SK, SI and SE 
14 Letters of Formal Notice were sent to CZ, CY, EL, ES, FR, IE, LUX, NL, AT and RO 
15 Reasoned Opinions were sent to CY, IE, FR and RO 

3 

 
                                                 
3. 

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DIRECTIVE 

As  regards  the  method  of  transposing  the  Directive,  according  to  Article  8  (1)  of  the 
Directive  Member  States  were  free  to  either  directly  transpose  the  provisions  of  the 
Directive  in  national  legislation,  regulations  or  administrative  provisions,  or  to  ensure 
that  the  social  partners  introduce  the  required  provisions  by  way  of  agreement.  If 
transposition  was  done  via  collective  agreements,  the  Member  State  had  to  ensure  by 
appropriate legislative and administrative provisions that all workers are afforded the full 
protection provided for by the Directive. The transposition act or the official publication 
document had to contain a reference to the Directive.  

All Member States have transposed the Directive through laws. Three Member States16 
considered that their existing legislation already fully complied with the provisions of the 
Directive. No Member State mentioned implementing the Directive's provisions through 
collective agreements. 
In  most  Member  States  the  national  transposition  measures  contain  a  reference  to  the 
Directive.  In  one  Member  State17  the  reference  to  the  Directive  was  provided  in  the 
governmental proposal of the legislation. In those Member States where the pre-existing 
legislation was considered sufficient to accomplish the full implementation no reference 
to the Directive was made.  

3.1  Timeframe of applicability 

As regards the timeframe scope, the Directive applies only to the periods of employment 
falling after its transposition time limit18, i.e. 21 May 2018. Thus, Member States were 
obliged to make sure that even if the transposition in their country was completed only 
after  21  May  2018,  the  legislation  had  retroactive  effect  to  apply  to  all  periods  of 
employment after 21 May 2018.  

The  majority  of  countries  has  complied  with  this  rule.  However,  a  few  countries  have 
not19: in Poland, the transposition law came into force later (on 7 June 2018) but with no 
retroactive  effect.  In  Sweden,  although  the  rule  on  the  timeframe  scope  has  been 
generally respected, regarding the calculation of survivor’s dormant pensions, only rights 
after  1  June  2018  are  taken  into  account.  In  France,  the  transposition  law  entered  into 
force on 5 July 2019 but did not have any retroactive effect. It applies to schemes created 
after  5  July  2019  as  of  5  July  2019  while  as  regards  the  scheme  that  already  existed 
before  this  date,  the  transposition  provisions  apply  only  to  rights  corresponding  to 
employment periods after 1 January 2020. In Romania, the law transposing the Directive 
was adopted on 8 July 2019 with no retroactive effect.  

3.2  Personal scope 

The Directive only concerns workers and not self-employed persons (see Articles 1 and 
3(b)), unlike Directive 98/49/EC that applies to both categories of persons.  

16 SI, LV and the UK  
17 FI 
18 Article 2 paragraph 4 of the Directive 
19 FR, SE,  PL and RO 

4 

 
                                                 
Since the Directive only sets minimum requirements20, Member States are free to extend 
the  protection  provided  by  the  Directive  to  self-employed  persons.  More  than  half  of 
Member  States21  decided  to  extend  the  protection  afforded  by  the  Directive  to  self-
employed persons.   

3.3 Territorial scope 

Article 2(5) of the Directive clarifies that the provisions of the Directive do not apply to 
the  acquisition  and  preservation  of  supplementary  pension  rights  of  workers  moving 
within a single Member State. However, according to Recital 6 of the Directive, Member 
States can consider using their national competences to extend the rules of this Directive 
to scheme members who change employment within a single Member State.  

Half of the Member States opted for such an extension of the application of the rules of 
the Directive also to purely domestic situations22. The approach of these countries varies: 
some  countries  specified  that  the  legislation  also  applies  to  purely  domestic  situations, 
other countries did so only implicitly since their national legislation does not distinguish 
national  and  cross-border  situations23,  other  countries  decided  to  apply  similar  rules  to 
internal situations24. 

3.4 Material scope 

The  Pension  Adequacy  Report25  of  the  European  Commission  and  the  Social  Protection 
Committee  distinguishes  the  following  types  of  supplementary  pension  schemes,  which 
may serve as a common reference framework: 

Supplementary pension schemes: 

  Occupational pension schemes are schemes linked to an employment relationship 
or  professional  activity.  They  can  be  established  by  one  or  several  employers, 
industry associations or social partners jointly. 

  Personal pension schemes are based on an individual retirement savings contract 
between  the  saver  and  a  financial  service  provider.  Sometimes  the  employer  may 
make contributions to their employee’s personal pension scheme.  

According  to  the  definition  of  supplementary  pension  schemes  in  the  Directive,  only 
‘occupational pension schemes’ fall under the scope of the Directive.  

Article  2  together  with  Article  3  of  the  Directive  define  the  material  scope  of  the 
Directive.  Article  2  specifies  that  the  Directive  applies  to  supplementary  pension 
schemes with the exception of schemes exhaustively enumerated or referred to therein26.  

20 See Article 7(1) and Recital 28 of Directive 2014/50/EU 
21 CZ, DE, EL, FI, HU, IT, LT, LU, MT, PT, SK, UK, HR and SI, partially PL and EE 
22 BE, DE, EE, EL, ES, FR, HU, IT, LT, LU, MT, PT, SE, SI and SK 
23 AT, BE, LV and PL 
24 E.g. EE 
25 https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8084&furtherPubs=yes 
26  These  are:  (1)  supplementary  pension  schemes  covered  by  Regulation  (EC)  No  883/2004;    (2) 
supplementary pension schemes that, on the date of entry into force of the Directive, no longer accept 
new active members and remain closed to them; (3) supplementary pension schemes that are subject to 

5 

 
                                                 
Article 3(b) defines the notion of supplementary pension scheme. For the purposes of the 
Directive,  supplementary  pension  scheme  is  to  be  understood  as  ‘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’. Further clarification may be found in Recital 11, which states that the 
‘Directive should apply to all supplementary pension schemes established in accordance 
with  national  law  and  practice  that  offer  supplementary  pensions  for  workers,  such  as 
group  insurance  contracts,  pay-as-you-go  schemes  agreed  by  one  or  more  branches  or 
sectors, funded schemes or pension promises backed by book reserves, or any collective 
or other comparable arrangement.’ 

Recital 14 further clarifies that the Directive should apply only to supplementary pension 
schemes where entitlement exists by virtue of an employment relationship and is linked to 
reaching retirement age or to fulfilling other requirements as laid down by the scheme or by 
national legislation. The Directive does not apply to individual pension arrangements, other 
than  those  concluded  through  an  employment  relationship.  Thus,  individual  pension 
arrangements  that  are  not  linked  to  an  employment  do  not  fall  under  the  scope  of  the 
Directive.  

Statutory pensions are not linked to an employment relationship and should be covered by 
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004; thus they, should fall outside the scope of the Directive. 

Taking  into  account  the  national  transposition  measures,  it  can  be  concluded  that  the 
transposition measures of all Member States cover the scope of the Directive. Legislation 
of most Member States27 applies to all supplementary (occupational) pension schemes as 
defined  by  Article  3  which  are  not  excluded  by  virtue  of  Articles  2(1)  and  2(2).  Some 
Member States have not specified the scope of application in their legislation. However, 
it  can  be  concluded  from  the  wording  of  that  legislation  that  the  rules  on  the  material 
scope of the Directive have been respected28. 

3.5  Conditions governing the acquisition of pension rights 

The  requirement  relating  to  the  conditions  of  acquisition  of  rights  of  mobile  workers 
under  supplementary  pension  schemes  is  one  of  the  most  important  aspects  of  the 
Directive.  

The fact that in some supplementary pension schemes pension rights could be forfeited if 
a worker’s employment  relationship  ended before he or she had completed a minimum 
period  of  scheme  membership  (‘vesting  period’)  or  before  he  or  she  had  reached  the 
minimum age (‘vesting age’), could prevent workers who move between Member States 
from  acquiring  adequate  pension  rights.  The  requirement  of  a  lengthy  period  before  a 

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;  (4)  insolvency  guarantee  schemes,  compensation  schemes  and  national 
pension reserve funds; (5) 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; (6) invalidity and/or 
survivor’s  benefits  attached  to  supplementary  pension  schemes,  with  the  exception  of  the  specific 
provisions of Articles 5 and 6 of Directive 2014/50/EU relating to survivor’s benefits. 

27 BE, BG, CY, CZ, DE, DK, EL, ES, FI, FR, IE, HU, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, RO, SE, SK , UK. 

28 This applies to EE, HR, SI  

6 

 
                                                                                                                                                 
worker  could  become  a  member  of  a  pension  scheme  (“waiting  period”)  could  have  a 
similar  effect.  The  EU  co-legislators  therefore  decided  to  lay  down  certain  limitations 
with the aim of removing these obstacles to workers’ freedom of movement.  

According to Article 4 (1) of the Directive the combination of the waiting period and the 
vesting  period  can  be  maximum  of  3  years.  Therefore,  pension  rights  are  irrevocably 
acquired ('vested') no later than after three years of employment relationship.  

Supplementary pension schemes are not allowed to set a higher minimum age for vesting 
of  pension  rights  than  21  years.  On  the  other  hand,  as  explained  in  Recital  17,  no 
minimum age requirement for supplementary pension scheme membership is laid down 
by the Directive as such age limit was not identified as an obstacle to free movement of 
workers.  

According to the findings, these new minimum requirements have led to changes of the 
relevant  limits  established  at  national  level  as  in  some  countries  the  waiting  and/or 
vesting period were longer and the vesting age was higher than the new requirements of 
the Directive. 

There is only a limited number of Member States that do not allow any waiting or vesting 
periods  or  vesting  age.  Following  the  adoption  of  the  Directive  one  Member  State 
(Belgium)  decided  to  further  strengthen  workers’  rights  going  beyond  the  limits 
established  by  the  Directive  and  abolished  the  possibility  to  provide  a  waiting  and 
vesting period as well as a vesting age. 

Waiting period  

There are 16 Member States that use the three-year limit period set by the Directive (AT, 
CY, CZ, DK, EE, FR, EL, ES, FI, HU, LU, MT, PL, PT, RO, SE), 6 Member States that 
allow  only  much  shorter  waiting  periods:  BG  (6  months),  IE  (1  year),  LT  (one  year), 
SI(one year), SK (one year), UK (three months) and 5 Member States that do not allow 
any waiting period (HR, BE, DE, IT, NL). One Member State (AT) provides for a four-
year  waiting  period  for  specific  category  of  workers  (temporary  agency  workers). 
Another Member State (LV) does not provide any rule regarding the waiting period and, 
based on the legislation communicated by the LV authorities, it cannot be concluded that 
such period is not allowed. In fact, it appears from the legislation that the waiting period 
can be defined by each pension plan, thus it could go beyond the three  year time limit. 
These latter provisions from AT and LV do not seem to be compliant with the provision 
of the Directive.  

Vesting period 

16 Member States use the three-year limit period set by the Directive (AT, CY, CZ, DE, 
DK, EL29, ES, FI, FR, HU, IT, LU, MT, PT, RO, SE), 3 Member States allow a shorter 
vesting period: IE (two years), LT (two years), UK (two years) and 8 Member States do 
not  allow  any  vesting  period  (HR,  BE,  BG,  EE,  NL,  PL,  SI,  SK).  Again,  one  Member 
State  (LV)  does  not  provide  any  rule  regarding  the  vesting  period.  As  it  cannot  be 
concluded that such period is not allowed, the legislation may not be compliant with the 
provisions of the Directive.   

29  In  Greece,  no  vesting  period  exists  with  respect  of  acquisition  of  pension  rights  in  Occupational 

Insurance Funds. 

7 

 
                                                 
The vesting periods in Germany have already been reduced from ten to five years in 
2001 and the vesting age of 30 years has been reduced. Thanks to the transposition 
of the Directive into national  law since the beginning of 2018, workers have to  be 
employed  by  an  employer  for  only  three  years  and  have  to  reach  the  age  of  21  in 
order to  maintain their occupational  pension  rights.  This  is  a positive development 
with respect to the workers’ rights to acquire their supplementary pensions. 

Combination of waiting and vesting periods 

Apart  from  two  Member  States30,  all  Member  States  respect  the  three-year  limit 
applicable to the combination of waiting and vesting periods. Those Member States that 
allow both the waiting and the vesting period which, if applied together could exceed the 
maximum  three-year  limit,  expressly  lay  down  in  their  legislation  the  maximum  three-
year limit which is applicable when these two periods are combined (e.g. CY, CZ, DK, 
EL, ES, FI, FR, HU, LU, MT, PT, SE, SI, RO).   

For other Member States the respect of this rule can be concluded indirectly since one of 
the conditions is allowed and the other is not or when adding these two periods together, 
these cannot result in more than three years (e.g. BG, EE, IE, LT, SK, UK).  

Vesting age 

There is a large group of Member States (16) that allow supplementary pension scheme 
providers to establish a vesting age: 21 years (CY, CZ, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, LT, 
LU, MT NL, PT, RO and SE). One Member State (BG) allows for a much lower vesting 
age  of  16  years.  There  are  several  countries  (9)  that  do  not  allow  a  minimum  age  for 
vesting  pension  rights  (IE,  IT,  PL,  SI,  SK,  UK,  HR,  HU  and  BE).  2  others  do  not 
stipulate  anything  regarding  vesting  age  in  their  legislation  (AT,  LV),  which  raises 
questions whether establishing a vesting age is still allowed and if so, at what age.  

In  conclusion,  it  can  be  stated  that  a  large  majority  of  Member  States  have  correctly 
transposed  the  minimum  requirements  for  acquisition  of  supplementary  pension  rights 
established by the Directive.  

It appears that in one Member State (LV), national transposition measures do not provide 
explicitly for maximum waiting and vesting periods and any rule regarding vesting age, 
implying  that  these  could  be  defined  by  each  pension  plan  or  employment  agreement. 
This  could  mean  that,  in  reality,  supplementary  pension  scheme  providers  could  set 
conditions that are not conform to the Directive. Another Member State (AT) appears to 
allow a four-year waiting period for one specific category of workers.  

Right to reimbursement of contributions 

In  order  to  protect  the  financial  rights  of  an  outgoing  worker  if  he  or  she  has  not  yet 
acquired pension rights  according to the established vesting period, Article 4 paragraph 
1(c) of the Directive prescribes the right  to reimbursement of contributions  paid  by the 
outgoing worker or paid on his or her behalf. Thus, the own contributions of employees 

30 LV, AT with respect to temporary agency workers 

8 

 
 
                                                 
 
as  well  as  contributions  paid  on  their  behalf  by  the  employer  can  never  be  lost  in  case 
outgoing workers leave a pension scheme before their rights are vested.  

Most  Member  States  have  correctly  transposed  the  reimbursement  rule.  Some  Member 
States did  not  consider the transposition of this rule into their national  legislation to  be 
necessary  as,  because  of  the  non-existence  of  a  vesting  period,  the  outgoing  workers’ 
contributions are vested immediately. However, one Member State did not transpose the 
reimbursement rule, even though contributions are not vested immediately (LV). 

As regards the possibility provided in Article 4 paragraph 2 to allow the social partners to 
lay down more favourable rules on waiting or vesting periods or vesting age from those 
provided  for  in  Article  4  in  a  collective  agreement,  half  of  Member  States  allowed  for 
that possibility31.   

3.6  Preservation of dormant pension rights (Article 5) 

The  preservation  of  dormant  pension  rights  under  this  Directive  is  different  from  the 
preservation  of  rights  provided  in  Article  4  of  Directive  98/49/EC.  On  the  one  hand,  
Directive  98/49/EC  lays  down  the  principle  that  outgoing  members  from  a  scheme  who 
move  to  another  Member  State  should  be  treated  equally  with  outgoing  members  of  the 
scheme  who  stay  in  the  same  Member  State.  Directive  2014/50/EU,  on  the  other  hand, 
establishes the right  for outgoing workers from a scheme who move to another Member 
State to preserve their vested dormant rights on an equivalent basis with active members of 
the scheme.  

The basic principle is that outgoing workers, scheme leavers in the context of freedom of 
movement for workers, should not be penalised and, in relation to their vested rights, they 
should  be  treated  on  a  fair  basis  with  active  scheme  members.  Outgoing  workers  have  a 
right  to  retain  their  dormant  pension  rights  in  the  former  employer's  pension  scheme. 
Preservation  may  vary  depending  on  the  nature  of  the  pension  scheme  -  e.g.  through 
indexation or through capital returns. Some rules are more suitable for schemes with defined 
benefits, while others are more suitable for defined contribution schemes32. Furthermore, the 
Directive prescribes that the initial value of those rights shall be calculated at the moment in 
time when an outgoing worker’s current employment relationship terminates.  

All Member States followed the general preservation rule on dormant pension rights as they 
all have measures ensuring that the vested pension rights of the outgoing worker can remain 
in the supplementary pension scheme in which they are vested.  

As  regards  the  fair  treatment  of  outgoing  workers’  and  their  survivors’  dormant  pension 
rights, all countries have rules on treating them in line with the value of the rights of active 
scheme members or in other fair ways in accordance with Article 5 (2) of the Directive.  

Possibility to allow to pay the vested rights in the form of a capital sum 

31 CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, HR, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SK and SI 
32  ‘defined  benefit  schemes’,  are  those  schemes  where  the  benefit  depends  mainly  on  the  years  of 
employment and the salary, and where the employer bears the investment risk; ‘defined contribution 
schemes’  are  those  schemes  where  the  future  benefit  depends  mainly  on  the  accrued  value  of  saved 
capital and where the investment risk is borne by the scheme member. 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
To reduce managing costs of low-value dormant pension rights, Article 5(3) provides the 
possibility  for  Member  States  to  allow  supplementary  pension  schemes  not  to  retain  the 
vested rights of an outgoing worker but to pay a capital sum equivalent to the value of the 
vested  pension  rights  to  the  outgoing  worker.  This  is,  however,  possible  only  with  the 
worker’s informed consent and only as long as the value of the vested pension rights does 
not exceed a threshold established by the Member State.   

The majority of Member States did not make use of this possibility. The national ceilings in 
those  Member  States33  that  have  used  the  possibility  to  apply  this  exception  to  the 
preservation  rules  differ  significantly  from  around  €  2.000  in  Greece,  to  €  12.600  in 
Austria34. 

3.7  Information requirements 

Article 6 lays down the obligation for Member States to ensure that active scheme members 
and deferred beneficiaries who exercised or intend to exercise their right to free movement, 
as well as surviving beneficiaries, receive, upon request, adequate and suitable information 
about  their  supplementary  pension  rights.  Some  of  these  information  obligations  have 
already  been  laid  down  by  Article  7  of  Directive  98/49/EC.  Article  6(5)  of  the  Directive 
refers to additional information requirements according to Directive 2003/41/EC, which has 
been  repealed  by  the  recast  Directive  2016/2341/EU35.  This  reference  should  thus  be 
construed  as  a  reference  to  the  information  requirements  laid  down  in  Directive 
2016/2341/EU. 

The  Directive  prescribes  different  minimum  information  standards  for  active  scheme 
members  and  for  deferred  beneficiaries.  Active  scheme  members  have  a  right  to  be 
informed  on  how  a  termination  of  employment  would  affect their  supplementary  pension 
rights36.  Deferred beneficiaries and surviving beneficiaries in the case of survivor’s benefits 
have a right to be informed about the value or an assessment of the value of their dormant 
pension rights and the conditions governing the treatment of these rights.  

33 AT, CY, DE, DK, EL, FI, IT, LU, PT, SE while some countries in addition to the general preservation rule 

allow one-time lump-sum payments (e.g. HR, SI and UK) 

34 In countries with thresholds determined in absolute amounts the situation is as follows: AT (€ 12,600), 
CY  (€  3,000),  DE  (monthly  pension  threshold  of  €  30.45  or  capital  sum  threshold  of  €  3,654),  DK 
(approx.  €  2,900),  EL  (as  from  2020  the  amount  of  €  2,000,  which  will  be  adjusted  annually),  FI 
(monthly  threshold  of  €  70).  When  it  comes  to  countries  with  thresholds  set  in  relative  terms  these 
vary  as  well:  LU  (three  times  the  monthly  Social  Minimum  Wage  for  unskilled  workers  which  for 
2019 amounts to a threshold of € 6,213.30), SE (one price base amount which amounts to approx. € 
4,347 for 2019). 

35  Directive  2016/2341/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  14  December  2016  on  the 

activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs),  

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016L2341 

36  This  information  must  include  in  particular:  (a)  the  conditions  governing  the  acquisition  of 
supplementary pension rights and their effect when the employment relationship is terminated; (b) the 
value or an assessment of vested pension rights (the assessment should not be carried out 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  (e.g.  allowed  by  Article  5(3)  of  Directive),  the  information  provided  shall 
also  include  a  written  statement  that  the  member  should  consider  taking  advice  on  investing  that 
capital sum for retirement provision. 

10 

 
 
 
 
                                                 
This information has to be provided on request, clearly, in writing, and within a reasonable 
period of time. Member States may allow pension schemes to provide this information not 
more than once a year.  

According to the Directive, the requested information is to be provided within ‘a reasonable 
period of time’. While many Member States have not stipulated a deadline for the provision 
of information, other Member States have opted for a specific period of time, namely seven 
days  (BG),  ten  days  (ES),  fifteen  days  (SI),  one  month  (UK),  two  months  (IE)  and  sixty 
days (PT). Other Member States rely on legal concepts such as ‘reasonable time’ (BE, CY, 
DE, DK, EE, EL, FI, SE) or the  obligation to provide information ‘without undue delay’ 
(CZ), ‘timely’ (NL), or ‘immediately’ (PL).   
Many Member States have used the possibility to limit the provision of information upon a 
person’s request to ‘once a year’37 but a significant number of other Member States has not 
done so38.  

In many Member States it is possible to provide the information by electronic means39. In a 
few  Member  States  this  is  neither  required  nor  prohibited40  while  a  few  other  Member 
States do not provide for such a possibility41.  

In  Belgium,  a  government  database  ‘My  Pension,  My  supplementary  Pension’  exists. 
Accordingly, all pension institutions, both insurances and pension funds, have to report 
all accrued pension rights per affiliated individual to this database on an  annual basis. 
All  citizens  can  therefore  find  all  information  about  the  pension  rights  accrued  in 
Belgium. Belgium, along with partners from other EU countries, participates in a pilot 
project to set up a European Tracking Service for pensions that would allow members to 
track their pension rights accrued in different Member States and pension schemes over 
the course of their career.    

In addition to information requirements which are to be provided under the Directive, more 
information is to be provided as of January 2019 according to Directive 2016/2341/EU on 
the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs) 
42. As a result, for those supplementary pension schemes that are provided by institutions of 
occupational  retirement  provision  and  thus  covered  by  Directive  2016/2341/EU,  Member 
States’ requirements for information provision now go beyond the information requirements 
according  to  Directive  2014/50/EU.  For  example,  according  to  Directive  2016/2341/EU 
even  before  entering  into  a  participant  contract,  the  supplementary  pension  provider  is 

37 AT, BE only partially as the ‘my pension’ tracking service can be used anytime, CY, CZ, DK, EL,  FI, 

FR, HR, IE, IT, SE 

38 BG, DE, EE, ES, IT, HU, LU, LV, PT, SI, SK  and LT 
39 AT, BE, BG, DE, DK, EE, HU, IE, IT, LV, NL, PL, SE, SI, SK, UK and partially FI. In RO, providing 
electronic information is possible but only as an additional means of communication not substituting 
the compulsory printed format.   

40 CY, EL, LU, MT 
41 CZ, ES, FR, LT, PT 
42  Directive  2016/2341/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  of  14  December  2016  on  the 

activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision (IORPs),  

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32016L2341 

11 

 
 
 
 
  
 
                                                 
currently  obliged  to  provide  the  potential  participant  (prospective  member)  all  the 
relevant information.  

As  a  result,  information  on  supplementary  pension  rights  to  active  members,  deferred 
beneficiaries and also to prospective members is overall comprehensive.  

3.8 Transfer of pension rights 

The  Directive  does  not  provide  for  the  transfer  of  vested  pension  rights.  In  order  to  
facilitate  worker  mobility  between  Member  States,  Recital  24  nevertheless  encourages 
Member  States  to improve  the  transferability  of  vested  pension  rights,  in particular  when 
introducing  new  supplementary  pension  schemes.  More  than  half  of  Member  States  took 
measures on the transferability of vested pension rights or values43. Some of these Member 
States have set certain conditions and limitations on transferability, which can create serious 
impediments to the exercise of cross-border transfers in practice44. 

In Austria transfer of vested pension rights is possible and various options are provided 
by the Austrian legislation. If the employee is permanently transferred for work abroad 
he can transfer the vested amount to a foreign pension institution. 

In Greece, those persons who change their professional activity may transfer their vested 
rights  to  another  occupational  insurance  fund  (operating  in  Greece  or  in  another 
Member State) or may choose to keep their vested pension rights in the original fund 
and to receive the pension benefit from each fund upon their retirement. Such transfers 
occur in practice. 

There are, however, also other Member States that do not provide for such a possibility at 
all45. 

One  Member  State  (LU)  indicated  that  different  tax  regimes  often  inhibit  workers  from 
carrying out a cross-border transfer as they are liable to be taxed in both Member States. 
Another Member State (SK) indicated that in absence of minimum rules for transferability it 
is very difficult in practice to transfer dormant pension rights and that new discussions on 
possible  minimum  rules  for  transferability  of  pension  rights  are  needed.  On  the  contrary, 
one  social  partner  (representative  of  employers)  from  a  Member  State  (DE)  indicated 
satisfaction about the fact that there are no common rules on transferability at EU level as 
they fear that this would be a very complex endeavour.  

43 AT, BE, DE, EL, ES, IE,  HU, LU, LV, NL, PL, PT, RO, SI, SK UK 
44 EIOPA, Final Report on Good Practices on individual transfers of occupational pension rights,  

https://www.eiopa.europa.eu/content/final-report-good-practices-individual-transfers-occupational-

pension-rights_en 

45 CY, DK, EE, FI, FR, LT, MT, SE 

12 

 
 
 
                                                 
 
4.  APPLICATION OF THE DIRECTIVE 

As regards the practical application of the Directive, it is important to note that the role and 
importance of supplementary pension schemes vary significantly among Member States.  

The  Pension  Adequacy  Report46  of  the  European  Commission  and  the  Social  Protection 
Committee  analyses  the  role  and  importance  of  supplementary  (occupational)  pension 
schemes in the national pension systems of Member States.  

As recalled in Recital 9 of the Directive, it is the right of Member States to organise their 
own  pension  systems  and  Member  States  retain  full  responsibility  for  the  organisation  of 
such systems. When transposing the Directive, Member States were not obliged to introduce 
legislation providing for the setting up of supplementary pension schemes. There is a great 
diversity of national pensions systems.  

Whilst  in  certain  Member  States  supplementary  occupational  pension  schemes  play  a 
prominent  role in the  national  pension system  (for  instance  in  NL,  DK,  UK,  IE,  SE)  and 
these are less prominent but still important in other Member States (DE, FR BE), in around 
half  of  Member  States  supplementary  pension  schemes  have  not  been  developed  into  a 
significant  component  of  the  national  pension  system  and  tend  to  have  a  rather  marginal 
role. 

The  below  findings  on  the  initial  practical  application  of  the  Directive  are  based  on 
information  on  the  application  of  the  Directive  as  communicated  by  the  Member  States 
according to Article 9 (1) and on replies to the Commission questionnaire on the application 
of  the  Directive  by  Member  States  and  social  partners.  The  Commission  has  received 
feedback from 23 Member States47 and 8 social partners48.  

As  far  as  the  collected  information  suggests,  no  disputes  before  any  national  courts 
regarding  the  national  provisions  transposing  the  Directive  have  been  identified  in  any 
Member State.  

In a number of Member States, supplementary pension scheme providers had to amend their 
rules in order to comply with the national legislation implementing the Directive. This is the 
case for example for supplementary pension schemes in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, 
Italy and Bulgaria. In other countries where the provisions regarding the waiting and vesting 
periods  as  well  as  the  vesting  age  were  already  compliant  with  the  Directive  prior  to  its 
adoption, no particular impact on supplementary pension schemes has been observed.  

According to Article 4 paragraph 2 of the Directive, Member States had the option to allow 
the social partners to lay down different, more favourable, provisions on vesting or waiting 
period or vesting age from those laid down in Article 4. Half of Member States do not allow 
that  collective  agreements  lay  down  different  provisions  than  those  established  in  their 
national legislation. In those Member States where this possibility is allowed under national 
law49,  no  Member  State  provided  information  regarding  such  collective  agreements  that 
would indeed lay down different, more favourable, rules. In practice, collective agreements, 

46 Page 79  https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8084&furtherPubs=yes  
47 AT, BE, EE, LT, NL, IE, CZ, MT, DE, LUX, HR, BG, IT, RO, PL, PT, SK, SE, SI, EL, DK, ES and HU 
48 Trade Unions from IT, AT, BE and NL, representatives of employers from AT, BE, EE and NL 
49 CZ, DE, DK, ES, FI, HR, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SK and SI  

13 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
where they exist, replicate the provisions of the national law. One social partner (from DE) 
indicated that they are aware of one collective agreement in the construction industry that 
provides    more  favourable  protection  of  workers  than  established  by  the  Directive  as  the 
supplementary pension rights vest immediately and no vesting age is required.  

According to the replies to the questionnaire, in some countries50, the Directive has had a 
positive  impact  on  the  acquisition  and  preservation  of  supplementary  pension  rights  of 
workers leaving their country to move to another Member State. This has been the case in 
particular  in  those  Member  States  in  which  new  stricter  rules  had  to  be  implemented  in 
order to comply with the provisions of the Directive.  

As  regards  the  impact  of  new  information  requirements  established  by  the  Directive,  the 
impact of the Directive, in combination with the requirements of Directive 2016/2341/EU, 
has been important. Member States have laid down detailed rules, in line with the provisions 
of the Directive regarding the information requirements on persons’ supplementary pension 
rights. It is rather difficult to assess at this point to what extent the implementation of the 
Directive’s provisions has helped to raise EU workers’ awareness regarding preservation of 
their  supplementary  pension  rights  in  case  of  intra-EU  mobility.  However,  most 
stakeholders consider that EU workers are now more aware of their rights.   

Nearly  all  stakeholders  indicated  that  they  have  not  identified  any  particular  difficulties 
faced by EU mobile workers when using their rights stemming from the Directive.  

One Member State (HR) pointed to possible future difficulties regarding the application of 
the Directive. Some pension companies in this country have noted that clarification could be 
required  in  determining  the  facts  related  to  termination  of  employment  in  terms  of 
documenting termination of employment (to prove relocation).  

Social  partners  in  another  Member  State  (Belgium),  both  the  trade  unions  as  well  as 
employers’ representatives, have indicated that difficulties can be expected with respect to 
considerably  increased  administrative  burden.  This,  however,  appears  to  be  linked  to  the 
new rules established in their country, which are stricter than prescribed by the Directive. 
These rules abolish completely the possibility to lay down waiting and vesting periods as 
well as a vesting age. At the same time, they do not allow the pension schemes to pay to 
dormant beneficiaries their low-value dormant pension rights in a form of a capital sum and 
therefore  these  rights  must  be  maintained  in  the  scheme  until  the  person  is  retired. 
Representatives  of  employers  in  one  Member  State  (AT)  indicated  that  it  is  difficult  in 
practice to receive the deferred beneficiary’s consent to pay out his/her low-value dormant 
rights in a form of capital sum simply for the lack of interest in this matter.  

As regards the overall assessment of the impact of the provisions of the Directive, in some 
countries  certain  positive  impact  has  been  observed  due  to  the  obligatory  changes  of  the 
national legislation, while in other countries no major practical influence has been recorded. 
This  might  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  standards  on  acquisition  and  preservation  of 
supplementary  pension  rights  as  well  as  information  requirements  in  these  countries  had 
already been compliant in substance with the Directive prior to its adoption. In addition to 
this,  in  certain  countries  the  coverage  of  supplementary  occupational  pension  schemes  is 
very  low  or  non-existent51.  An  important  number  of  stakeholders  suggested  that  it  is  too 

50 For example in DE, IT or LUX 
51 For example in CZ, LT and RO no occupational pension schemes actually exist or in HU, EE and SK 

these are very rare.   

14 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
early to assess the impact due to the very short time of application and non-availability of 
relevant data.  

In  addition,  the  findings  regarding  the  application  of  the  Directive  must  be  interpreted 
cautiously as the transposition in some countries took place only recently. For example, in 
two countries52 with an important role of supplementary pension schemes in their national 
pension system, the complete transposition took place only in summer 2019.   

5.  CONCLUSIONS 

Overall,  the  transposition  of  the  Directive  by  Member  States  can  be  considered  to  be 
satisfactory.  

As regards the scope of application of the Directive, a significant number of Member States 
extended the protection beyond the scope of the Directive and provide protection not only to 
employees but also to self-employed persons. A large number of Member States also cover 
purely internal situations of movement of workers.  Approximately half of Member States 
have laid down rules for transferability of vested pension rights, and some Member States 
also  provide  extended  information  obligations  going  beyond  the  requirements  of  the 
Directive.   

As  regards  the  transposition  of  individual  provisions  of  the  Directive,  the  analysis  of  the 
Member States’ transposition measures has revealed only a limited number of transposition 
issues affecting a few Member States. This is in particular the case with respect to minimum 
requirements for acquisition of supplementary pension rights established by the Directive, 
i.e. the transposition of the rules regarding the waiting and vesting periods as well as vesting 
age.  

The analysis of the Member States’ and stakeholders’ responses to the questionnaire on the 
transposition  and  application  of  the  Directive  reveals  that  some  important  changes  to 
previously existing rules in some Member States had to be taken. In other Member States, 
the rights that have been laid down by the Directive were already sufficiently  guaranteed 
before the transposition of the Directive.  

From analysis it appears that the Directive has not been used by Member States to reduce 
the standards on acquisition and preservation of supplementary pension rights or to reduce 
information requirements. 

The  replies  to  the  questionnaire  suggest  that  the  Directive  has  had  an  overall  positive  
impact  for  all  stakeholders.  This  conclusion  takes  into  account  that  at  the  time  of  the 
adoption of the Directive there were still workers in Member States whose supplementary 
pension rights could be forfeited if the worker’s employment relationship ended before he 
or she had completed a minimum period of scheme membership (vesting period) or before 
he  or  she  had  reached  the  minimum  age  (vesting  age).  The  impact  of  the  rules  of  the 
Directive in individual Member States, nevertheless, varies greatly as there were also some 
Member  States  where  the  legislation  had  already  complied  with  the  provisions  of  the 
Directive and thus the impact was not significant.  

52 FR and IE 

15 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                 
As  regards  the  information  requirement  established  by  the  Directive,  the  impact  of  the 
Directive,  in  combination  with  requirements  of  Directive  2016/2341/EU  on  the  activities 
and  supervision  of  institutions  for  occupational  retirement  provision  (IORPs)  has  been 
important. At this point, it is difficult to assess the level of awareness of EU workers about 
their supplementary pension rights.    

It is nevertheless clear that the minimum requirements laid down in the Directive, such as 
those  on    acquisition  and  preservation  of  supplementary  pension  rights  as  well  as  more 
detailed information requirements, have created more legal certainty and provide workers 
more awareness of their  supplementary pension rights when (considering) moving abroad. 
As a result, it should contribute to facilitating free movement of workers within the EU. 

As  regards  the  application  of  the  Directive,  the  analysis  shows  that  the  provisions 
transposing  the  Directive  in  individual  Member  States  are  operational  and  there  have  not 
been  any  court  disputes  so  far  regarding  the  rules  laid  down  by  the  Directive.  In  most 
countries  no  particular  difficulties  have  been  identified  regarding  the  application  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Directive,  only  a  very  limited  number  of  issues  have  been  reported  in 
relation to individual Member States.   

It must, however, be highlighted that given the late transposition of the Directive in many 
countries and the relatively short period of its application in practice, it is not possible to 
draw robust conclusions regarding its impact at this stage. 

The  Commission  will  keep  monitoring  the  implementation  of  the  Directive  and  will 
continue  working  with  the  Member  States  to  ensure  that  the  Directive  is  correctly 
transposed and implemented in all of them.  

Following the adoption of the Directive, other policy initiatives at EU-level have been taken 
with a view to enhance the contribution of supplementary pension schemes to adequate old-
age  incomes  in  Member  States.  In  particular,  the  Commission  has  established  the  High 
Level Group on pensions in 201853, which aims to provide policy advice to the Commission 
on  matters  related  to  ways  of  improving  the  provision,  safety  through  prudential  rules, 
intergenerational balance, adequacy and sustainability of supplementary (occupational and 
personal) pensions in light of the challenges in the Union and the Member States affecting 
the adequacy of old age incomes and the development of the Union's pension market. The 
group  adopted  its  Final  Report  including  policy  Recommendations  addressed  to  the  EU, 
Member States and pension providers in December 2019. The  Commission will carefully 
study the Report to ensure appropriate policy follow-up and promote and disseminate the 
report to Member States and stakeholders. 

53 

https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regexpert/index.cfm?do=groupDetail.groupDetail&groupID=3589&
news=1 

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