COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on digitalisation in social security coordination: facilitating free movement in the Single Market
Date: 2023-09-06
Institutions: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission
Subjects: digital single market, digital transformation, digitisation, electronic government, free movement of persons, free movement of workers, freedom to provide services, labour mobility, social security legislation, social-security harmonisation

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  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 6.9.2023  COM(2023) 501 final  COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS on digitalisation in social security coordination: facilitating free movement in the Single Market         
 
 
1.  Introduction  

This  year  marks  the  30th  anniversaries  of  the  single  market1  and  European  Union 
citizenship,  both  of  which  bring  into  focus  the  right  to  free  movement  as  a  major 
achievement of European integration. Over 55% of citizens believe that this right is good 
for  European  integration,  for  labour  markets  and  for  individuals  in  general,  while  84%  of 
citizens think that it is beneficial to the economy of their country2. Intra-EU mobility allows 
people to “experience Europe”, gaining access to wider opportunities in education, work and 
life  as  well  as  the  possibility  to  acquire  new  skills.  It  also  helps  increase  productivity  and 
address labour and skills shortages3.  

Social security coordination rules4, stemming from the earliest days of European integration, 
protect people’s social security rights when moving within Europe. They guarantee that 
people continue to receive their benefits (such as old-age, unemployment or family benefits) 
and  are  covered  by  healthcare,  even  if  they  travel  or  move  to  another  EU  country.  The 
modernisation of these rules is currently under negotiation by the European Parliament and the 

1  
2  

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Commission Communication: Single Market at 30. 
Eurobarometer surveys: “Intra-EU labour mobility after the pandemic”, available through the link: Intra-
EU  labour  mobility  after  the  pandemic  -  December  2022  -  Eurobarometer  survey  (europa.eu),  and 
“European Union Citizens and Democracy – July 2020. 
European Parliamentary Research Service (2020) – Coronavirus and the cost of non-Europe and OECD 
Economic Survey: Euro Area 2021, OECD Publishing, Paris.   
Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems and  Regulation (EC) No 
987/2009 laying down the procedure for implementing Regulation (EC) No 883/2004. These Regulations 
also  apply  to  Norway,  Iceland,  Liechtenstein  and  Switzerland.  Specific  rules  are  in  place  in  the 
agreements with the United Kingdom.  

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EU Council5.  

At  the  same  time,  there  is  still  a  strong  potential  to  improve  the  coordination  of  social 
security systems and to support fair labour mobility through further digitalisation of this 
area, as part of the efforts to accelerate the digital transition in Europe, reduce administrative 
burden and improve the competitiveness of the European economy. 

Citizens and businesses in a cross-border situation often face challenges in their interactions 
with social security institutions, labour inspectorates and healthcare providers. Procedures to 
prove  and  verify  social  security  entitlements  can  be  time  consuming  and  administratively 
burdensome,  as  they  often  rely  on  physical  presence  and  physical  documents  –  ‘portable 
documents’6,  including  the  European  Health  Insurance  Card  (EHIC).  Companies  may  be 
confronted with administrative costs and hurdles, in particular when sending their employees 
to work temporarily abroad7. These obstacles might have a deterring effect on citizens willing 
to exercise their right to free movement and on companies prepared to do business abroad and 
reap the benefits of the single market. They were raised as important points for citizens in the 

5 
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COM (2016) 815 final. 
See standard forms for social security rights - Your Europe (europa.eu). 
The administrative burden caused by the rules on posting workers abroad is one of the main single market 
obstacles, according to the 2020 Commission inventory of barriers. 

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Conference on the Future of Europe and in the Citizen’s Panel on Learning Mobility8. 

Despite the initiatives put in place in recent years to improve the information exchange, social 
security  institutions,  healthcare  providers  and  labour  inspectorates  also  face  difficulties 
accessing and sharing data, due to insufficient interoperability between national systems. Costs 
are also incurred, for instance, in relation to issuing and verifying entitlements’ documents, the 
need to periodically replace them, and the risk of fraud and error linked to portable documents 
and incorrect use of the EHIC9. 
The European Parliament10, Member States, social security institutions and social partners have 
also called for EU and national action to further simplify procedures for people and businesses, 
reduce  administrative  obstacles  and  move  towards  more  interoperable,  interconnected  and 
automated  social  security  systems.  This  was  one  of  the  main  takeaways  of  a  high-level 
Conference on “Digitalisation in social security coordination (ESSPASS) and labour cards”, 
held on 1 March 2023, together with the request for greater clarity on the various EU initiatives 
and how they complement each other. 

To  respond  to  these  calls  and  address  the  challenges  faced  by  citizens  and  businesses,  this 
Communication presents an overview of the existing initiatives, as part of the overall digital 
landscape, and proposes further measures to be taken in the short and medium term.     

Further digitalisation of this area can: 

• 

• 

• 

• 

reduce administrative hurdles and costs for mobile citizens and businesses operating 
abroad,  including  small  and  medium-sized  enterprises  (SMEs),  through  improved 
digital experiences when interacting with public bodies for social security purposes.  
increase the quality of public services and the efficiency of social security coordination 
processes.  
improve the exchange of information and cooperation between institutions, via better 
interoperability, automation and data sharing.  
reduce the risk of errors and social security fraud, including that related to falsification 
of documents, thus reinforcing the protection of people and fair labour mobility. 

This Communication contributes to the EU’s efforts to accelerate Europe’s digital transition 
and promote a human-centric approach to digitalisation. A key objective of the Digital Decade 
Policy  Programme11  is  to  ensure  that  our  digital  environment  is  inclusive  and  that  public 
services, health and care services are accessible in a trusted and secure online environment for 
everyone. The Programme sets concrete targets for the digitalisation of public services, notably 
100 %  of  key  public  services  being  accessible  online  by  2030.  The  Digital  Decade  Policy 
Programme also includes targets on digital skills, such as 80 % of those aged 16-74 having at 
least basic digital skills. Improving digital skills is one of the main objectives of the European 

8  

9  

10  

Conference on the Future of Europe – final report and Recommendation 20 from the Panel on learning 
mobility.  
For cases of fraud and errors linked to portable documents and inappropriate use of the EHIC: Fraud and 
errors in the field of EU social security coordination and Cross-border healthcare in the EU under social 
security coordination – reference year 2021.  
See the Resolutions of the European Parliament: P9_TA(2020)0371; 
P9_TA(2020)0284;P9_TA(2021)0007; P9_TA(2021)0249; P9_TA(2020)0176; P9_TA(2021)0473 ; 
P9_TA(2023)0203. 

11            Decision  (EU)  2022/2481  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14  December  2022 
establishing the Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030. According to a recent Eurobarometer, 74% of 
EU citizens think that digital technologies will be important in their life by 2030 notably for accessing 
services online, also in other EU countries. 

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Year of Skills12.  

The  European  Declaration  of  digital  rights  and  principles13  reaffirms  the  central  role  of 
people in the digital transition, highlighting the importance of data protection and security as 
well as inclusiveness and accessibility.  People should also be free to choose whether they wish 
to use digital tools or not. 

2.  Seizing  the  opportunities  of  digitalisation  to  support  free  movement  and  fair 

labour mobility 

2.1 Cross-sectoral EU initiatives relevant for social security coordination 
The digitalisation of public services is crucial to building modern, efficient administrations that 
respond  to  the  needs  of  citizens  and  businesses  -  by  providing  them  with  accessible  and 
seamless digital experiences - and contribute to the success of the European single market.  
Important  efforts  have  been  undertaken  at  EU  level  to  advance  on  this  path.  Several  cross-
sectoral  EU  initiatives  supporting  the  development  of  cross-border  digital  public  services 
provide solid foundations for further digitalisation in the area of social security coordination.  

The Single Digital Gateway Regulation14 requires Member States to ensure that citizens and 
businesses can access and complete 21 administrative procedures fully online by 12 December 

12  
13  
14  

European Year of Skills. 
European Declaration of digital rights and principles. 
Regulation (EU) 2018/1724 establishing a  single digital gateway to provide  access to information, to 
procedures  and  to  assistance  and  problem-solving  services  and  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 
1024/2012.  

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202315, with access to national procedures through the Your Europe website16, and receive 
the output electronically. Three of these procedures relate to the social security coordination 
area: the request to determine which social security legislation covers the holder (the output of 
which is the portable document A1), applications for the European Health Insurance Card, and 
requests for pensions calculations.  

The  Once  Only  Technical  system  is  being  developed  to  allow  national  authorities  to 
automatically  exchange  documents  and  information  needed  for  these  21  procedures,  as 
required by the Single Digital Gateway Regulation.  The aim is to reuse information already 
held in electronic format by other administrations in Europe, so that no additional burden falls 
on citizens and businesses. 

The  European  Digital  Identity  framework17  will  allow  people  and  businesses  to  identify 
themselves and store in their European Digital Identity Wallet a wide variety of documents in 
electronic format, such as driving licences, electronic prescriptions (ePrescription) and other 
medical documents, educational and professional qualifications and social security attestations.  

The proposed Interoperable Europe Act18 will set up a cooperation framework for public 
administrations across the EU, to agree on common interoperability solutions and help increase 
their  reuse  when  designing  cross-border  public  services.  Both  people  and  businesses  will 
benefit  from  more  efficient  public  services,  thanks  to  enhanced  interoperability,  better 
interconnected digital public administrations and improved data sharing across all sectors and 
EU countries. 

 2.2 Digital initiatives in the area of social security coordination 
Beyond the cross-sectoral EU initiatives, specific initiatives have been launched to digitalise 
social security coordination and respond to the challenges in this area. 

Significant progress has been made in recent years in the electronic exchange of social security 
information between institutions. The Commission and Member States also started working on 
further improving the interactions between people/businesses and social security institutions, 
labour  inspectorates  and  healthcare  providers,  streamlining  procedures  and  reducing  the 
administrative burden for all parties involved.  

2.2.1 More efficient handling of cross-border social security cases between institutions: 
the EESSI system 

As required by the EU  rules on social security  coordination19, the  Electronic Exchange of 
Social Security Information (EESSI) system is built to ensure rapid and secure exchanges of 
information  between  social  security  institutions  across  Europe,  replacing  paper-based 
communication.  

15  

16  
17  

18  

19  

These procedures cover situations relevant for working, studying, retiring, moving to another country or 
doing business (both in a national and cross-border context), with procedures such as registering a car or 
claiming a pension being fully digitalised and eliminating the need for paperwork. 
https://europa.eu/youreurope/index_en.htm. 
Proposed Regulation amending Regulation (EU) No 910/2014 as regards establishing a framework for a 
European  Digital  Identity.  On  29  June  2023,  the  European  Parliament  and  the  Council  reached  a 
provisional political agreement on the proposal. 
Proposal for a Regulation laying down measures for a high level of public sector interoperability across 
the Union.  
See Articles 78 and 79 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 and Articles 4 and 95 of Regulation (EC) No 
987/2009. 

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The EESSI project started in 2008 and since its launch in 2019, EESSI enables a faster, more 
efficient and more accurate handling of cases in the social security areas and branches covered 
by  EU  coordination  rules  (such  as  determination  of  the  applicable  legislation,  sickness, 
accidents at work, pensions, unemployment, and family benefits).  

The  aim  is  to  facilitate  the  protection  of  social  security  rights  across  borders  by  allowing 
quicker handling of cases, calculation and payment of benefits (e.g. pension rights for people 
who have worked in several countries; family and unemployment benefits). 

The  system  standardises  the  information  exchange  and  improves  the  efficiency  of  social 
security processes and administrative cooperation between countries and their social security 
institutions,  without  affecting  any  of  the  specific  features  of  basic  social  security  national 
systems.  

Experience with EESSI has highlighted the complexity of digitalising cross-border processes 
involving thousands of social security institutions and all branches of social security. Despite 
the commitment, time and investment by Member States to design, develop and roll out a large-
scale digital solution for social security coordination across the EU, progress at EU level is 
slow20.  

20  

Since the start of the project in 2008, in addition to national resources, more than 120 million euros were 
made available from the EU budget to support the development of EESSI.  

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While EESSI is now operational in all 32 participating countries and already streamlining the 
handling of cases, to the benefit of people moving around the EU, some countries still need to 
take steps to finalise their national implementation of the system. This concerns in particular 
the  reimbursement  of  healthcare  costs  between  countries.  Until  these  final  steps  are  taken, 
alternative  ways of communication  need to be  used outside the system  for the processes in 
question. It obliges the 13 countries that have already implemented EESSI fully21 to maintain 
parallel, paper-based processes for transactions with the countries that are not yet ready. 
The completion of the full roll-out of EESSI is a priority22. The Commission continues helping 
Member States’ implementation. It works with them to improve the system and its processes.  
The European Labour Authority (ELA) will also help support the use of EESSI23. ELA plans 
to launch a mutual learning and understanding programme aimed at more effective use of the 
EESSI system.  

The Commission calls on Member States to:  

•  accelerate  their  implementation  of  EESSI  to  ensure  that  the  system  is  fully 

implemented by the end of 2024 at the latest.  

The Commission calls on the ELA to: 

• 

launch a mutual learning and understanding programme for EESSI in 2024. 

The Commission will:  

•  work  with  Member  States  to  accelerate  their  implementation  efforts  and  provide 

quarterly monitoring and reporting of these efforts on the Europa website24 . 

The Commission will, in cooperation with Member States: 

•  continue improving the operation and maintenance of EESSI to further facilitate its 

use by social security institutions. 

2.2.2 Facilitating mobile  citizens’ interactions with national authorities across  Europe: 
the ESSPASS initiative  

While improving the electronic exchange of social security information between institutions is 
of paramount importance, it is only the first step. Digitalisation should benefit everyone, in 
particular citizens and businesses, to further facilitate the exercise of their rights in the single 
market by streamlining procedures and reducing administrative burden. 
To that end, the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan25 announced the launch of the 
European  Social  Security  Pass  (ESSPASS)  pilot  project,  to  explore  a  digital  solution  for 
verifying people’s social security entitlement documents in other EU countries (i.e. portable 
documents, including the EHIC). This should make it easier for people to exercise their social 
security rights when travelling, moving, and working in another Member State, while reducing 

21  

22  

23  
24  

25  

13 countries are able to exchange electronically in all social security sectors and with all institutions: BG, 
DK, EE, FR, CY, LV, HU, MT, PT, SE and IS, NO and UK.  
The complete implementation of EESSI could effectively support cross-border labour mobility and thus 
help make labour markets more resilient to the economic cycle: OECD Economic Survey: Euro Area 
2021 OECD Publishing, Paris. 
Recital 19 and Article 7 (3) of the Regulation (EU) 2019/1149 establishing a European Labour Authority.  
Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) - Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion 
- European Commission (europa.eu). 
The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.  

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the risk of fraud and error. It should also simplify procedures for companies, for instance, when 
sending their employees to work temporarily abroad (i.e. posting of workers).  

While EESSI allows exchanges only between social security institutions, ESSPASS would help 
people  travelling  or  moving  to  another  EU  country  or  companies  doing  business  abroad  to 
interact  digitally  with  social  security  institutions  and  other  public  bodies,  such  as  labour 
inspectorates and healthcare providers, whenever needed.  

ESSPASS will build on relevant EU digital initiatives. The Your Europe website will provide 
a  possible  single-entry  point  for  citizens  and  companies  to  request  the  social  security 
coordination  documents  to  be  digitised  under  the  Single  Digital  Gateway  Regulation.  The 
European  Digital  Identity  framework  and  the  standardised  EU  digital  wallets,  once  
implemented, would also be used to identify mobile citizens, store and share the digital portable 
documents, including the EHIC.   

ESSPASS would complement this by making it possible for social security institutions, labour 
inspectorates and healthcare providers to check in real-time whether the documents are valid, 
or changes have occurred. 

Examples of journeys  

Thanks to EU rules, if you are temporarily abroad and you need necessary healthcare, you will be 
treated  under  the  same  conditions  and  costs  as  locals.  The  doctor  will  ask  you  to  show  your 
European  Health  Insurance  Card  (EHIC).  National  administrations  will  then  take  care  of  the 
reimbursement. However, it may happen that you forget or lose your card. Some problems may 
also occur given that the hospital cannot verify the validity of the EHIC (e.g. in case of doubts, 
further exchanges may be needed between relevant institutions of the Member States).  

o  Before going on holiday in Spain, Živa should request the digital EHIC from her health 
insurance institution in Slovenia. To do that, she visits the Your Europe website (i.e. 
the Single Digital Gateway), which redirects her to the website of her institution.  

o  The institution issues the digital EHIC.  

o  Živa easily stores the EHIC in her digital wallet (i.e. future EU digital identity wallet). 

She does not have to carry a plastic card anymore.  

o  While on holiday, if Živa needs a medical treatment, she will present the EHIC in the 

hospital to prove that she is covered in Slovenia. 

o  Through ESSPASS, the hospital can verify in real-time that the EHIC is valid (i.e. it 
was issued by a competent institution and has not expired yet). This allows to increase 
confidence  in  the  use  of  the  EHIC  and  reduce  the  risk  of  refusal  by  the  healthcare 
provider.  

According to EU rules, if you have a company and want to send an employee to work temporarily 
abroad  (i.e.  posted  worker),  you  need to  request  an attestation  of  the  social  security  legislation 
applicable to the employee/posted worker (i.e. the portable document A1). In the receiving country, 
the  posted  worker  may  be  asked  by  an  inspector  to  show  this  attestation.  In  some  cases,  the 
inspector may have doubts on the validity of the document and further exchanges may be needed 
between authorities.  

o  Yiannis has a company and wants to send his employee, Georgios, to work temporarily 
in Italy. Yiannis requests the digital portable document A1 from the competent Greek 

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institution.  He  visits  the  Your  Europe  website,  which  redirects  him  to  the  national 
website of the institution. 

o  The national social security institution verifies the request and, if the conditions are 
met, issues the digital document which is made available to Yiannis and Georgios. 
o  Georgios easily stores the document in his digital wallet (i.e. future EU digital identity 

wallet).  

o  The  Greek  social  security  institution  informs  in  parallel  the  Italian  one  about  the 

posting via EESSI.  

o  An Italian labour inspector, Nicola, requests Georgios to present the portable document 

A1. 

o  Using  ESSPASS,  Nicola  performs  a  real-time  verification  of  the  document.  This 

allows to verify the validity of the document, increasing trust. 

A  potential  ESSPASS  solution  needs  to  be  fully  compliant  with  the  EU  data  protection 
legislation,  in  particular  the  General  Data  Protection  Regulation26,  and  security  rules.  Any 
processing of personal data requires a legal basis, this includes situations when data already 
collected and processed is to be transmitted/made accessible to other public and private parties. 
Furthermore,  only  data  that  are  strictly  necessary  for  verifying  the  entitlements  should  be 
processed and made accessible to the relevant national authorities and trusted stakeholders (e.g. 
the  healthcare  provider,  in  the  case  of  the  EHIC).  The  solution  also  needs  to  comply  with 
accessibility requirements27 and be inclusive of all people – especially those with disabilities, 
older persons, and those lacking digital skills.  

The ESSPASS Pilot Project started in 2021 with a first phase of piloting activities, launched 
with the Italian social security institution “Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale”, which 

26  

27  

Regulation (EU) 2016/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal 
data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection 
Regulation). 
See in particular Directive (EU) 2016/2102 on the accessibility of the websites and mobile applications 
of public sector bodies and Directive (EU) 2019/882 on the accessibility requirements for products and 
services, notably Annex I. 

9 

HOW THE INITIATIVES FIT TOGETHERNational Institution assesses the request and approves the issuance of the documentYour EuropeCitizen requests a Portable Document*National PortalsEESSI(when applicable**)National Social Security Institution in parallel shares the information with the receiving Institution via EESSICLERKNational InstitutionNational InstitutionNational InstitutionMOBILE CITIZENCitizen presents the Verifiable Credential to the VerifierVerification AppWalletVERIFIERVerifier checks the citizen’s Verifiable Credential National Institutioncreates a Verifiable CredentialESSPASSCitizen downloads the Verifiable Credential in her/his Digital WalletWalletfuture EUDI wallet Trusted Registries** When these procedures require an interaction between institutions of different countries, it will take place via EESSI.  * Portable documents related to the applicable legislation, pensions, sickness and unemployment benefits –e.g. EHIC, PD A1, PD S1...CITIZEN 
 
 
 
 
focused on the digitalisation of procedures for portable document A1. Other 13 Member States 
followed this first phase, mostly as observers. Its results showed how ESSPASS could help 
simplify the lives of mobile citizens and businesses providing services abroad, including small 
and  medium-sized  enterprises,  by  streamlining  procedures  and  reducing  administrative 
burdens28. 

Following  up  on  the  first  phase,  two  consortia  of  Member  State  institutions  are  pursuing 
ESSPASS activities and further piloting the issuing and verification of portable document A1 
and the European Health Insurance Card29, under the Digital Europe Programme.   

The Commission will keep supporting these consortia in their activities and help ensure that 
these activities are consistent with other EU digital initiatives.  

Throughout the pilot, which will be finalised by 2025, and in view of a potential large-scale 
deployment  of the  digital  solution  across Europe,  continued  concrete political  and financial 
commitment by Member States is essential. 

The Commission calls on all Member States: 

• 

to join the two consortia of Member State institutions piloting the digital issuing and 
verification of portable document A1 and the EHIC. 

The Commission will:  

•  besides  the  co-financing,  assist  the  consortia  and  provide  technical  expertise  until 

• 

they have completed their activities in 2025.  
following up to the ongoing pilot activities by the consortia, decide on the next steps, 
including the opportunity to deploy an ESSPASS solution  in all EU countries and 
whether this would require a legislative framework.  

2.3.  Other  initiatives  facilitating  free  movement,  labour  mobility  and  enforcement  of 
labour law  

Several  other  systems  and  tools  supporting  labour  mobility,  social  protection,  cross-border 
healthcare and enforcement  of labour law are currently being  developed.  They complement 
EESSI  and  ESSPASS  and  aim  at  further  facilitating  citizens’  and  workers’  mobility, 
simplifying  administrative  procedures  for  people,  businesses  and  national  authorities  and 
upholding workers’ rights.  

28  

29  

The results were presented at the Conference on digitalisation in social security coordination and labour 
cards.  Respondents  to  the  Conference  questionnaire  believed  that  ESSPASS  would  significantly  help 
reduce barriers to free movement and labour mobility (56%) and simplify procedures for: citizens and 
workers (63%), institutions, labour inspectorates and healthcare providers (66%) and businesses (52%). 
It would also help reduce errors and social security fraud (61%).  
Member State institutions in the consortium under the European Digital Identity framework (AT, BE, 
CZ, DK, DE, IE, IT, NL, PL, PT, ES, SE) are working on the use of EU digital identity wallets for the 
portable  document  A1  and  the  EHIC  (among  other  use  cases).  Member  State  institutions  in  the 
consortium  under  the  European  Blockchain  Services  Infrastructure  (AT,  BE,  DE,  IT)  are  further 
exploring the use of this infrastructure and blockchain to exchange  digital documents. 

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Pensions 

Posting of workers30 

Cross-border healthcare 

Labour law and working 
conditions 

A  European  Tracking  service  is  being  developed,  with  the 
support of the Commission, to provide mobile workers at any 
point in their career with information on their pension rights 
in the Member States where they have worked. This builds 
on  the  existing  national  tracking  systems.  The  goal  is  to 
enable people to make informed decisions about their career 
and savings needs, to secure more adequate pensions. 

The  Commission  and  Member  States  are  working  on  a 
common  electronic  form  for  the  Declaration  of  posting  of 
workers (e-Declaration). The aim of the e-Declaration is to 
reduce the administrative burden on businesses and facilitate 
information  sharing  with  competent  authorities  in  Member 
States, while also helping fight fraud and abuse. 

Under  the  upcoming  European  Health  Data  Space31,  the 
Commission and Member States aim to reach full use of the 
digital  infrastructure  MyHealth@EU  across  Europe,  for 
exchanging  ePrescriptions,  patient  summaries,  laboratory 
results, hospital discharge reports and medical images. This 
could help simplify administrative procedures linked to the 
reimbursement  of  cross-border  healthcare  costs32.  In  2023, 
MyHealth@EU  is  already  operational  in  eleven  Member 
States with ePrescription and patient summary services.  

EU social partners in the construction sector will carry out a 
project  in  2023-25,  with  the  financial  support  of  the 
Commission,  to  explore  the  potential  for  interoperability 
between  labour  and  social  identity  cards  of  different 
countries. The aim is to facilitate the enforcement of labour 
law  and  working  conditions,  improve  transparency  and 
ensure fair labour mobility.  

3.  Digital  developments  in  Member  States,  leading  to  efficient  cross-border  social 

security processes   

EU and national efforts must come hand in hand to achieve success in digitalisation of social 
security coordination.  

30  

31  
32  

Directive 2014/67/EU on the enforcement of Directive 96/71/EC concerning the posting of workers in 
the framework of provision of services. 
Proposal for a Regulation on the European Health Data Space. 
Under the Directive 2011/24/EU on the application of patients' rights in cross-border healthcare. 

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All  Member  States  are  exploring  ways  to  streamline  processes  and  enable  more  efficient 
delivery of services, even if progress remains uneven across Europe and across the different 
national social security sectors33. 

Many  countries  have  started  to  digitalise  the  management  and  delivery  of  social  protection 
through simplified digital one-stop portals, automated processes (including for accessing some 
benefits),  pension  simulators  and  pre-filled  application  forms.  These  developments  at 
national level not only improve the accessibility and efficiency of national social protection 
and security systems, but they are prerequisites for more efficient digitalised cross-border 
social security processes. They also help improve the functioning of the EESSI system and 
the processing of people’s cases.  

Member States must ensure that their national social security websites, mobile applications and 
online interfaces with the public comply with the EU accessibility requirements for people with 
disabilities34. 

Examples of national digital initiatives 

These  efforts  include  the  use  of  digital  solutions  to  speed  up  the  issuing  of  portable 
document A1 and to verify the relevant facts, in order to determine which social security 
legislation  is  applicable,  as  done  by  the  French  institution  URSAFF  and  the  Belgian 
National  Social  Security  Office.   For  instance,  in  Belgium  80%  of  applications  are 
processed without human intervention and portable documents A1 are issued within 24 
hours. These developments also improve the accuracy of decisions and the correctness of 
the information contained in the documents.  
Some  Member  States’  institutions  introduced  fully  automated  processes  for  granting 
benefits.  For  example,  the  Polish  Social  Insurance  Institution  (ZUS)  and  its  automatic 
software for granting family benefits, and the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Social Security.  
The Italian Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale (INPS) is using data mining and 
artificial intelligence to detect and prevent cases of fraud or error in the granting of social 
security benefits.   
Member States have shown increased interest in the bilateral and multilateral exchange of 
information and the interconnection of social security relevant databases (e.g. the solution 
introduced  by  Finland  and  Estonia  to  automate  data  exchange  between  their  national 
population registers). 

Besides  the  full  implementation  of  the  Electronic  Exchange  of  Social  Security  Information 
(EESSI)  system,  which  is  a  priority,  Member  States  should  continue  investing  in  the 
digitalisation  of  their  social  security  systems,  also  with  a  view  to  ensuring  seamless  digital 
experiences for mobile citizens and businesses. To support this process, various EU funding 
instruments are available, such as the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL)35, InvestEU, the 

33  

34  
35  

Some of the Member States replying to the questionnaire for a working party on digitalisation on social 
security coordination (on 8 March 2023) highlighted the risks and challenges associated with the different 
degrees of digitalisation and automation in the social security domain across Member States. 
See above footnote 34. 
DIGITAL has a budget of 7.5. billion euros in current prices for 2021-2027, which includes 1.1 billion 
to ensure the wise use of digital technologies across the economy and society.  

12 

 
 
   
 
 
European  Regional  Development  Fund,  the  Technical  Support  Instrument  (TSI)36  and  the 
European Social Fund Plus37. Measures aimed at digitalising public services and modernising 
public  administration processes figure in all national  Recovery and  Resilience  Plans, which 
need to allocate at least 20% of the plan’s total resources to digital objectives.  

The exchange of best practice on national tools and solutions should be facilitated. Considering 
its  mandate,  the  European  Labour  Authority  (ELA)  could  support  this,  by  helping  build  a 
community  of  practice  and  promoting  the  regular  sharing  of  experiences  between  national 
administrations. 

In support of the efforts undertaken by Member States, the Commission calls on the ELA to:  

•  collect  good  practices  in  2024  and  to  facilitate,  through  dedicated  workshops,  a 
regular  exchange  between  national  authorities  on  digital  tools  in  social  security, 
including cross-border services.  

•  building upon the results of this exercise, analyse national digital solutions covering 
all  social  security  branches,  the  digital  maturity of  national  systems  and available 
resources at national level. This will inform action to better target investment and 
support those lagging behind.  

The Commission calls on Member States to: 

• 

finalise  the  full  implementation  of  the  EESSI  system  and  the  digitalisation  of  the 
three  social  security  coordination  procedures  included  in  Annex  II  of  the  Single 
Digital Gateway Regulation. 

•  ensure  that  by  2025,  people  can  also  request  and  obtain  online  the  other  portable 
documents in the fields of sickness, accidents at work and occupational diseases and 
unemployment  benefits,  beyond  those  for  which  procedures  are  to  be  digitalised 
under the Single Digital Gateway Regulation.  

•  sustain  the  investment  in  automating  processes  for  handling  national  and  cross-
border cases in social security and social protection, while working towards further 
interoperability between national social security systems.   

•  step  up  efforts  to  meet,  by  2030,  the  Digital  Decade’s  objectives  of  100%  of  key 
public  services  being  available  online,  including  in  social  security,  and  100%  of 
people  having  access  to  electronic  identification  (eID)  means,  to  be  used  for  key 
public services across the EU, including for social security. 

The Commission also urges the European Parliament and the Council to:  

•  swiftly  reach  an agreement  on the  revision of the EU social security coordination 
rules.  The  Commission  will  continue  to  support  co-legislators  to  achieve  this 
objective. 

36  

37  

See  for  instance:  https://reform-support.ec.europa.eu/what-we-do/labour-market-social-protection-and-
migration/strengthening-administrative-capacity-italian-national-institute-social-security_en. 
Several  countries  are  using  these  instruments  to  support  the  initiatives  on  digitalising  social  security 
coordination (e.g. the European Social Fund Plus for EESSI and the RRF and DIGITAL for the ESSPASS 
pilot project).  

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4.  Moving towards a more digitally integrated social security coordination system  

In recent years, the Commission and Member States have built the foundations of a modern 
and  digitalised  system  of  social  security  coordination,  as  regards  both  exchanges  between 
authorities across borders and the delivery of services to citizens and businesses.   

It is crucial to pursue these efforts and accelerate progress towards more citizen and business 
friendly, interconnected and interoperable social security systems. This depends significantly 
on political steer, commitment and investments and requires a vision for the longer-term.  

The aim is to enable a seamless and secure flow of information across borders, to make the 
access to social security services quicker and simpler for citizens and businesses and to provide 
them with burden-free experiences when interacting with those services across the EU. 

To achieve this and implement a citizen and business-centric approach, a more integrated data 
exchange between social security systems would be needed, with further interoperability – in 
line with the proposal for the Interoperable Europe Act38 –, automation, standardisation of 
social security data and direct access to the original source of data39.  

Such integrated approach would streamline administrative processes, reducing paperwork and 
manual  tasks,  and  allowing  a  more  efficient  allocation  of  resources.  Interoperability  would 
enable national authorities to integrate data from multiple sources and ensure that accurate and 
up  to  date  information  is  shared  across  systems.  Such  interoperable  exchanges  are  also 
necessary  with  systems  covering  mobile  workers  who  are  outside  the  scope  of  EU  social 
security coordination rules, such as staff of international organisations and of EU institutions 
and other bodies. Automated systems could  help  authorities  to  detect  patterns of fraudulent 
activity involving multiple locations in various countries. This would lead to cost savings and 
ensure  that  benefits  reach  those  who  genuinely  need  them  and  that  people  are  effectively 
protected.  

People  would  be  able  to  access  services  and  receive  benefits  more  easily,  saving  time  and 
effort.  Businesses  providing  services  abroad  would  benefit  from  lighter  processes  and 
increased data accuracy. 

To support a seamless experience for cross-border labour mobility – both physical and ‘virtual’ 
mobility  –  for  people,  businesses  and  national  authorities,  it  is  important  to  act  beyond  the 
social  security  domain  and  foster  cross-sectoral  interoperability40.  This  would  require 
examining  the  various  processes  governing  not  only  social  security  coordination  but  also 
posting  of  workers,  cross-border  healthcare  and  the  interaction  between  social  security 
coordination and labour law, taxation41 and company law. The aim is to bring greater clarity, 
simplify administrative procedures, and explore synergies between digital solutions developed 

38  

39  

40  

41  

Cross-border interoperability helps deliver better connected services and  will lead  to cost-savings for 
citizens and businesses dealing with public administrations. Cost savings are estimated to be between 
€5.5  and  €6.3  million  for  citizens  and  €5.7  and  €19.2  billion  for  businesses  dealing  with  public 
administrations - Staff Working Document (2022) 721. 
The  need  for  further  interoperability,  standardisation  of  data  and  automation  was  shared  by  many 
stakeholders at the conference on digitalisation in social security coordination and labour cards and  in 
the working party on digitalisation.  
80%  of  respondents  to  the  questionnaire  for  the  conference  on  digitalisation  of  social  security 
coordination and labour cards believed that the EU and Member States should invest more in (i) cross-
border interoperability covering related policy domains and (ii) automation. 
The Commission is working on ways to facilitate the implementation of taxpayers’ rights and to simplify 
tax  obligations,  as  announced  in  the  Tax  Action  Plan  for  Fair  and  Simple  Taxation  Supporting  the 
Recovery Strategy.  

14 

 
 
 
in the different sectors42. 

Any way forward would need to carefully assess the needs, added value and expected impact 
– including financial – of introducing additional interoperability, technical requirements and 
common  standards  for  exchanging  data.  It  should  take  into  account  the  principles  of 
subsidiarity and proportionality, as well as legal and organisational issues.  

Privacy  and  data  protection  challenges  would  also  need  to  be  addressed,  especially  when 
enabling  further  data  sharing.  Similarly,  when  using  algorithms  or  artificial  intelligence, 
thorough safeguards would be needed, including to protect individuals from the risks of bias 
and discrimination. 

Regular high-level exchanges will take place with Member States to discuss the main actions 
to be taken and to monitor and evaluate progress. 

The Commission will:  

• 

launch a study in 2024 on further developments in the longer term in digitalisation 
of social security coordination which will, among other things:  

o  analyse the needs, costs and benefits of establishing further interoperability 
in  the national  context  and across borders and sectors – building  on input 
received from  the ELA, Member  States, social security institutions,  social 
partners and other relevant stakeholders. 

•  examine the opportunity for further simplification and streamlining in the procedures 
governing free movement of people and workers in the EU, with a view to achieving 
a seamless digital experience. 

•  organise, once a year, high-level meetings with Member States to discuss and support 
implementing further digitalisation, standardisation and automation in social security 
coordination,  facilitating  freedom  of  movement  and  labour  mobility,  including 
increased interoperability with other relevant sectors.  

The Commission calls on Member States and all stakeholders to: 

•  actively  contribute to  achieving the objective of  a more  digitally  integrated social 
security  coordination  system  by  continuing  to  invest  in  digitalisation  efforts  at 
national level, duly taking into account the developments at EU level and in other 
Member States. 

5.  Conclusions  

Digitalisation  facilitates  citizens’  exercise  of  their  social  security  rights  across  borders, 
reducing barriers to free movement and labour mobility, thus making it easier for people to 
move around the EU to travel, live, work, study in other Member States. It also helps prevent 
fraud  and  lighten  the  administrative  burden  for  businesses  providing  services  abroad  by 
simplifying  procedures.  This  ultimately  stimulates  sustainable  growth  and  improves 
competitiveness.  

42  

For instance, Article 4 of the Commission’s proposal for a Directive to further expand the use of digital 
tools  and  processes  in  EU  company  law    provides  for  an assessment  of  the  potential  interoperability 
between the Business Registers interconnection system (BRIS) and other systems, such as in the areas of 
taxation  and  social  security. BRIS  provides  access  to  company  information  free of  charge,  in  all  EU 
languages, gathered directly from national business registers.  

15 

 
 
 
 
 
Significant progress has been made in recent years, but to achieve the objective of a seamless, 
burden-free experience for mobile citizens and businesses, it is essential to scale up action at 
EU and national levels, towards more automated, interoperable and integrated national social 
security systems.   

The Commission is  fully  committed to  guiding  and  supporting  Member States and  national 
administrations in their efforts to accelerate the digital transformation across Europe.  

Member States’ continued engagement and further political and financial commitment remain 
prerequisites for building a more digital Europe, including in social security coordination to 
support free movement and fair labour mobility. 

All images © Images © stock.adobe.com 

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