Proposals from German Social Insurance issued 18 June 2026

Further development of the legislation on the coordination of social security systems

Table of Contents

Preliminary remark

The revision of Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009 on the coordination of social security systems adapts the coordination framework to current social policy developments and the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. The political agreement reached in trilogue on 29 April 2026 constitutes an important step towards the modernisation of the coordination framework, which DSV expressly welcomes.

Despite the overall positive outcome of the negotiations, DSV considers that further legislative and technical adjustments remain necessary. This paper sets out proposals for the further practical development of the coordination framework beyond the scope of the current revision.

Part II contains concrete proposals concerning the rules on applicable legislation and the reimbursement of costs between Member States. These proposals concern both coordination Regulations as well as an amendment to an Annex to Implementing Regulation (EC) No 987/2009. Their objective is to better reflect and regulate contemporary patterns of cross-border economic activity and to improve reimbursement procedures through clearer deadlines and harmonised standards. Furthermore, DSV proposes the abolition of reimbursement based on lump-sum amounts and the systematic alignment of inter-State reimbursement procedures with actual expenditure. An adequately long transitional period should be provided in order to allow Member States to implement the necessary national adjustments.

Part III contains additional suggestions for future legislative action. In DSV’s view, the increasing number of cases in which the applicable legislation changes retroactively demonstrates the need for clearer legal provisions. Furthermore, the cross-border exchange of social security data should be fully compliant with data-protection requirements and should be expressly regulated within the coordination framework.

Further Development of the Rules on Applicable Legislation and Reimbursement Procedures

Further Development of the Rules on Applicable Legislation

Priority of Employed Activity

Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 establishes an unconditional priority of employed activity. Consequently, where a person simultaneously pursues employed and self-employed activities in different Member States, the legislation of the Member State in which the employed activity is pursued applies.

Article 13 (3) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004

Proposed Amendment

The unconditional priority currently granted to employed activity vis-à-vis self-employed activity when determining the applicable legislation should be replaced by a rule based on the relative extent of the activities pursued.

Justification

The unconditional priority currently granted to employed activity is difficult to justify and may create unintended incentives. In particular, persons whose principal professional activity is self-employment but who pursue a limited employed activity in another Member State enjoy considerable flexibility in influencing the determination of the applicable legislation.

Under the current framework, the legislation of the State of employment generally takes precedence irrespective of the actual extent of the employed activity, except in cases involving marginal activities. The applicable legislation should therefore be determined more closely in line with the genuine scale and economic significance of the activities pursued.

Article 14(8) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009

Proposed Amendment

Consequential amendment resulting from the proposed revision of Article 13(3) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004.

Simultaneous Activities as a Civil Servant in Several Member States

Article 13 determines the applicable legislation for persons pursuing activities in two or more Member States. The objective is to ensure that only one Member State’s legislation applies and to avoid situations of double insurance. To this end, Article 13 establishes a number of priority rules, including the principle that a person is, as a rule, subject to the legislation of the State in which employed activity is pursued. However, Article 13 does not currently contain a specific rule for situations in which a person simultaneously performs activities as a civil servant, or a person treated as such, in two or more Member States.

Article 13(4) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004

Proposed amendment

Introduction of a specific rule governing situations in which a person is employed as a civil servant, or a person treated as such, in two or more Member States.

Justification

The current wording of Article 13 gives rise to practical difficulties. Where a person is employed as a civil servant, or a person treated as such, in more than one Member State, national authorities currently apply different approaches. Some Member States subject the person to insurance under their domestic legislation, resulting in double insurance. Others determine the applicable legislation by analogy with Article 13(1), while some Member States rely on an exception agreement pursuant to Article 16. The absence of a clear legal rule and the resulting divergent administrative practice lead to unequal treatment of persons employed as civil servants in several Member States. A specific legislative provision would enhance legal certainty and ensure a uniform application of the coordination rules throughout the Union.

Further Development of Reimbursement Procedures

Abolition of Reimbursement Based on Lump-Sum Amounts

Since the entry into force of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, Member States whose legal and administrative structures render reimbursement on the basis of actual expenditure impracticable have been permitted to use reimbursement based on lump-sum amounts. Detailed implementation and calculation rules are laid down in the Implementing Regulation.

Article 35(2) and Article 87(10c) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004

Proposed amendment

The possibility of reimbursement on the basis of lump-sum amounts shall be abolished. The new provisions shall apply from 1 January 2030. See also the consequential amendment proposed for Article 62 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009.

Justification

The possibility of reimbursement on the basis of lump-sum amounts should already have been phased out when Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 entered into force. By its nature, lump-sum reimbursement does not ensure cost neutrality or cost equity in individual cases. This is particularly evident where persons insured in Germany reside in another Member State, such as Spain, but travel to Germany for more extensive treatment without transferring their habitual residence. In such cases, German health insurance funds must bear the costs of treatment in Germany while simultaneously continuing to pay the per-capita lump-sum amounts due to the State of residence, irrespective of actual utilisation of benefits. In addition, reimbursement based on lump-sum amounts creates practical difficulties, for example in relation to the authorisation and financing of treatment in a third Member State. Furthermore, the administrative structures of the Member States currently using lump-sum reimbursement have undergone significant modernisation in recent years as a result of national digitalisation initiatives.

The Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) now provides the technical conditions necessary to enable reimbursement based on actual expenditure throughout the coordination system. Nevertheless, the transition requires adjustments to national administrative procedures in those countries that currently operate lump-sum reimbursement systems (United Kingdom, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland and Cyprus). To ensure that the affected States have sufficient time to adapt to the new reimbursement methodology, an adequate transitional period should be provided until 31 December 2029 and set out in a dedicated transitional provision.

Articles 62 et seq. of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009

Proposed amendment

The abolition of reimbursement based on fixed amounts in Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 requires corresponding amendments to the Implementing Regulation.

Justification

See the justification relating to Article 35(2) and Article 87(10c) of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004.

Codification of Objection Procedures and Modernisation of Payment Deadlines

The reimbursement provisions contained in Articles 66 et seq. of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 allow the debtor institution to challenge reimbursement claims received from another Member State where justified grounds exist. At present, however, the detailed procedural rules governing objections and the associated response deadline are laid down only in Administrative Commission Decision No S11. Furthermore, reimbursements carried out through the clearing procedure are to be settled “as soon as possible”. Article 67(5) currently establishes a payment deadline of eighteen months following the month in which the claim was submitted to the liaison body of the debtor Member State.

Article 67 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009

Proposed amendment

In future claims should be submitted at least on a quarterly basis. Settlement between institutions should take place within twelve months. The procedural rules currently contained in Administrative Commission Decision No S11 should be incorporated directly into the Implementing Regulation. The resulting deadlines would be as follows:

Justification

The current legal framework does not contain any provision governing the frequency with which claims are to be submitted to liaison bodies. Introducing an obligation to exchange claims on a regular and timely basis would contribute significantly to accelerating reimbursement procedures and would reduce the financial burden borne by creditor institutions. Claims should therefore be submitted at least quarterly.

Under the current system, payments are frequently made only at the end of the eighteen-month period provided for in Article 67(5) of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009, resulting in a considerable delay between the provision of benefits in kind and the corresponding reimbursement. Following the successful implementation of EESSI, significantly faster reimbursement procedures are now operationally feasible. Reducing the payment deadline from eighteen months to twelve months better reflects the technical and administrative capacities currently available to social security institutions and would contribute to achieving the objective laid down in Article 66(1), namely the prompt settlement of claims. In practice, the legally binding nature of Administrative Commission Decision No S11 is repeatedly questioned by certain Member States when dealing with the operational management of contested claims. In the interest of legal certainty and uniform application, the substantive rules contained in Decision No S11 should therefore be incorporated directly into the Implementing Regulation. The newly proposed provisions concerning objections, response deadlines and settlement procedures serve precisely this purpose. The creditor Member State should be required to respond to an objection no later than nine months following the end of the month in which the objection was received by its liaison body. In the absence of such a response, the objection should be deemed accepted. Furthermore, in order to avoid unnecessary disputes between Member States, it should be expressly clarified that all deadlines laid down in Article 67 constitute receipt-based deadlines. Compliance should therefore depend on the date of receipt by the relevant liaison body rather than on the date of dispatch.

Annexes

Pursuant to Article 92 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009, Annexes 1 to 5 may be amended by means of a Commission Regulation at the request of the Administrative Commission. DSV proposes the following amendment.

Annex 3 to Regulation (EC) No 987/2009

Annex 3 shall be deleted with effect from 1 January 2030 as a consequence of the abolition of reimbursement based on fixes amounts.

Additional Legislative Action

In the view of the DSV, further legislative amendments should be considered with regard to the issues set out below.

Summary of the provisions on the electronic exchange of social security data and the protection of personal data

Digitalisation in the field of the coordination of social security systems has progressed considerably in recent years. A key element of this development is the extensive exchange of data through the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) system. Provisions governing the processing of data within the framework of EESSI exchanges should in future be laid down directly in the Regulations. To this end, detailed legal provisions should be established, either in a dedicated chapter on EESSI within Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 or in a separate Regulation governing digitalisation in the field of the coordination of social security systems as a whole, including the future European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS). The relevant Decisions of the Administrative Commission concerning the electronic exchange of social security data should be incorporated into such a chapter or Regulation. This concerns, inter alia, the determination of the legally effective date of delivery of EESSI messages, which triggers time limits laid down in the Regulations.

In addition, comprehensive provisions on the protection of personal data are required in order to ensure that the operation of the EESSI system is fully compliant with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation). For this purpose, the definitions set out in Article 1 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 should also be supplemented accordingly.

Further development of the provisions concerning retroactive changes of the applicable legislation

The 2016 revision of the Regulations on the coordination of social security systems provides for a comprehensive amendment of Articles 5 and 73 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 concerning the legal effects of documents issued in another Member State and the reimbursement and recovery of benefits and contributions in cases involving a retroactive change of the applicable legislation.

Since then, the Court of Justice of the European Union has developed extensive case-law concerning the binding effect of the A1 certificate. Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 should therefore be reviewed in order to determine to what extent this case-law should be reflected in the text of the Regulation and whether the principles established by that case-law should also be extended to other documents, such as the Portable Document S1. In practice, an increasing number of cases involving retroactive changes of the applicable legislation can be observed. This development is linked to the fact that employment and activity patterns have become more complex and more dynamic since the entry into force of Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009, particularly in situations involving activities pursued in two or more Member States. As a consequence, retroactive changes of the applicable legislation occur more frequently.

For both insured persons and institutions, long-term care benefits are expected to assume increasing importance within the framework of the coordination of social security systems. The reimbursement and recovery of long-term care cash benefits already give rise to considerable practical difficulties, given the significant differences between national long-term care schemes. Article 73 of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 should therefore be further specified with regard to the reimbursement and recovery of benefits in kind, cash benefits and contributions, including situations involving the retroactive implementation of insurance coverage

About us

The German Federal Pension Insurance (DRV Bund), the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV), the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds (GKV-Spitzenverband), the national associations for statutory health and long-term care insurance funds at the federal level and the Social Insurance for Agriculture, Forestry and Horticulture (SVLFG) have joined forces to form the "German Social Insurance - Working Group Europe" (Deutsche Sozialversicherung Arbeitsgemeinschaft Europa e. V.) with a view to their common European policy interests. The association represents the interests of its members vis-à-vis the bodies of the European Union (EU) as well as other European institutions and advises the relevant stakeholders in the context of current legislative projects and initiatives. As part of the statutory insurance system in Germany, health and long-term care insurance with 75 million insured persons, pension insurance with 57 million insured persons and accident insurance with more than 70 million insured persons in 5.2 million member companies offer effective protection against the consequences of major risks of life.

06/2026 - DSV proposals for the further development of the law on the coordination of social security systems