General Principles of Coordination in Regulation 883/2004

Abstract

Fifty years after Regulation 1408/71, a new Coordination Regulation, 883/2004, will shortly enter into force and become the new coordination instrument. The general principles of the coordination of social security (equal treatment, aggregation of periods, export of benefits and rules for the determination of the applicable legislation) still constitute, after 5 decades, the general framework of coordination. No fundamental changes can be reported, although these principles were adapted in line with the modernisation and simplification exercise of the whole coordination framework, in order to take into account several developments in national social security legislation as well as in the case law of the European Court of Justice. New developments in the framework of European citizenship, and the influence of the other “constitutional” principle of the free movement of people in the EU Treaty, play an important role and might in the future further challenge the coordination framework. This is in particular the case with respect to the derogations to the exportability rule, as well as with respect to the rules on the applicable legislation. The general rule on equal treatment was strengthened through the generalisation of the assimilation of facts. Although some small improvements have been obtained with respect to the personal and material scope of the Regulation, a lot of burning issues remain and already call for further attention in the future. Regulation 883/2004 might be the welcomed new start of the coordination framework, but the challenges currently encountered raise the question whether it is not time to reflect on a new framework, perhaps leaving aside decisions taken decades ago and re-confirmed today by the community legislator.