Directive on improving the portability of supplementary pension rights

The revised Lisbon strategy and the Social Agenda stress how important mobility is to improving the adaptability of workers and the business sector and increasing labour market flexibility. Considering the increasing importance of supplementary pension schemes to cover the risks of old age, it is thus particularly important to reduce the obstacles to mobility which stem from these schemes. The Commission states in its Lisbon action plan its intention to submit legislative proposals in this area.

This proposal is accordingly designed to simultaneously reduce the obstacles to freedom of movement across Member States and to mobility within any Member State stemming from provisions contained in these supplementary pension schemes. These obstacles relate to: the conditions of acquisition of pension rights, the conditions of preservation of dormant pension rights, the transferability of acquired rights. The proposal also seeks to improve the information given to workers on how mobility may affect supplementary pension rights.