The EU provisions on social security

In other words, if you stop working in one member state to carry work in another one,
you will become subject to the legislation of the ‘new’ state of employment. This means
that you will stop building up rights in the ‘old’ state and start acquiring them in the
‘new’ one. It does not matter whether or not you take up residence there: even as a
frontier worker who remains a resident of the ‘old’ state of employment, you are insured
under the legislation of the state where you work.
Exceptions
<strong>The</strong>re are a limited number of exceptions to this general principle.
In the case of posting: Your employer may temporarily send you to work in another
state. This situation, which occurs under specific conditions, is known as ‘posting’. If
these conditions are fulfilled (and you are not sent to replace another person), you can
work up to 24 months while remaining under the legislation of the ‘sending’ state. This
solution aims at avoiding frequent changes of applicable legislation in case of short
periods abroad, which is why it is limited in time.
Before going to the state to which you are posted, you should make sure you get
an ‘A1’ document (see list in Section 7) which certifies that you are covered by the
legislation of the state from which you are posted. You or your employer may obtain
this document from the institution of the member state in which you are insured (the
‘sending’ member state).
<strong>The</strong> same <strong>provisions</strong> apply to self-employed persons who perform a similar activity temporarily
in another member state.
For mariners: If you are a mariner and you work on board a sea vessel flying the flag of
a member state, you will be covered by the legislation of that state, even if you reside
in another one.
However, if the registered place of business of your employer is in a different member
state than the one flying the flag and this is also your place of residence, you will be
covered by your state of residence.
In the interest of the persons concerned: It is possible to derogate from these common
<strong>EU</strong> rules under the condition that it is in the interest of the persons concerned. Two or
more member states may then provide for national derogations by common agreement.
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