As the employment market has become more flexible and digitalised, and because there has been an increase in numbers of cross-border workers who work remotely, Member States of the European Union have drawn up a new Framework agreement on cross-border telework in the field of social security..

• Scope

This Framework Agreement allows any border worker to work remotely in their country of residence, while still being subject to their applicable social security legislation, as long as:

• The worker’s country of residence and the country in which the employer is based have both signed the Framework Agreement;
• The time spent working in the country of residence is less than 50% of the employee’s total working time.

It is nevertheless specified that the Framework Agreement does not apply to people who: pas aux personnes qui :

• Habitually carry out an activity other than cross-border remote working in their country of residence, and/or;
• Excercent habituellement une activité dans un Etat autre que leur pays de résidence et que le pays dans lequel est établi leur employeur et/ou ;
• Are self-employed.
• Procedure
• The employer or the individual concerned who would like to benefit from the exemption must apply to the competent authority in the Member State in which the employer’s head office is based (for example, the Centre Commun de la Sécurité Sociale, for employers whose head office is in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg).
• When an individual submits an application, the Signatory States will enter into an agreement specifying that the Member State in which the employer is based is competent, as long as the amount of remote work in the Member State of residence is below 50% of the employee’s total working time .[1].
• Cross-border remote working under these conditions must be the subject of a formal or informal agreement between the employee and the employer .[2].

The Framework Agreement does not cover applications relating to a time before the Framework Agreement came into force .[3].

L’Accord Cadre s’appliquera toutefois lorsqu’une demande concerne une période antérieure à la date d’introduction de la demande, à condition que pendant cette période, des cotisations de sécurité sociale aient été versées ou que le travailleur ait été couvert d’une autre manière par le régime de sécurité sociale de l’État signataire dans lequel l’employeur a son siège social ou son lieu d’établissement, et :

(i) que la période demandée précédant la date à laquelle la demande a été présentée n’excède pas trois mois, ou

(ii) que cette demande est présentée au plus tard le 30 juin 2024 et que la période précédant la date à laquelle la demande a été présentée n’excède pas douze mois[4].

Information will be shared between the competent bodies. The competent institution in the Signatory State for which the legislation is applicable will supply a certificate (A1) .[5].

However, it is specified that the agreement given by the competent institution is valid for a maximum period of 3 years, with the option to extend by submitting a new application .[6].

If the employee’s circumstances change (e.g. the employee’s country of residence changes), the employer or the employee must inform the Member State that issued the A1 certificate immediately. The Member State will reassess the situation and, if applicable, will withdraw or terminate the A1 certificate .[7].

• Entry into force and duration of the application of the Framework Agreement

The Framework Agreement will come into force on 1^st July 2023 in Luxembourg, so immediately after the end of the transitional period connected to the Covid 19 pandemic.

If a Member State signs the Framework Agreement after 1^st July 2023, it will come into force on the 1^st st day of the month after it was signed for that Member State.

At the moment, the other Signatory States of the Framework Agreement are Germany, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, the Czech Republic, Austria, the Netherlands, Slovakia and Belgium.

France has not yet signed the Framework Agreement, which means that French residents cannot yet benefit from this system.

The Framework Agreement is valid for 5 years and should automatically be extended by 5-year periods.

It is specified that the provisions of the Framework Agreement only apply to the field of social security.

Tax provisions continue to be governed by specific separate bilateral agreements. This means that the tax threshold is still 34 days of remote working for Belgian and French residents and 19 days of remote working for German residents.

[1] Article 3 §1 of the “ Explanatory Memorandum to the Framework Agreement on the application of Article 16 (1) of Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 in cases of habitual cross-border telework ” (ci-après l’”Explanatory Memorandum”)

[2] Article 3 § 2 de l’Explanatory Memorandum

[3] Article 4 (2) de “Framework Agreement on the application of Article 16 (1) of Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 in cases of habitual cross-border telework” (ci-après l’”Accord cadre”)

[4] Article 4 (3) de l’Accord cadre

[5] Article 4 (6) de l’Accord cadre

[6] Article 4 (4) de l’Accord cadre

[7] Article 4 de l’Explanatory Memorandum relatif à l’article 4 (4) de l’Accord cadre