Text file: 4618.txt
author: nesta
downvotes: 0
end consideration date: 2013-06-11
id: '4618'
number comments: 5
number views: 1469
proposal type: Competent authority response
response: "Response by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities\n\
  In reply to the above letter, we would like to explain below why, in the light of\
  \ the legislation on pension and invalidity insurance, the reduction of the above-mentioned\
  \ contribution for voluntary entry into the compulsory pension and invalidity insurance\
  \ does not apply to all categories of persons who are voluntarily included in the\
  \ compulsory pension and invalidity insurance.\nAccording to the new Act on Pension\
  \ and Disability Insurance - ZPIZ-2 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia,\
  \ No 96/2012, 39/2013), all persons insured in pension and disability insurance\
  \ had to pay the same amount of contributions for pension and disability insurance,\
  \ regardless of the basis on which they were included in the compulsory pension\
  \ and disability insurance. This method of increasing the contribution on the basis\
  \ of voluntary enrolment in compulsory insurance, without transitional periods or\
  \ gradual increases, has been shown to have had a negative impact on the number\
  \ of people enrolled in compulsory insurance. The Government of the Republic of\
  \ Slovenia has therefore proposed an amendment to the law, which would also re-regulate\
  \ the gradual increase in the level of contributions for voluntary entry into compulsory\
  \ pension and invalidity insurance. The National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia\
  \ thus adopted the new ZPIZ-2A on 24 April 2013. The Act entered into force on 7\
  \ May 2013 and applies from 1 January 2013. The lower contributions for voluntary\
  \ pension insurance for the unemployed under ZPIZ-2A will therefore apply only to\
  \ persons who were voluntarily enrolled in compulsory insurance until 31 December\
  \ 2012 on the basis of the seventh indent of the first paragraph of Article 34(1)\
  \ of the Act. (hereinafter: ZPIZ-1) (unemployed persons who are registered with\
  \ the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia (hereinafter: ZRSZ)) and who\
  \ are insured under Article 25(1) of ZPIZ-2 as from the entry into force of this\
  \ Act.\nThe reduced base in accordance with the provisions of the Act on Amendments\
  \ and Additions to the Act on Pension and Disability Insurance (Official Gazette\
  \ 39/13, hereinafter referred to as ZPIZ-2A), which sets out the criteria for the\
  \ reduction of the aforementioned contribution for voluntary entry into compulsory\
  \ pension and disability insurance, does not apply to all categories of persons\
  \ who are voluntarily included in compulsory PIZ, but to 3. Article 2A of the ZPIZ-2A\
  \ defines that the minimum contribution base for persons who, on 31 December 2012,\
  \ were voluntarily enrolled in compulsory insurance on the basis of the seventh\
  \ indent of the first paragraph of Article 34 of the ZPIZ-1, and who, from the entry\
  \ into force of this Act, are insured under the first paragraph of Article 25 of\
  \ this Act, shall be 16% of the last known average annual salary of employees in\
  \ the Republic of Slovenia in 2013, with the base gradually increasing in the following\
  \ years.\nThe seventh indent of paragraph 34 of the ZPIZ-1 concerns the voluntary\
  \ inclusion in the compulsory pension and invalidity insurance of unemployed persons\
  \ who are entered in the register of unemployed persons, which means that the condition\
  \ for the reduction of the contribution is not only the inclusion in the voluntary\
  \ compulsory pension and invalidity insurance on this basis as at 31 December 2012,\
  \ but also the entry in the register of unemployed persons as a condition for the\
  \ reduction of the contribution. Accordingly, only those insured persons who fulfilled\
  \ the above conditions before the entry into force of the Law are entitled to pay\
  \ a reduced amount of contributions for voluntary pension and invalidity insurance.\n\
  We would like to point out that the legislator, when drafting the ZPIZ-2A, started\
  \ from a very narrow segment of persons. The ZPIZ-2A was designed to ensure social\
  \ security for the most vulnerable groups of unemployed persons who are registered\
  \ in one of the registers of the Employment Office of the Republic of Slovenia.\
  \ These persons have no income of their own and were therefore no longer able to\
  \ pay the increased amount of the voluntary contribution and were therefore accelerated\
  \ in their withdrawal from insurance, but under ZPIZ-2A they will be reinstated\
  \ in insurance and will thus be entitled to a pension and all other rights under\
  \ compulsory insurance when the insurance risk arises. The extension to all other\
  \ categories of persons who were not subject to registration in the register of\
  \ unemployed persons under the UPLA-1 could result in pressure on all other categories\
  \ of insured persons who had the possibility to join the voluntary insurance. There\
  \ are 13 different other categories of persons (carers of children up to 7 years\
  \ of age, part-time employees, disabled persons in day-care centres, students, persons\
  \ who have been compulsorily insured for at least five years in the last 10 years,\
  \ etc.) who could have joined the compulsory pension and invalidity insurance voluntarily\
  \ on the basis of the provisions of ZPIZ-1.\nThe differences arise from the very\
  \ nature of membership of compulsory pension and invalidity insurance. It should\
  \ be noted that under the ZPIZ-1, it was possible to join the compulsory pension\
  \ and invalidity insurance for a narrower or wider scope under the voluntary entry\
  \ into the compulsory pension and invalidity insurance. Persons who opted for a\
  \ narrower scope of coverage in accordance with Article 34(8) of ZPIZ-1 were not\
  \ entitled to a partial pension, to a pension calculated on the basis of the minimum\
  \ pension base, to severance pay and care allowance, to a care allowance, to an\
  \ allowance for assistance and care, to a disability allowance, to disability benefits\
  \ other than the disability pension, and to a recreation allowance upon retirement.\
  \ Individuals who were unemployed and in receipt of benefits or who were employed\
  \ through public works were compulsorily insured under the compulsory pension and\
  \ invalidity insurance for a wider range of rights. With the adoption of the Law\
  \ on compulsory pension and invalidity insurance (ZPIZ-2), which entered into force\
  \ on 1 January 2013, the possibility to opt in for a narrower scope of benefits\
  \ has been abolished, so all individuals who voluntarily join compulsory pension\
  \ and invalidity insurance after 1 January 2013 have to opt in for a broader scope\
  \ of benefits, which means that they also pay a higher amount. On the other hand,\
  \ the amendment to ZPIZ-2A introduced a transitional period for voluntary enrolment\
  \ in compulsory pension and invalidity insurance for a narrower scope for all persons\
  \ who had this right on 31.12.2012.This way, their right to be covered for the narrower\
  \ scope of rights is protected with a transitional period until 2020.\nAs many insured\
  \ persons are wondering whether voluntary affiliation to the compulsory pension\
  \ scheme is still viable in the future, as the period of affiliation to the voluntary\
  \ scheme is not counted as pensionable service without top-up, we would like to\
  \ clarify the following. Voluntary membership of a pension scheme is still counted\
  \ as pensionable service (but not as pensionable service without supplementation),\
  \ which means that it is taken into account for the purpose of qualifying for an\
  \ early retirement pension and for the purpose of qualifying for an old-age pension\
  \ if the individual reaches the relevant age condition of 65, and in both cases\
  \ it is also taken into account for the purpose of determining the percentage to\
  \ be used for the calculation of an early retirement pension or an old-age pension.\
  \ Thus, persons who have been or are voluntarily enrolled in the compulsory pension\
  \ and invalidity insurance scheme may retire at the age of 60 if they have completed\
  \ 40 years of pensionable service (which includes the period of voluntary enrolment\
  \ in the compulsory pension and invalidity insurance scheme), but this is an early\
  \ retirement rather than an old-age retirement, which means that the malus is taken\
  \ into account in calculating the amount of the pension. The period of voluntary\
  \ membership of the compulsory pension and invalidity insurance scheme also has\
  \ an impact on the amount of the pension itself, since this period, together with\
  \ all other pension periods, is taken into account in the pension assessment percentage,\
  \ which means that you are also entitled to rights on the basis of the period in\
  \ question. In accordance with Article 37 of the old-age pension Act, the pension\
  \ is calculated on the basis of the pension base at a percentage depending on the\
  \ length of the pensionable period. For 15 years of pensionable service, it is calculated\
  \ at 26% (for a man) or 29% (for a woman), and for each additional year of pensionable\
  \ service, 1.25% is added, with no upper limit. The period of voluntary participation\
  \ in compulsory insurance is also taken into account in the retirement conditions,\
  \ as you can retire with this period taken into account (the exception is old-age\
  \ retirement under the conditions of 60 years of age and 40 years of pensionable\
  \ service without supplement). The present regulation takes into account the proposals\
  \ of the trade unions, which argued throughout the adoption of the pension reform\
  \ that 40 years of work is enough, i.e. they demanded that a full pension without\
  \ deductions before the age of 65 should be granted to workers who have worked and\
  \ contributed to the pension fund for 40 years, but not that a full pension without\
  \ deductions should also be granted to those who have acquired their pensionable\
  \ service by means other than work alone.\n "
response date: 2013-06-26
response due date: null
sent date: 2013-05-13
title: Re-amendment of ZPIZ-2
upvotes: 15
url: https://predlagam.vladi.si/predlog/4618
