Introductory text

THE ADMINISTRATIVE COMMISSION ON SOCIAL SECURITY FOR MIGRANT WORKERS,

Having regard to Article 81(d) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71^f1, under which the Administrative Commission shall foster and develop cooperation between Member States by modernising procedures for exchange of information, in particular by adapting the information flow between institutions for the purpose of telematic exchange, taking account of the development of data processing in each Member State, the main aim of such modernisation shall be to expedite the award of benefits,

Having regard to Article 117 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 574/72^f2, under which the Administrative Commission shall, based on the research and proposals of the Technical Commission referred to in Article 117c of the implementing Regulation, adapt to new data processing techniques the models of documents as well as the routing channels and the data transmission procedures necessary for applying the Regulation and the implementing Regulation,

Whereas:

To help the Administrative Commission to assess the extent to which the work of the Technical Commission is contributing to expediting the award of benefits it is appropriate to provide some basic quantified, as well as qualitative, information.

The divergences between the information available in the various Member States make comparison difficult and the collection of statistical data should not represent a heavy and unnecessary burden on the Member States.

The intention is therefore to collect key basic data on the processing and settlement of old-age pension claims in order to improve knowledge concerning the situation in each Member State, particularly regarding where the main bottlenecks lie in each Member State's system and procedures; to share information on best practice and generate ideas on how processing times could be reduced and to establish clear reference points against which it will be possible for each Member State to benchmark their own performance.

It is therefore appropriate to establish a broad common framework for the collection of data on the settlement of pension claims and precise guidelines for this purpose, should be given by the competent authorities to the national institutions.

Competent institutions shall bear in mind the development and impending introduction of Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) in the design and implementation of their internal national systems for the capture and collection of data on the processing and settlement of pension claims.

Decision No 182 which provided for the establishment of such a common framework expired on 1 January 2006,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS: