Ukraine, Germany sign agreement on social security and insurance

German Ambassador to Ukraine Ernst Reichel and Ukrainian Social Policy Minister Andriy Reva have signed a German-Ukrainian agreement on social security, the press and public liaisons department of the German embassy has reported.
The social security agreement coordinates social protection, in particular, in the field of state pension insurance and accident insurance.

The document also contains clauses on avoidance of double insurance in both countries. Employees, as well as their employers, are mainly subject to the clauses of the law of the state in which labor activity is actually carried out. Employees temporarily employed in another country can remain integrated into the social insurance system of the country where they worked before.

The report notes that due to large-scale and intensive foreign and economic relations between Germany and Ukraine, the signing of the document is in the interests of both parties since the agreement can facilitate mutual investment and contribute to job creation.

In addition, the agreement provides for the unlimited transfer of pensions to another contracting state (the principle of export payments). The prerequisites for getting the right to a pension may be fulfilled by jointly summing up the insurance experience acquired in both states (accumulation of the minimum retirement age). In the field of accident insurance, the agreement serves as a basis for the payment of benefits to an unlimited extent to another contracting state.

Thus, this agreement is based on principles that are also valid within the European Union.

The agreement has to be ratified by the parliaments of both countries before it finally comes into force after signing.