Social Security Agreement between India and Germany

Well, I did already in my one of the previous posts (India Pens Social Security Agreements), specified that India signed Social Security Agreement with Germany on October 8, 2008. This agreement is already in force from 1st October 2009 and EPFO India has already updated with the agreement details which I shall be briefing here.

The Social Security Agreement shall protect the interests of all those employees sent from Indian-based companies to their subsidiaries in Germany or those being sent by the German companies to their Indian subsidiaries on short-term contracts of 48 months with the possibility of extension by securing exemption from social security contribution in their host country. Thus these employees will only be subjected to the social security contributions in their home country.

The features and benefits of the Social Security Agreement:

- Detachment: The current agreement covers only the detachment provision which means the exemption from the social security contributions of the host country for the employees sent on posting provided the employee is making compulsory social contributions in the home country.

Eligibility for Detachment:

Indian National Working in Germany

Nature of Employment	Coverage
Short-term Posting by an Indian Employer for a period of less than 48 months	Indian System
Long-term Posting by an Indian Employer for a period of more than 48 months	German System
Indian Employer hiring an Indian employee in Germany	German System
Indian Employer hiring a Non-Indian Employee in Germany	German System

German Resident Working in India

Nature of Employment	Coverage
Short-term Posting by a German Employer for a period of less than 48months	German System
Long-term Posting by a German Employer for a period of more than 48months	Indian System
German Employer hiring an Indian Employee in India	Indian System
German Employer hiring a non-Indian Employee in India	Indian System

Detachment Certificate: Detachment Certificate issued by the home country indicating the details of membership and coverage of the social security system needs to be accrued by the employee or employer on behalf of the employee being posted as a proof of exemption from the social security contributions in the host nation.

Period: The maximum period of detachment certificate is 48 months which shall be extended by 12 more months upon the request.

Eligibility for Detachment Certificate:

- employees who shall be posted to Germany on or after 1st October 2009 should apply for Detachment Certificate.

- those employees who are already posted in Germany or already working in Germany shall apply for Detachment Certificate from 1st October 2009 till the end of detachment.

Accruing Detachment Certificate:

EPFO, India:

Employer and Employee who is being posted to Germany needs to make a joint request to obtain the Detachment Certificate from EPFO (Employee Provident Fund Organisation), India. The application form can be downloaded from here.

The Liaison Agencies in Germany are:

GKV- Spitzenverband  (https://www.gkv-spitzenverband.de/Home.gkvnet)

Deutsche Verbindungsstelle Krankenversicherung – Ausland (DVKA)) 

(http://www.dvka.de/oeffentlicheSeiten/DVKA.htm)

The application for obtaining Detachment Certificate in Germany:

http://www.dvka.de/oeffentlicheSeiten/ArbeitenAusland/Entsendemerkblaetter/Indien/Arbeiten_Indien_Druck.pdf

Please be noted that the social security agreement signed by India with Germany is limited only for Posting. The complete and elaborate social security agreements (Details at Social Security Agreements with Germany) which are more similar to other Contracting Nations is yet to be finalized between the two nations.

This article is an excerpt from http://www.epfindia.com/IntWorkersNew/GermanyGuidelines.pdf

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