Insured persons who have become officials or other employees of the European Union or its institutions and have ceased to be gainfully employed in the Czech Republic are entitled to transfer their pension rights acquired in the Czech Republic to the pension scheme of the European Union or its institutions (‘European Union pension scheme’) if they have not been granted an old-age or invalidity pension under the Czech pension insurance system.
Pension rights acquired in the European Union pension scheme can be transferred to the Czech basic pension insurance system, known as Pillar I (not to Pillar III, which is the supplementary pension savings system).
However, acquired pension rights can also be transferred in the opposite direction, i.e. from the Czech pension insurance system to the European Union pension scheme (for more information on this subject, see the service ‘Transfer of pension rights acquired in the Czech Republic to the European Union pension scheme’.
The transferred pension rights will, in this case, be reflected in their entirety as Czech insurance periods for the purpose of meeting the condition of having completed the necessary insurance period. In addition, insured persons are entitled to a corresponding increase in the percentage of the old-age pension granted from the date they reached retirement age, in return for the pension rights transferred in the form of a financial equivalent. However, for the purposes of determining the personal basis of assessment, the assessment bases acquired in the European Union are irrelevant, as this period is considered to be excluded.
You were a European Union official, i.e. a person who served or was employed by the European Union or its institutions and participated in the European Union pension scheme, and after the end of that service or employment you became insured under the Czech pension scheme and you want to transfer your pension rights acquired in the European Union scheme to the Czech pension system.
A European Union official as defined by the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Economic Community is entitled to an old-age pension upon having been a member of the European Union pension scheme for at least 10 years or, irrespective of the length of time in the scheme, upon reaching the age of 66 Former European Union officials can therefore request the transfer of their pension rights to the Czech pension system, especially if the number of years they worked under the European Union pension scheme is less than 10. However, a period of less than 10 years is not a prerequisite for transferring pension rights acquired in the European Union to the Czech pension insurance system. You can apply for a transfer even if you have worked for more than 10 years.
Pension rights acquired in a specific institution of the European Union are transferred in the form of funds and in an amount corresponding to their actuarial value calculated at the date of transfer. The financial amount or actuarial equivalent corresponding to the pension rights acquired in the European Union pension scheme is calculated by the competent European Union institution for which you worked as an EU official. The transferred amount cannot be paid to you, as it will be treated as part of the Czech insurance period once the transfer to the Czech pension system has been made and will be taken into account for the purposes of entitlement to any pension under the Czech pension system.
A transfer of pension rights acquired in the European Union scheme to the Czech pension insurance system may be requested after the end of service or employment for the European Union or its institutions.
To use this service, you must submit a written request on a standardised form that you will receive directly from the EU institution for which you served or were employed
(Formal request to transfer pension rights under Article 11(1) or Article 12(1)(b) of Annex VIII to the Staff Regulations). Your birth number and the personal number assigned by the institution must be entered in the application form.
At the same time, you must attach the Provisional calculation of the transferable amount to your application. You will receive this directly from the competent institution of the European Union on the date you cease to serve or be employed in that institution.
The application for pension rights acquired in the European Union scheme, to be transferred to the Czech pension system together with the provisional calculation of the transferable amount, may:
Contact details can be found on the Czech Social Security Administration website.
After the application is submitted to the Czech Social Security Administration, an informative calculation of the increase in the percentage of the future old-age pension is made on the basis of the provisional calculation of the transferable amount. You will then receive a letter with details of the transferable amount for your information and approval. Your agreement to the transferable amount, and thus your consent to proceed, is a prerequisite for the continuation of the pension transfer process.
Upon receipt of your statement of consent, the Czech Social Security Administration will prepare the additional documents (i.e. the ‘Financial Identification’ and ‘Legal Entity’ forms) necessary to actually transfer the amount of money corresponding to the period of participation in insurance in a European Union institution as of the date you cease to serve or be employed for that institution, and to credit it to the Czech Social Security Administration account. The Czech Social Security Administration will send these documents to the relevant European Union institution.
After the pension rights have been successfully transferred from the European Union scheme to the Czech pension insurance system, the period of service or employment for the European Union or its institutions will be counted as part of the Czech insurance period. At the same time, you will be entitled to an increase in the percentage of your old-age pension. However, this increase may not be granted until you reach the retirement age under Czech legislation.
Should an EU official who has also acquired pension insurance periods under Czech legislation decide not to take the opportunity to apply for the transfer of pension rights from the Czech Republic to the European Union, or vice versa, the Czech Social Security Administration will also take into account the time that official was in the pension scheme for European Union officials when assessing that person's entitlement to a partial pension from the Czech Republic. In the event that the condition laid down in the Czech legislation for entitlement to a Czech pension is met only by taking into account the aforementioned period of participation in the scheme for European Union officials, the Czech Social Security Administration will calculate the (partial) pension in the same way as if it were a period of employment in another EU Member State (the pension will be calculated by taking into account the period in question for the purposes of acquiring the required insurance period, but the amount will be based solely on the Czech basis of assessment; the period of employment with a European Union institution will be based on the average daily indexed earnings, as is the case for the implementation of the coordination regulations in the case of insurance periods in different European Union Member States).
A fee is levied for applications sent by post, in accordance with the relevant prices charged by the Czech Post or the postal institution abroad. There is no charge for applications filed in person.
The period of service or employment for the European Union or its institutions, after the transfer of pension rights from the European Union scheme to the Czech pension insurance system, is evaluated for the purpose of entitlement to an old-age, invalidity or survivor’ s pension under the Czech pension insurance system by treating it as a period of insurance in the Czech pension insurance system acquired in the same period of time and to the same extent for the purpose of meeting the condition of the required insurance period.
In addition, an insured person whose pension rights have been transferred from the European Union to the Czech pension insurance system is also entitled to an increase in the percentage of the old-age pension, granted at the earliest from the date of reaching retirement age (in other words, the increase does not apply when the person is receiving an invalidity or survivor’s pension). Therefore, if the insured person applies for an old-age pension before reaching retirement age (early retirement pension), that pension will be paid without any increase for the transferred pension rights, and the increase in the percentage rate will be granted only from the date the insured person reaches retirement age.
The periods of service or employment in the European Union or its institutions are regarded as excluded for the purposes of determining the personal assessment basis.
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