The Internal, Systemic, and Constitutional Integrity of EU Regulation 883/2004 on the Coordination of Social Security Systems: Lessons from a Scandal

Abstract

The Norwegian social security scandal concerns the right to export sickness benefits pursuant to EU Regulation 883/2004 on the Coordination of Social Security Systems. The Regulation is binding in Norway due to its membership in the EEA Agreement. Nonetheless, the Regulation has been largely disregarded in that country, and thousands of social security claims have been rejected, as Norway’s Social Security Act requires continued presence in Norway to retain payable benefits. In this context, some hundred individuals have been sentenced to prison for welfare fraud because they stayed in another EU/EEA State and exported cash benefits in the absence of a prior authorisation from Norwegian authorities.

Yet, legal uncertainty seems to remain, and the exact scope of the scandal is still unclear. The paper discusses the reach and depth of the rights afforded by Regulation 883/2004. It argues that the Regulation’s main rules on equal treatment (Articles 4 and 5) and the main rule on free movement (Article 7) provide an unconditional right to export sickness benefits in cash. It also provides an account of the internal, systemic, and constitutional integrity of the Regulation, and the equilibrium between coordination and harmonisation.