— returns to Iceland before the end of the transition period when he/she is close to retirement age and remains inactive;
and
— when reaching the retirement age (before or after the end of the transition period), makes a claim for old-age benefits,
the UK would aggregate past periods and grant him/her a UK pension. After receiving the UK pension, the concerned
person has the right to receive the UK pension without any reduction (in application of the relevant provisions
corresponding to the logic of Article 7 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004) in Iceland or any other EU Member State or EEA
State where he/she might habitually reside.
3.5. Article 34 – Administrative cooperation
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of the Agreement, the UK may participate, as an observer, in the meetings of
the Administrative Commission for the coordination of social security systems, as well as in the meetings of bodies attached
to it as referred to in Articles 73 and 74 of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004: i.e., the Technical Commission for data
processing and the Audit Board.
Whenever items on the agenda relating to Title III of Part Two of the Agreement concern the UK, the Chair of the
Administrative Commission, of the Technical Commission and of the Audit Board, respectively, will invite the UK, which
will participate in an advisory capacity.
The UK will continue to take part in the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information system in order to process the
cases covered by the Agreement and will bear the related costs.
Both EU Member States and the UK are committed to reduce the administrative burden in the implementation of the
Agreement. Therefore, Portable Documents issued before the end of the transition period will not automatically become
invalid.
The basic principle is that these documents have just a declaratory nature. They do not, by themselves, create rights to the
persons concerned. The rights themselves are created by the Agreement.
A distinction should be made between:
1. Documents which refer to situations which are covered by the coordination rules referred to in the Agreement (for instance, a
Portable Document A1 expiring in 2021 for a person performing work simultaneously in the United Kingdom and
France, a Portable Document S1 for a UK pensioner habitually residing in Spain)
— These Portable Documents reflect rights which continue to exist, but on a different legal basis;
— To avoid unjustified administrative burden, the documents remain valid for the whole period of validity (as long as
they are not withdrawn); new Portable Documents will be issued based on the Agreement, once the previous ones
expire, provided that the conditions for their issuance are met.
2. Documents issued before the end of the transition period which refer to situations which are no longer covered by the Agreement (for
instance, the EHIC for persons in a purely internal situation at the end of the transition period, PDA1 for posted workers
providing services)
— These documents reflect rights which no longer exist; they cannot produce any legal effects after the end of the
transition period, even if they are not withdrawn by the issuing institution.
Any doubts on the validity of a document will be clarified via the procedures set in Decision No A1 of 12 June 2009 of the
Administrative Commission for the coordination of social security systems concerning the establishment of a dialogue and
conciliation procedure concerning the validity of documents, the determination of the applicable legislation and the
provisions of benefits under Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
3.6. Article 35: Reimbursement, recovery and offsetting
The aim of this provision is to ensure that the rules regarding reimbursement, recovery and offsetting of Regulations (EC)
No 883/2004 and (EC) No 987/2009 will continue to apply, even if the full coordination rules will no longer apply to a
specific person.
This provision applies in relation to events which relate to persons not covered by Article 30 of the Agreement that
occurred before the end of the transition period. It also covers events which occurred after the end of the transition period
but which relate to persons who used to be covered, when the event occurred, by Article 30 of the Agreement or by
Article 32 of the Agreement.
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
20.5.2020 C 173/41