Published: 2021
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Free movement of persons would not be possible without the guarantee that citizens do not lose their social security rights when moving to another Member State, be it for reasons linked to work or for other reasons. In order to safeguard the social security rights of persons moving within the EU/EFTA, common rules are established at EU level. The outcome of the EU rules on social security coordination is a high-quality level of coordination techniques based on some key principles: a) the prohibition of discrimination, reinforced by the equal treatment of cross-border facts and events (i.e. principle of assimilation); b) the aggregation of insurance periods; c) the exportability of benefits; and d) the determination of a single applicable legislation. The Coordination Regulations only 'coordinate' the various social security systems. Consequently, Member States are still free to decide what benefits to grant, to whom, under what circumstances and for how long. Moreover, coordination can be applied only in respect of legislation concerning social benefits which are within the material scope of the Coordination Regulations. It covers the following branches of social security: sickness benefits, maternity and equivalent paternity benefits, invalidity benefits, old-age benefits, survivors' benefits, benefits in respect of accidents at work and occupational diseases, death grants, unemployment benefits, pre-retirement benefits, and family benefits. The Coordination Regulations also apply to special non-contributory cash benefits but not to social and medical assistance and certain benefits which are a compensation for damages. Article 91 of the Implementing Regulation requires the competent authorities to compile statistics on the application of the Coordination Regulations and to forward them to the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems. Such data are of great importance, as they illustrate the impact of the Coordination Regulations, both in terms of persons involved and related public spending. This statistical report provides an overview and evaluation of the current data collection and reporting on the EU coordination of social security systems. It draws conclusions and identifies trends by area of social security. The separate thematic reports could be consulted for a more detailed analysis and reporting of the data.