Any European Union (EU) institution employee who has joined the EU pension scheme is entitled to transferring his/her pension capital accumulated from the Latvian state obligatory pension insurance system to the EU pension scheme. Also, it is possible to transfer the pension capital accumulated from the EU pension scheme to the Latvian state obligatory pension insurance system.
The transfer of Latvian pension capital to the EU pension scheme and the receipt of the EU pension capital are both ensured by the SSIA according to the Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 of the Council of 29 February 1968 on Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities (hereinafter – Regulation No 259/68) and the Regulatory Act No 1023 of the Cabinet of Ministers of 16 December 2008 on “Regulations on the pension capital transfer and receipt to/from the EU pension scheme”.
The transferrable pension capital accumulated from the Latvian state obligatory pension insurance system to the EU pension scheme consists of:
1) Initial capital (non-funded pension capital for the period until 21.12.1995)
2) The SSIA registered pension capital (non-funded pension capital for the period until 01.01.1996)
3) State funded pension capital.
If an EU institution employee wants to transfer pension capital accumulated from the Latvian state pension system to the EU pension scheme, he/she should turn to an EU institution structural unit which deals with questions regarding pensions of EU Officials. Upon receiving an EU institutions claim of its employees desires to transfer the Latvian pension capital to the EU pension scheme, the SSIA will begin the procedure of the pension capital transfer. Upon a positive conclusion of the procedure, the involved person’s accumulated Latvian pension capital will be transferred to the EU pension scheme. When this person has completed working the necessary years at the EU institution and has fulfilled other provisions of Regulation No 259/68 for the pension granting, then the pension will be paid from the EU pension scheme.
An employee who has stopped working at EU institutions and has not worked long enough to be entitled to receiving a pension from the EU pension scheme, can demand his/her accumulated EU pension capital to be transferred to the Latvian state pension scheme. In this case, too, the person should turn to an EU institution structural unit which deals with questions regarding pensions of EU Officials, if he/she wishes to transfer the accumulated EU pension capital to the Latvian state pension system. Upon receiving an EU institutions claim of its employees desires to transfer the accumulated EU pension capital to the Latvian state pension system, the SSIA will begin the procedure of the pension capital transfer.Upon a positive conclusion of the procedure, the involved person’s accumulated EU pension capital will be transferred to the Latvian pension system. After receiving the EU pension capital, the SSIA registers it in the Latvian state obligatory pension insurance system and it will be taken into account when deciding upon entitlement to a Latvian pension.