Vol. 505 No. 1
195 Mr. Quinn asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the EC, ECSC or EURATOM directives, wholly or partly under the auspices of his Department, which are not fully implemented; the subject, date and reference number of each; the date on which implementation is or was due; whether the proposed mode of implementation is primary or secondary Iegislation; when each directive will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13233/99]
There is currently one directive relating to my Department which remains to be transposed into Irish law. This is Council Directive 98/49/EC on the safeguarding of the supplementary pension rights of employed and self employed persons moving within the European Community, which was adopted on 29 June 1998.
The directive primarily deals with the preservation of benefits, disclosure of information and payment of occupational pensions across borders for workers who move from one member state to another. It also provides for workers who are posted abroad to be allowed to stay in their occupational schemes and to be exempt from joining such a scheme in the country to which they are posted.
Member states are required to bring into force the laws, regulations and administrative arrangements necessary to comply with the directive not later than 25 July 2001.
As I stated in my reply to Question No. 263 of 30 March 1999, my Department is actively engaged with the pensions board in bringing forward the legislative changes that will be required to implement the directive. It is expected at this stage that some changes to primary legislation will be necessary and these will be incorporated into a new Pensions Bill to be published later this year or early in 2000.
