Freedom of movement of workers: social security, Advisory Committee

PURPOSE: to establish an Advisory Committee on freedom of movement and social security for Community workers and amend Council regulations 1612/68/EEC and 1408/71/EEC. CONTENT: the proposal is to establish a new Advisory Committee on freedom of movement and social security for Community workers, hence merging the existing technical committee on freedom of movement and the administrative commission on social security, which were established by regulations 1612/68/EEC and 1408/71/EEC, and to amend these regulations accordingly - i.e. disband the existing committees. The tasks of the new committee will be as follows: - to examine questions concerning the freedom of movement and social security of migrant workers, with particular regard to how worker mobility is linked to and affects national employment policy in the Member States; - to make a general study of the effects of implementing Community legislation and any additional provisions on the free movement of workers and coordination of social security systems; - to submit to the Commission any reasoned proposals for revising Communtiy legislation on the free movement of workers and the coordination of social security schemes; - to deliver, either at the request of the Commission or on its own initiative, opinions on general questions or on questions of principle, in particular on exchange of information concerning developments on the labour market, on the movement of workers between Member States, on programmes or measures to develop vocational guidance and vocational training which are likely to enhance the opportunities of freedom of movement and employment, and on all forms of assistance to workers and their families, including social assistance and the housing of workers; - to examine general questions or questions of principle and the problems raised by the implementation of regulations issued pursuant to the provisions of Article 51 of the Treaty; - to examine matters connected with the rights and obligations in the Member States of workers resident in the Community who are nationals of third countries. The proposed structure and rules of procedure are based very largely on those of the two existing advisory committees. The tripartite composition and number of members are exactly the same. However, to ensure that the degree of expertise and representation are maintained in the two fields concerned (freedom of movement for workers and social security), it is proposed that governments should be represented by one member of the technical committee on freedom of movement and one member of the administrative commission on social security for migrant workers. The term of office for committee members will be extended from two to four years. With a view to simplifying the rules on appointments, another change brought in by the new provisions is that Member States are to notify the Commission directly of the names of their national representatives. Finally, a new requirement has been introduced that Member States must endeavour to ensure equal representation of men and women on the committee.�