Social security: employed persons, self-employed persons and their families (amend. Regul. 1408/71/EEC)

The European Parliament approved this proposal subject to the following amendments; - it firstly extended significantly its scope since the regulation would no longer apply only to employed persons, self-employed persons and members of their families moving within the Community but to all those who were insured. To confirm this, the EP amended the title of the regulation to "Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to persons moving within the Community"; - it also extended the scope of the regulation to include all early retirement arrangements (exact definition of "early retirement allowance" ); - the EP laid down the rule stating that when a retired person resided in a Member State other than the Member State responsible for his health care and was staying temporarily in the latter, his medical costs during the stay should be covered by that same Member State; - Parliament also extended the health care benefits to subjects of third countries legally working and residing in a Community country; - furthermore, the EP guaranteed health care benefits for retired frontier workers and members of their families. Equally, it called for greater cooperation between Member States with a view to finding solutions for problems concerning the social security of frontier workers; - it also extended the scope of the regulation to cover national civil servants and similar employees benefiting from special arrangements; - the EP called on the Commission to submit proposals to introduce a European health care card with effect from 1 January 1997; - finally, the EP did away with the administrative costs relating to the payment of the total amounts. �