Proposal for a regulation

The proposal for ESSPASS will be part of the "Fair labour mobility package" (expected to presented by The European Commission in the third quarter of 2026).

Political context, problem definition and subsidiarity check

Political context

The European Social Security Pass (ESSPASS) builds on the results of pilot activities that were announced in the European pillar of social rights action plan. The initiative follows up on the 2023 Commission’s Communication on digitalisation in social security coordination and the November 2023 Council Conclusions. It forms part of the efforts to further modernise, simplify and digitalise social security coordination, as expressed in European Commission Executive Vice-President Mînzatu’s mission letter. These efforts support the Commission’s goals as set out in the 2024-2029 political guidelines to simplify processes, reduce burdens on businesses, the public and national authorities. They would also boost enforcement and relaunch competitiveness, in line with the Draghi report’s recommendations. The initiative also responds to European Parliament calls for an ESSPASS proposal, particularly highlighted in its 2021 Resolution, and the Letta report on the future of the EU single market. The calls urge the Commission to progress on ESSPASS and emphasises the need to remove practical barriers to mobility (people moving to another EU country to live, work and study), including in border regions characterised by dense daily commuting. The single market strategy announces a ESSPASS proposal as part of a fair labour mobility package, to be presented in 2026.

Problem the initiative aims to tackle

The right to free movement of persons is a cornerstone of the EU single market, allowing around 14 million people to live, study and work in an EU country other than their country of nationality (Annual report on intra-EU labour mobility 2024). EU social security coordination rules, under Regulations (EC) No 883/2004 and No 987/2009, support this right by ensuring continued access to social security benefits across the EU. Negotiations are underway to revise these rules for greater fairness, clarity, and easier enforcement. Regulation (EU) No 1231/2010 extends the application of EU social security coordination rules to non-EU country nationals legally residing in a Member State and exercising their right to free movement.

Nevertheless, and despite initiatives to improve information exchange and online access to cross-border social security services, such as the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI) system and the Single Digital Gateway (SDG) Regulation, proving social security rights across borders still involves time-consuming processes that may require being available in person, using physical documents or electronic documents lacking verification features (forms), and dealing with multiple procedures. These issues are acute in border regions, where frequent mobility, overlapping administrative procedures and divergent national practices amplify the challenges faced by workers, employers, social security institutions and healthcare providers.

Key examples include:

• The portable document A1 is typically issued as a PDF without online verification features (or when they exist not standardised at EU level), making its authenticity, integrity and validity difficult to confirm, and prone to fraud and error.
• The procedures to request portable document A1 and declare a posting are completely distinct, generating administrative burden for companies, and requiring providing overlapping data twice.
• The European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), essential for accessing necessary healthcare abroad, remains a plastic card lacking electronic features in most countries, with around 253 million cards in circulation in 2023.

These hurdles create challenges for the public, national authorities, healthcare providers and companies sending employees to work temporarily abroad. These can discourage people from exercising their right to free movement and deter companies from conducting business abroad, ultimately limiting the EU single market’s benefits.

However, there is still potential to achieve data minimisation and to reduce the administrative burden on businesses providing cross-border services and increasing the awareness and involvement of posted workers in securing their rights cross-border.

Legal basis

The legal basis for the initiative is Article 48 of the Treaty on the functioning of the European Union (TFEU), which grants the EU the power to coordinate EU countries' social security schemes. While Article 48 TFEU applies to employed and self-employed migrant workers and ‘their dependants’, Regulation (EC) No 883/2004, based both on what are now Articles 48 and 352 TFEU, extends social security coordination to inactive people moving within the EU. Article 114 TFEU might also be considered to support the initiative, given its role in improving the conditions for the functioning of the EU single market and the need to ensure interoperability between IT systems.

Practical need for EU action

The initiative adds value by (i) facilitating and simplifying the application of social security coordination rules, thus supporting the right to free movement; (ii) increasing people's access to social security rights across Europe; (iii) reducing the administrative burden on companies operating cross-border in the EU single market; (iv) addressing cross-border challenges related to the verification of social security rights; (v) establishing a standardised solution that simplifies the lives of people, businesses and national authorities.

This requires EU-level action, as individual EU countries cannot effectively solely address the cross-border nature of these issues. Any solution implemented by a single EU country will not ensure recognition and interoperability at cross-border level. EU-level coordination will prevent fragmentation and boost cooperation, with an EU-wide framework ensuring recognition and acceptance of social security coordination documents across the EU.

Objectives and policy options

The initiative aims to facilitate the exercise of social security rights across borders and simplify procedures for the public, businesses and national authorities, while ensuring fairness in the EU single market. To achieve these objectives, the Commission is considering several policy options.

Policy option 1 (‘Baseline scenario’). This policy option maintains the current EU digital initiatives, fully implementing existing policy and legal frameworks, such as the SDG Regulation (e.g. by making the application for the EHIC fully available online), without introducing any new EU-level interventions.

Policy option 2 (‘Enhanced social security coordination documents). This policy option involves upgrading the current format of the social security coordination documents (portable documents and the EHIC) to enable their revocation and verification. The upgrades would include adding security features to the documents, such as cryptographically signed QR codes. This scenario does not involve the use of the European digital identity (EUDI) wallets.

Policy option 3 (‘Interoperable EU solution based on the EUDI framework’). This policy option would establish a fully-fledged digital solution for the request, issuance and real-time verification of standardised social security coordination documents. It would rely on the SDG / once only technical system (OOTS) and the EUDI frameworks, notably the EUDI wallets and the electronic attestations of attributes, as well as potentially the forthcoming European business wallet. For individuals who cannot or choose not to use the EUDI wallets, physical documents, not enhanced, and the related manual processes will continue to be available in order to ensure accessibility.

Policy option 4 (‘Interoperable EU solution based on the EUDI framework and enhanced social security documents’). This policy option combines options 2 and 3. In addition to relying on the SDG / OOTS frameworks, the EUDI wallets, the electronic attestations of attributes and possibly the forthcoming European business wallet, enhanced documents, which can also be printed, will be available for people who cannot or prefer not to use the EUDI wallets, allowing one single digital process for verification independently from the format.

Each option includes two sub-options defining their binding nature, distinguishing between voluntary and mandatory implementation by EU countries.

Moreover, each option will evaluate implementing binding deadlines for national authorities to issue social security coordination documents. The broadening of the SDG Regulation's scope to cover the provision of online public services related to additional portable documents would also be assessed as well as implications for border regions, where relevant.

For portable document A1, the assessment will also focus on:

• identifying methods to simplify the process to request the document, aiming to bring convergence in the information requirements across EU countries, building, where possible, on the development of the proposed e-declaration for the posting of workers, and on the practical guide on applicable legislation;
• evaluating the feasibility of technically merging procedures to request a portable document A1 and filling in the posting declaration, so that the applicant only provides the common data once.

While ESSPASS’s scope covers social security coordination, a similar approach could be followed at a later stage, through sector-specific legislation, for other data essential for labour mobility, such as those currently contained in labour/social identity cards that are used in the construction sector in some EU countries. This could be based on the SIDE-CIC project of EU social partners in the construction sector.

Likely impacts

ESSPASS will bring direct benefits to people covered by social security coordination rules. In 2023, 5.5 million portable documents A1 were issued. More than 253 million people hold a EHIC and EUR 5 billion were spent on cross-border healthcare claims.
None of the policy options are expected to create substantial costs on businesses. The main economic impact is expected to concern national authorities, labour inspectors and healthcare providers, mainly related to setting up and maintaining the digital solution for issuing and verifying social security coordination documents.

As to the benefits, ESSPASS will help simplify the work of national authorities and healthcare providers by allowing them to automatically verify the validity, integrity and authenticity of the portable documents and the EHIC while reducing the risk of error and fraud.

Businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups and scale-ups, will also significantly benefit from simplified fully digitalised procedures when sending employees to work temporarily abroad.

ESSPASS will help improve the exercise of social security rights, improving access to social protection and facilitating mobility across EU countries. This should boost free movement, strengthen the EU single market and improve labour market efficiency, ultimately leading to economic benefits by addressing labour shortages and improving labour-skills alignment.

ESSPASS will comply with EU data protection legislation, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation, and EU security rules. The initiative will also meet accessibility requirements, ensuring inclusivity for all, especially people with disabilities, older people, and people who lack digital skills.

Better regulation instruments

The initiative will be supported by an impact assessment. An external study was conducted to evaluate key policy aspects, including:

• problems faced by mobile people, businesses and public authorities in applying social security coordination rules;
• potential impacts and benefits of introducing a digital solution, like ESSPASS;
• conditions required for a full-scale deployment of this solution across the EU.

The impact assessment will also make use of the findings from two consortia of EU country institutions piloting the digitalisation of procedures related to the portable document A1 and the EHIC. These efforts were co-funded by the digital Europe programme.