Interview de Patrick Hermange

What specific know-how can the CNAV provide in the area of cooperation?

For several years now, the CNAV has partnered foreign organisations on projects concerning various aspects of pension system management, including administrative management, regulatory aspects, information management and communications.

In the area of administrative management, the CNAV has set up a network of "points of reference", i.e. funds entrusted with the task of forging ties with the pension administrations of one or more foreign countries. More specifically their task consists of maintaining a database, organising international days and meetings with managers and technical experts, and acting as an interface between the regional funds and foreign liaison bodies, all in the interests of the most complex pension cases. Some of these points of reference are evolving into specialist resource centres, i.e. single points of referral for pension queries from people living in a given foreign country.

In the area of information technology, the CNAV is involved in cooperation initiatives with foreign pension funds regarding processes like the management and storage of data and personal pension records.

To address the regulatory aspects of pension provision, the CNAV participates in bilateral meetings with the organisations of countries with which France has signed social security agreements.

The CNAV’s communication initiatives have for many years now included international pension information days in France and abroad, organised in partnership with foreign pension organisations. At these events, people who have worked both in France and abroad can obtain information about their pension entitlement in each country, and the steps that they should take to apply for payment of their pension.

Can you give some examples of past and current projects?

In the area of institutional twinning, it was a CNAV expert who coordinated France’s partnership with Romania in that country’s process of accession to the European Union. The project, which also involved the French Centre of European and International Liaisons for Social Security (CLEISS) and the French National Union for Employment in Trade and Industry (UNEDIC), required considerable legal, regulatory and communications expertise in order to bring Romanian institutions in line with EU standards regarding the exchange and flow of workers.

With regard to administrative and IT management, a cooperation programme initiated with Hungary in 1997 led to the signing of a cooperation agreement in1999 between CNAV and the Hungarian body, ONYF. This initiative has both a strategic and operational focus (in the first case to prepare Hungary’s accession to the EU, and in the second case to create a central repository of old-age insurance records, establish an inventory of insured persons and compile and process social data). Multi-year action plans were then formulated to develop and expand cooperation, notably through regular technical assignments. Practical measures were identified for four processes: regulatory aspects, IT, accounting & finance and administration.

Within the framework of this partnership, ONYF, CNAV and the Nord-Est regional health insurance fund (CRAM) signed a new agreement on 20 January 2000, whereby the CRAM would conduct trials of the data processing system using the records of Hungarian residents having previously worked in France. The aim was to prepare the groundwork for increasing the number of regional funds designated as single resource centres for pension questions regarding a given country or set of countries.

In the area of communications, since 1990, the CNAV and the German pension funds have been running international information days for people who have worked in both France and Germany. Such has been the success of these events that they are now held for three days every three months in Paris, twice a year in other parts of France, and up to four days a year in the two or three German cities selected for the year concerned.

Having made an appointment with the organisation staging the event, and following interviews with French and German advisors, visitors can obtain comprehensive details of their pension entitlement in France and Germany and advice on how to apply for payment of their pension.

Also of note are our cooperation activities with Morocco (international pension information days), Albania (technical assistance to the Albanian Social Security Institute with a view to Albania’s future accession to the European Union) and Spain (cooperation agreement focusing on the administrative management of their social protection system).

What are your expectations of GIP SPSI ?

CNAV expects GIP SPSI to facilitate the coordination of visits by foreign delegations by providing informing on the organisations visited and keeping track of the visit programmes.

The GIP’s role is also to monitor and analyse current international issues and provide information on those issues in its publications.

The CNAV also counts on the support of the GIP in its international activities, through assistance in approaching countries or regions where needs emerge, or where the CNAV can usefully contribute its expertise.