Withdrawal of an A1 Certificate on the Initiative of the Issuing Institution

The CJEU ruling in case C-422/22 confirms the importance of dialogue and conciliation in cases concerning the determination of social security legislation applicable in cross-border situations. A portable document certifying the applicable legislation of one Member State (a PD A1) is a declaratory decision. It remains in force until the competent institution that issued it withdraws it or invalidates it. This principle increases legal certainty and guarantees to the insured person the enforcement of the most important benefits of social security coordination, namely: avoidance of double contributions and double social security benefits, protection of acquired rights and rights in course of acquisition, and, above all, protection against the loss of social security upon crossing the EU internal borders. The preliminary question of the Supreme Court (Poland) to CJEU referred to the need for the Polish Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) to enter into a dialogue procedure with the competent French institution (Urssaf) before withdrawing the PD A1 in a situation where it was established ex post that there were no grounds for its issuance under Article 13 of Regulation 883/2004/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council on the coordination of social security systems. The Court confirmed that that procedure is intended to resolve discrepancies in the assessment of which legislation is applicable between two or more competent institutions. However, it is not required as a prerequisite for withdrawing the A1 certificate on its own initiative by the issuing institution.