The Administrative Commission for the coordination of social security systems has adopted a new interpretative decision in the field of the coordination of unemployment benefits. The new Decision U4 concerns the reimbursement procedures under Article 65(6) and (7) of Regulation 883/2004 and Article 70 of Regulation 987/2009.

Regulation 883/2004 introduced a reimbursement mechanism in Article 65 with the aim of providing for a fairer financial balance between Member States in the case of unemployed persons who reside in a Member State other than the competent State. The reimbursements shall compensate for the additional financial burden on the Member State of residence, which provides unemployment benefits under Article 65(5)(a) without having collected any contributions from the persons concerned during their last activity carried out in another Member State.

There was a need for transparency and guidance for the institutions to ensure a unified and coherent application of EU provisions concerning these reimbursement procedures, which is now provided via the U4 Decision.