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27 JUNE 2016. - An Act to approve the Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on cooperation and administrative assistance in social security, made in Brussels on 5 February 2015 (1)(2)

PHILIPPE, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The House of Representatives adopted and sanctioned the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 74 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Convention between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg on cooperation and administrative assistance in social security, made in Brussels on 5 February 2015, will come out its full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels, 27 June 2016.
PHILIPPE
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
D. REYNDERS
Minister of Employment,
K. PEETERS
The Minister of Social Affairs,
Ms. M. DE BLOCK
Minister of Pensions,
D. BACQUELAINE
Minister of Independents,
W. BORSUS
The State Secretary for the Fight against Social Fraud,
Ph. DE BACKER
Seal of the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
K. GEENS
____
Notes
(1) House of Representatives (www.lachambre.be):
Documents: 54-1667
Full report: 20/04/2016
(2) Effective date: 01/10/2016

CONVENTION ENTER LE ROYAUME DE BELGIQUE ET LE GRAND-DUCHE DE LUXEMBOURG SUR LA COOPERATION ET L'ENTRAIDE ADMINISTRATIVE EN MATIERE DE SECURITE SOCIAL
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE BELGIUM ROYAUME
AND
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE LUXEMBOURG GRAND
The Contracting Parties,
Desirous of developing, among their competent authorities, institutions and bodies in the field of social security, in-depth cooperation in order to ensure, inter alia, better implementation of the Community rules, in particular the provisions of Regulation 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems and, as necessary, the provisions of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of the Council, of 14 June 1971, concerning the application of workers
In an effort to ensure the free movement and law of social insurance and to safeguard the viability of social security systems;
Being committed to strengthening functional cooperation and adapting it to the development of technologies and databases in social security management;
Wishing to prevent fraud and error, and ensuring that people receive the benefits to which they are actually entitled;
Consistent with the provisions of Article 8, paragraph 2 of Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004, which provides that two Member States of the European Union may conclude, if necessary, conventions based on the principles and spirit of the said Regulation;
Wishing further to implement, with regard to them, the European Council Resolution (1999/C125/01) of 22 April 1999 on a code of conduct for better cooperation between the authorities of the Member States in combating transnational fraud in social security benefits and contributions, against undeclared work and concerning the transnational provision of workers;
Recognizing that administrative collaboration between institutions is particularly necessary in cross-border situations;
agreed that:
PART 1^er. - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1^er
Definitions
§ 1^er. For the purposes of this Convention:
a. the term "regulation" means Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 of the European Parliament and the Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems;
b. the term "regulation of application" means Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 of 16 September 2009 setting out the modalities for the application of Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the Parliament and Council of 29 April 2004 on the coordination of social security systems;
c. the term "linking agency" means the organization(s) referred to in section 88 of the regulations defined in point b.
§ 2. For the purposes of this Convention, the terms "competent authority" and "competent institution" shall, in addition to the authorities and institutions defined as such by regulation:
a. as a competent authority, the Minister(s) responsible for the application of the regulation relating to benefits referred to in Article 3;
b. as competent institutions, bodies responsible for the collection and collection of social security contributions, as well as bodies responsible for the payment and recovery of benefits referred to in Article 3.
§ 3. The other terms and expressions used in this Convention shall have the meaning assigned to them, respectively, in the regulation, by-law or in national legislation, as appropriate.
Article 2
Field of personal application
This Convention applies to persons within the personal scope of the regulations and to persons eligible for a benefit referred to in Article 3, paragraph 2, of this Convention.
Article 3
Field of material application
§ 1^er. This Convention applies:
a. in respect of Belgium, benefits under the material scope of the regulation, provided that they fall within the jurisdiction of the federal authority under its national legislation;
b. in respect of Luxembourg, benefits under the material scope of the regulation and corresponding, in its respective national legislation, to those referred to in point a.
§ 2. It also applies:
a. in respect of Belgium, non-contributory legal benefits, subject to resource conditions, which are allocated to persons in need and not covered by paragraph 1 of this article, provided that they fall within the jurisdiction of the federal authority under its national legislation;
b. with regard to Luxembourg, the non-contributive legal benefits referred to in the preceding paragraph and corresponding in its respective national legislation to those referred to in point a.
§ 3. The benefits referred to in paragraph 2 of this article are included in the schedule, which is updated as appropriate, by simple exchange of letters between the competent authorities.
PART II. - GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF COOPERATION
Article 4
Operation of mutual administrative assistance
§ 1^er. Any competent institution of one of the Contracting Parties may apply to a competent institution of the other Contracting Party, either directly or through the liaison agency, a request for information or information for the processing and settlement of a file to which it is responsible.
§ 2. The competent institution seized by a competent institution of the other Contracting Party with a request for information shall respond as soon as possible and, in any event, no later than three months.
§ 3. In the event that the first competent institution requests an urgent response to questions relating to specific points and factual data indicating the reasons for the emergency, the competent institution seized shall endeavour to respond to them within the specified time limits.
Responses to duly justified urgent requests must be forwarded within a maximum of 10 days, unless otherwise agreed between the competent institutions.
§ .4. Without prejudice to the provision of paragraph 1 of this Article, the competent body of one of the Contracting Parties shall inform, without pre-investigation and to the extent possible, the competent body of the other Contracting Party of the modifications of the important data for the processing of individual case files of which the latter body is responsible.
Article 5
Protection of personal data
§ 1^er. For the purposes of this Convention, the competent institutions of the two Contracting Parties are authorized to disclose personal data, including data relating to the income of persons, whose knowledge is necessary under their legislation, to the recovery of amounts due to the competent institution of one of the Contracting Parties, to the determination of the amount of contributions due and to the eligibility for the award of benefits referred to in Article 3.
§ 2. The communication of personal data by the competent institution of a Contracting Party shall be subject to compliance with the data protection legislation of that Contracting Party and, where appropriate, with the prior authorization system.
§ 3. The preservation, processing or dissemination of personal data by the competent institution of the other Contracting Party, to which such data are communicated, shall be subject to the data protection legislation of that Contracting Party.
§ 4. The data referred to in this Article shall not be used for any purpose other than that of the application of the respective laws of the Contracting Parties, in particular for the rules relating to the determination of the applicable legislation and to the verification, as appropriate, of the eligibility of the persons concerned for the benefit of the benefits referred to in Article 3.
§ 5. The information and documents transmitted are subject to the personal data protection regime in force on the territory of each Contracting Party, under national, international and European Union standards.
Article 6
Data transfer
§ 1^er. The competent institution of a Contracting Party may request a competent institution of the other Contracting Party or any other body designated by the Contracting Party to transmit to it files for the purpose of bringing them together, exploring, comparing, exploiting, extracting data and using them by any automated or semi-automated process.
§ 2. The request of the competent institution referred to in paragraph 1^er the purpose of this section is to note the fraud and error of benefits, contributions and subjugation, including the control and verification of the civil status, residence, appreciation of resources, the exercise or not of a professional activity, the composition of the family or the existence of a benefit to prevent the undue cumulative performance of such benefits, as set out in headings III and III.
§ 3. Any operation carried out under this Article shall respect the principles of purpose and proportionality and the provisions provided for in Article 5.
§ 4. The competent institution seized of the application referred to in paragraph 1^er of this Article shall transmit the requested files at the date or according to the agreed interval between the two competent institutions.
§ 5. The cooperation agreements concluded between competent institutions in accordance with Article 20 of Title VI of this Convention expressly include a provision specifying the purpose of data transfers between competent institutions and any other provision necessary to respect the personal data protection regime in force on the territory of each Contracting Party, under national, international and European Union standards.
Article 7
Information on legislative and regulatory developments
The competent authorities shall, in a direct and regular manner, form the essential amendments of the legislative and regulatory provisions in the area of application of this Convention.
PART III. - COOPERATION IN FIRST
Article 8
Conditions of residence affiliation and eligibility
§ 1^er. The competent institution of a Contracting Party shall examine the conditions under which a person may benefit, because of his or her residence in the territory of the Contracting Party, either from affiliation to a social protection regime or from the granting of a benefit, may, if he or she considers it necessary, interrogate the competent institution of the other Contracting Party in order to ascertain the reality of the residence of that person on the territory of the Contracting Party or
§ 2. The competent institution interrogated is required to provide the relevant information available to it and which is likely to permit the removal of uncertainty as to the resident quality of the person concerned.
Article 9
Resource assessment
§ 1^er. The competent institution of a Contracting Party whose legislation is applicable may, if it deems it necessary, interrogate a competent institution of the other Contracting Party on the resources and revenues of any kind, including a person, subject to and liable to such legislation, shall be entitled to benefit in the territory of that Contracting Party.
§ 2. The provisions of paragraph 1^er this section shall apply in the same manner when the competent institution examines the right of a person to a benefit subject to a condition of resources.
Article 10
Cumulsion of benefits
§ 1^er. Any competent institution that examines the conditions of eligibility of a person to a benefit or ensures the payment of a benefit may, if it considers it necessary, interrogate a competent institution of the other Contracting Party in order to ensure that the person likely to benefit or benefit from that benefit does not, pursuant to the legislation of the latter Contracting Party, receive a benefit whose cumulation with the first benefit is or would be prohibited.
§ 2. The competent institution interviewed is required to provide the information to confirm or invalidate the right to the first benefit.
Article 11
Determination of the right to payment of social security benefits
The competent institutions of a Contracting Party may interrogate the relevant institutions of the other Contracting Party on any other information other than those provided for in the preceding Articles, provided that such information is of a nature to enable them to ensure that social security benefits are effectively due.
Article 12
Audit at a benefit request and payment
§ 1^er. At the request of the competent institution of a Contracting Party that examines a request for a benefit or is to proceed with its payment, the competent institution of the other Contracting Party shall conduct any investigation necessary to verify the applicant's right to the intended benefit. The competent institution seized shall verify the information concerning the applicant or members of his or her family and shall transmit them, together with any other documents thereof, to the other competent institution.
§ 2. The competent institution seized shall collect and verify the data in the same manner as it does for the examination of a claim for benefit under the legislation it applies.
§ 3. The information referred to in paragraph 1^er This section includes information on the civil status, resources and residence to which benefits are subject.
§ 4. Where it is determined with certainty that benefits have been improperly received by persons whose domicile is or is expected to be in the territory of the other Contracting Party, this fact will be reported to the competent institution of the other Contracting Party. In case of doubt, this will be reported to the competent institution designated by the other Contracting Party.
§ 5. Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph 1^er of this Article, the competent institution of a Contracting Party may inform, without prior request, a competent institution of the other Contracting Party of any change found in the data transmitted in accordance with this Article.
Article 13
Refusal of payments, suspension and cancellation of benefits
Based on the information requested and the controls mentioned in this Convention, a competent institution of a Contracting Party may refuse, suspend or delete a benefit.
PART IV. - COOPERATION IN ASSESSMENT MATTER
Article 14
Audit of applicable legislation and conditions of detachment
§ 1^er. The Contracting Parties shall give full effect to the decisions of the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems relating to the interpretation of the relevant articles of the Regulation concerning applicable legislation.
§ 2. The Contracting Parties shall verify compliance with all conditions of the detachment, including all elements determining the legal nature of the working relationship, as explained in the decisions referred to in paragraph 1, during the detachment procedure.
§ 3. Where the institution of the Contracting Party in the territory of which the worker is detached, collects elements that may establish that the procedure of the detachment has wrongly taken place, in particular with regard to the provisions of the decisions referred to in the preceding paragraphs, the liaison agency of that Contracting Party shall seize the competent institution having authorized the detachment and shall transmit to it all the material collected.
The institution that authorized the detachment is then required to verify the elements transmitted and to decide, within one month, on the maintenance or withdrawal of the detachment.
§ 4. If the competent institution fails to respond within one month, the liaison agency shall inform the competent authorities of the two Contracting Parties of this failure to respond.
§ 5. The terms and conditions of application of this Article may be specified by cooperation agreements between competent institutions, in accordance with Article 20 of Part VI of this Convention.
Article 15
Determination of the right to recovery of social security contributions
The competent inspection and inspection institutions and services of a Contracting Party may interrogate the competent institutions of the other Contracting Party, or the body designated by the other Contracting Party, on any information allowing them to establish with certainty that social security contributions are actually due to the competent institution of that Contracting Party.
Article 16
Statistical data exchanges
The liaison agencies shall annually transmit the statistical data available to them regarding the detachments of workers in the territory of the other Contracting Party. These transmissions are carried out electronically.
TITRE V. - COOPERATION IN CONTROL MATIERE
Article 17
General principles of control cooperation
The competent institutions of a Contracting Party shall provide support to the control actions carried out by the competent institutions of the other Contracting Party. In this context, they may exchange agents for the purpose of gathering information useful to the exercise of their monitoring mission. They provide assistance, in accordance with applicable legislation in the territory of each Contracting Party, to determine the validity of documents and certificates and to provide any other form of mutual assistance and cooperation.
Article 18
Modalities of joint controls
§ 1^er. Within the framework of a control carried out by agents in the territory of one of the Contracting Parties, the officers of the other Contracting Party may be present during this inspection for the correct establishment of social security contributions, for the examination of the conditions of detachment, for the verification of the accumulated benefits as provided for in Articles III and IV of this Convention, in accordance with the legislation in force in the territory where the control is carried out.
§ 2. The officers of one of the Contracting Parties shall participate in the controls carried out in the territory of the other Contracting Party only as an observer and shall always be able to justify their quality.
§ 3. The periodicity of these controls, the staffing required for their effective implementation and the modalities for their assessment may be specified by cooperation agreements between competent institutions, in accordance with Article 20 of Title VI of this Convention.
Article 19
Control of work stops
§ 1^er. In the event of an employee's termination of work under the legislation of a Contracting Party and residing in the territory of the other Contracting Party, the competent institution of the first Contracting Party may, pursuant to the regulations of application, request the competent institution of the other Contracting Party to carry out the control measures provided for in the legislation of that other Contracting Party. The required competent institution shall forthwith proceed with the required control measures and shall inform the requesting competent institution of the findings it has made.
§ 2. In addition, the competent institution of a Contracting Party that wishes to ensure the justification for an employee's termination of work under the legislation it applies and residing in the territory of the other Contracting Party may appoint a physician of his or her choice in the territory of the other Contracting Party for the purpose of carrying out a check visit to the employee's home.
PART VI. - IMPLEMENTATION
Rule 20
Cooperation between competent institutions
The competent institutions of the Contracting Parties may enter into cooperation agreements to settle the modalities for the implementation of this Convention. These cooperation agreements cover matters covered by this Convention.
Article 21
Settlement of disputes
The competent authorities of the two Contracting Parties shall endeavour to settle disputes arising from the interpretation or implementation of this Convention in amicable manner.
PART VII. - TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 22
Adaptability clause
The provisions of this Convention shall remain applicable to the extent that they do not infringe the provisions of the regulations defined in Article 1^erparagraph 1^er, under (a) and (b), in the event of modification of the latter.
Article 23
Duration of the Convention
This Convention shall be concluded for an indefinite period. It may be denounced by one of the Contracting Parties. Denunciation must be notified through diplomatic channels. In this case, the Convention ceases to produce its effects on the expiry of a period of twelve months following the date of the denunciation.
Article 24
Abrogation
The Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg concerning the application of Article 51 of Regulation No. 3 of the European Economic Community concerning the social security of migrant workers and the annex, signed in Luxembourg on 28 January 1961, is repealed on the date of entry into force of this Convention.
Rule 25
Entry into force
Both Contracting Parties shall, through diplomatic channels, notify themselves of the fulfilment of their respective constitutional and legal procedures required for the entry into force of this Convention. This Convention shall enter into force on the first day of the third month following the date of the last notification.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, duly authorized, have signed this Convention.
DONE in Brussels on 5 February 2015 in double copy, in French and Dutch, both texts being equally authentic.