Swiss Review 6/2019

Swiss Review / November 2019 / No.6 36 news.admin.ch Secure your pension by email The Swiss Compensation Office (SCO) and the Disability Insurance Office for people living abroad (OAIE), which are responsible for the payment of old-age and survivors’ insurance/disability pensions abroad, will now focus on digital interaction to facilitate the exchange of information with insured persons. A certificate of life and marital status form is sent to all recipients of old-age and survivors’ insurance/disability pensions resident abroad every year. It has to be returned within 90 days to ensure uninterrupted pension payment. If the certificate does not arrive within that timeframe, pay- ment of the pension is halted by the system. However, insured persons resident abroad often have to contend with complex situations. Take for example an insuredMr A, who lives in a remote region of Mexico. His nearest post of- fice is several hours away. The postal delivery of this person’s life certificate is delayed every year, and payment of his pension runs the risk of being in- terrupted. Consequently, in order to improve the quality of service for in- sured persons, as well as to facilitate the administrative procedures, the SCOandOAIE are planning to expand the range of information that can be exchanged digitally with the insured persons and with the social security institutions. A new secure email service The SCO now offers a new service for sending and receiving encrypted emails. It will contact insured persons by thismeans as needed. Notifications of address changes and requests for in- formation can now be sent confiden- tially via email. Simplified exchanges between social security institutions At the moment most exchanges be- tween social security institutions in European Union countries are pa- per-based. In the future, these will be replaced by electronic exchanges us- ing the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Informationnetwork (EESSI). Duty to provide information The new systems for exchanging data do not remove insured persons’ ob- ligation to report any changes in their situation: change of address, marital status, death, change in in- come, etc. (for more information, visit: www.ogy.de/renten) . Several communication channels In countries with very long post deliv- ery times, the SCO can always rely on local Swiss representations to forward correspondence to insured persons. The SCO can also be reached directly via the internet portal www.cdc.ad- min.ch (or short link: www.ogy.de/ SAK) . Our teams of professionals will be happy to provide any further infor- mation you may need. (CCO) This man lives in a remote region of Mexico – and commu- nicates with Swiss public authorities via encrypted email. ✆ from Switzerland +41 800 24 7 365 ✆ from abroad +41 58 465 33 33 E-Mail: helpline@eda.admin.ch Skype: helpline-eda www.eda.admin.ch/reisehinweise ✆ from Switzerland +41 800 24 7 365 ✆ from abroad +41 58 465 33 33 www.twitter.com/travel_edadfae Online registration for Swiss citizens travelling abroad www.fdfa.admin.ch/itineris App available for free for iOS and Android Travel advice Plan well. Travel well.