Administrative Center For Soc Security For Rhine Boatmen (amended 1987)

For the purpose of this Agreement,

The rules governing changes in rates of benefit laid down in the legislation of a Contracting Party shall be applicable to benefits payable under such legislation in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement.

Where, under the provisions of this Title, a Rhine boatman is subject to the legislation of a Contracting Party on whose territory he does not follow an occupational activity or is not resident, that legislation shall be applicable to him as if he followed an occupational activity or as if he were resident in the territory of that Party.

The provisions of Article 31, paragraphs 1 and 2, shall apply mutatis mutandis where benefits of the surviving spouse are converted into old-age benefits.

The provisions of Article 40 or of Article 41 shall apply, as appropriate, to the Rhine boatman who, having become unemployed, sustains an in jury which could be regarded as an occupational injury, in accordance with the legislation of the competent State responsible for paying unemployment benefit.

An accident on the way to or from work which happens in the territory of a Contracting Party other than the competent State shall be regarded as having happened in the territory of the competent State.

Where a Rhine boatman having contracted an occupational disease has received or is receiving benefits paid by the institution of a Contracting Party, and, in the event of an aggravation of his condition, claims benefits from the institution of another Contracting Party, the following provisions shall apply:

Where the legislation of a Contracting Party makes the acquisition, maintenance or recovery of entitlement to death grants conditional upon the completion of periods of insurance, the institution which applies that legislation shall, to that end, for the purpose of adding periods of insurance together, take ac count, to the extent necessary, of periods of insurance completed under the legislation of any other Contracting Party, as if they were periods of insurance completed under the legislation of the first Party.

Where the legislation of a Contracting Party makes the provision of a death grant for members of the family conditional upon their being personally insured, the provisions of Articles 51 and 52 shall apply to members of the family of a Rhine boatman subject to that legislation, of an unemployed boatman, of an applicant for a pension or of a pensioner entitled to receive benefits in kind for sickness under that legislation, only if they were personally affiliated either to the same institution of the said Party as that Rhine boatman, that unemployed boatman, that applicant or that pensioner, as the case may be, or to another institution of the said Party which grants corresponding benefits.

The provisions of this Chapter are applicable only to employed Rhine boatmen.

An unemployed Rhine boatman who, during his last employment, was resident in the territory of a Contracting Party other than the competent State and who remains available to his employer or to the employment services of that State, as the case may be, shall receive benefits in accordance with the provisions of the legislation of the said State, as if he were resident in its territory, regard being had, where appropriate, to the provisions of paragraph 1 or paragraph 2 of Article 55. Such benefits shall be paid by the competent institution.

A wholly unemployed Rhine boatman who, during his last employment, was resident in the territory of a Contracting Party other than the competent State and who makes himself available to the employment services of that Party shall receive benefits in accordance with the provisions of the legislation of the said Party, as if he had been subject to that legislation during his last employment, regard being had, where appropriate, to the provisions of paragraph 1or paragraph 2 of Article 55. Such benefits shall be paid by the institution of the place of residence and at its expense.

Where the legislation of a Contracting Party prescribes a maxi mum period for the award of benefits, the institution which applies that legislation may, where appropriate, take account of any period during which benefits have already been paid by the institution of another Contracting Party since entitlement to benefits was last established.

Where the legislation of a Contracting Party makes entitlement to benefits conditional upon the completion of periods of employment or occupational activity, the institution which applies that legislation shall, to that end, for the pur pose of adding periods together, take account, to the extent necessary, of periods of employment, or occupational activity completed under the legislation of any other Contracting Party, as if they were periods completed under the legislation of the first Party.

The orphans of a pensioner to whom this Agreement was ap plicable prior to his death shall be entitled to family benefits or to family allowances provided under the legislation of the Contracting Party by virtue of which that pen sioner received family benefits or family allowances during his lifetime in application of the provisions of Article 66, provided that entitlement to such benefits arises under that legislation. Such orphans shall be entitled to the family benefits provided under the said legislation if they are resident in the territory of that Party or, if not, to the family allowances provided under the said legislation.

In the cases referred to in Articles 66 to 68, the family benefits or the family allowances shall be provided, in accordance with the provisions of the legislation of the Contracting Party determined in accordance with those Articles, by the competent institution of that Party and at its expense, even if the physical and legal person to whom the benefits are payable resides or is temporarily resident in the territory of another Contracting Party. In that case, if the said benefits are not used for the maintenance of the members of the family, they may be paid, with legal effect, to the physical and legal person who actually looks after those members of the family, through the institution of their place of residence or the institution appointed or the organisation nominated for that purpose by the competent authority of their country of residence.

Where a person in receipt of benefit under the legislation of one Contracting Party is also entitled to benefits under the legislation of one or more of the other Contracting Parties, the following rules shall apply:

Where a Rhine boatman or a member of his family has a claim to maternity benefits under the legislation of two or more Contracting Parties, such benefits shall be provided solely under the legislation of the Party in whose territory the birth took place, or, if the birth did not take place in the territory of any of those Parties, solely under the legislation to which that Rhine boatman was last subject.

Medical examinations prescribed by the legislation of one Contracting Party may be carried out at the request of the institution which applies that legislation, in the territory of the place of temporary residence or residence, under the conditions prescribed by the administrative arrangement referred to in Article 96, paragraph 1. In such event they shall be deemed to have been carried out in the territory of the first Party.

If the institution of a Contracting Party has paid to a beneficiary a sum in excess of his entitlement, that institution may, under the conditions and to the extent permissible under the legislation it applies, request the institution of any other Contracting Party responsible for payment of benefits to that person to deduct the amount overpaid from the payments it is making to him. The latter institution shall withhold that amount to the extent to which such a deduction is permissible under the legislation it applies, as if the overpayment had been made by it, and transfer the amount so withheld to the creditor institution.

Following the entry into force of this Agreement, the provisions of the Agreement concerning the Social Security of Rhine Boatmen (Revised), of 13 February 1961, shall cease to have effect.

This Agreement shall be entered into for a period of one year. It shall be renewed from year to year by tacit agreement, subject to the right of each Contracting Party to denounce it by means of a notification addressed to the Director-General of the International Labour Office. Such denunciation shall take effect one year after the date of receipt of such notification.

DONE at Geneva this thirtieth day of November 1979 in three original copies in Dutch, French and German.