Facts
On April 7, 2004, the Federal Supreme Court rendered a judgment in the case of L. against the IV-Office for Insured Persons Abroad and the Federal Appeals Commission of the Old Age and Survivors' Insurance/Disability Insurance for Persons Residing Abroad (I 793/03).
The judgment dealt with the following legal issues
- Exportability of quarter pensions and exclusion of hardship pensions from the Disability Insurance under Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71 and the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP) between Switzerland and the EU (Headnote a).
- Determination of the degree of disability for the entitlement to a pension in the Swiss Disability Insurance within the scope of Regulation No. 1408/71 (Headnote b).
- Consideration of the AFMP and the Coordination Regulations in the new application procedure (Headnote c).
Considerations
The Federal Supreme Court made the following findings
Under Regulation (EEC) No. 1408/71, quarter pensions of the Swiss Disability Insurance are exportable, while hardship pensions are exempt from the export obligation. This means that insured persons residing in an EU Member State are entitled to an unabridged quarter pension, but not to a hardship pension.
For the determination of the degree of disability, Swiss law remains exclusively applicable, even after the entry into force of the AFMP. The decision of a foreign insurance carrier on the disability of an applicant is…