Payment of Old-Age AHV Pension to Insured Persons Residing Abroad in the Currency of the State of Residence

Facts

[S.], born on March 13, 1936, resides in her home country of Slovenia. Since April 1, 1998, the Swiss Compensation Office (Schweizerische Ausgleichskasse, SAK) has been paying her a Swiss old-age pension in Swiss francs. In February 2006, Postfinance, the financial service provider commissioned by the SAK, informed the insured person that the pension payments would be transferred in euros "due to a conversion" as of June 2006. [S.] then requested the SAK to continue paying the pension in Swiss francs or at least to communicate its legal position in a contestable ruling. When the SAK informed her that it could not issue a ruling, [S.] filed a complaint for denial of justice, which the Federal Appeals Commission for Old-Age, Survivors' and Disability Insurance for Persons Residing Abroad dismissed in its decision of November 20, 2006.

The Federal Supreme Court partially upheld the administrative court appeal filed by the insured person against this and referred the matter back to the Federal Administrative Court for a decision in accordance with the considerations. The Federal Administrative Court dismissed the appeal to the extent that it entered into it.

With an appeal in public law matters, [S.] requested the annulment of the lower court's decision. The Federal Supreme Court partially upheld the appeal to the extent that it entered into it.

Considerations

The Federal Supreme Court states that neither the agreement nor the community or domestic law contains a directly applicable rule on the question of in which currency the AHV old-age pension of an insured person residing in her home country of Slovenia is to be paid. However, the analogous application of Art. 20 para. 1 sentence 1 of the Ordinance on Voluntary Old-Age, Survivors' and Disability Insurance (VFV), according to which pensions and daily allowances are to be paid directly by the compensation office in the currency of the state of residence, is justified.

Although the SAK had been paying the appellant's pension in Swiss francs since 1998, based on Art. 34 no. 1 of the Agreement between…