Denial of occupational change allowance following an occupational disease for an insured Macedonian resident in Macedonia

Facts

The case concerns I., a Macedonian citizen holding a Swiss "B" residence permit, who worked as a mason in Switzerland and was insured with the Swiss National Accident Insurance Institute (SUVA). In 1994, I. reported to SUVA for a cement eczema, following which he was declared unfit to perform work in contact with cement, chromium, cobalt, nickel and rubber. After receiving transitional daily allowances, I. definitively left Switzerland in 1995 to return to Macedonia. SUVA subsequently refused to pay I. the transitional allowance provided for in Art. 86 of the Ordinance on the Prevention of Accidents and Occupational Diseases (OPI), as I. no longer resided in Switzerland.

Considerations

The Court first examined whether the right to occupational change allowance could be recognized based on the 1962 Social Security Convention between Switzerland and Yugoslavia, still applicable to citizens of the former Yugoslavia. However, the Court concluded that this Convention refers only to strict insurance benefits and not to preventive measures such as the transitional allowance provided for in Art. 86 OPI.

Based solely on Swiss domestic law, the Court held that…