Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2007, published 97th ILC session (2008)

Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) - Croatia (Ratification: 1991)

The Committee notes that the report contains detailed information concerning Parts V, VI and X of the Convention and very brief information concerning Part IV. Taking into account that Croatia has ratified also Parts II, III and VIII of the Convention, the Government is asked to complete the report by supplying detailed information on the application of each Article of Parts II, III, IV and VIII for examination at the next session of the Committee in
November–December 2008. As regards Part VI of the Convention, it is no longer applicable as the result of the ratification by Croatia of Convention No. 121. The Committee further notes that the statistical data given in the report is limited to the period January 2006–January 2007. It reminds that regular reports on Convention No. 102 are requested every five years and should cover the whole period elapsed since the previous report of the Government received in 2001.

Part XI (Standards to be complied with by periodical payments). (a) Article 65 or 66 (calculation of the level of benefits) of the Convention. According to the report, the level of all pension insurance benefits calculated for a standard beneficiary selected under Article 65 of the Convention is lower than the guaranteed minimum pension in Croatia, which in this case the beneficiary receives in place of a regular pension. The Committee points out that social security schemes complying with the levels of benefits prescribed by the Convention on the basis of the minimum pension guaranteed by the scheme should also be assessed with respect to the standard beneficiary selected under Article 66 of the Convention. It would therefore like the Government to include in its next report updated calculations of the level of pension insurance benefits and the unemployment benefit made according to the methodology laid out in Article 66.

(b) Article 65, paragraph 10, or Article 66, paragraph 8 (adjustment of benefits). The report indicates that the current pension value is adjusted at the rate equal to the sum of 50 per cent of the rate of change of consumer prices and 50 per cent of the rate of change of the average gross wages of all employees in Croatia in the previous six months. For the period January 2006–January 2007, consumer price index increased by 3.6 per cent and the wages index by 10.17 per cent, while the average old-age pension was adjusted only by 2.71 per cent, the average disability pension due to employment injury by 3.23 per cent and the average survivors’ benefit by 3.67 per cent. As the level of pension adjustment does not seem to correspond to the abovementioned adjustment formula, the Committee would like the Government to show, on the basis of the data for the whole period to be covered by the detailed report (2002–07), that the purchasing power of pensions was maintained and the adjustment of pensions kept pace with the changes in the consumer price index.

Part XIII (common provisions), Article 71, paragraph 2. According to the report, the insurance contributions of employees protected constituted 59.85 per cent of the total of the financial resources allocated to the protection of employees and their wives and children in the pension insurance covered by Parts V, VI, IX and X of the Convention. The Committee points out that the Convention requires the proportion of the financial resources constituted by the insurance contributions of employees protected not to exceed 50 per cent. For the purpose of ascertaining that this requirement is fulfilled, it would like the Government to take account, in addition to the pension insurance, of the financial resources allocated to benefits provided under Parts II, III, IV and VIII of the Convention accepted by Croatia.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2008.]