(1)

Pursuant to Article SSCI.53(2) of the Protocol on Social Security Coordination (the ‘Protocol’) to the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community, of the one part, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, of the other part (the ‘Trade and Cooperation Agreement’), the interest for late payments is to be calculated on the basis of the reference rate applied by the financial institution designated for this purpose by the Specialised Committee on Social Security Coordination (the ‘Specialised Committee’) to its main refinancing operations.

(2)

Many provisions, such as Articles SSC.6(a), SSC.19(1), SSC.26, SSC.47 and SSC.64, SSCI.22(4) and (5), SSCI.23(7), SSCI.56, SSCI.57, SSCI.62 and SSCI.64 of the Protocol, contain situations where, for the purposes of the payment, calculation or recalculation of a benefit or contribution, a reimbursement, or for the purposes of offsetting and the recovery procedures, the exchange rate needs to be determined.

(3)

Pursuant to Article SSCI.73 of the Protocol, for the purposes of the Protocol and its Annex SSC-7, the exchange rate between two currencies is to be the reference rate published by the financial institution designated for this purpose by the Specialised Committee. The date to be taken into account for determining the exchange rate is to be fixed by the Specialised Committee.

(4)

The Specialised Committee notes that, while the rules on social security coordination laid down in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (2) are legally separate from those laid down in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, using the same financial institution for both agreements, as well as the same fixed date to be taken into account for determining the exchange rate, would be preferable, as it would avoid complications for the social security institutions implementing those agreements and mitigate the risk of errors,

(a)

when, according to national legislation or the Protocol, an institution takes into account amounts, such as earnings or benefits, during a certain period before the date for which the benefit is calculated, the rate of conversion published on the last day of that period;

(b)

when, according to national legislation or the Protocol, for the purpose of calculation of the benefit an institution takes into account one amount, the rate of conversion published on the first day of the month immediately preceding the month when the provision must be applied.

(a)

in the case of a request for offsetting from arrears/ongoing payments, the working day immediately preceding the day on which the applicant party sent the final request for offsetting from arrears/ongoing payments; or

(b)

in the case of a request for recovery, the working day immediately preceding the day on which the applicant party sent the first request for recovery.