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The old age pension scheme in France must include the basic retirement pension
managed by the C.N.A.V.T.S (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse et de
Travailleurs Salariés – National Old Age Pension and Salaried Employees
Fund), the supplementary pension A.R.R.C.O. (Association of supplementary
pension schemes – Association des régimes de retraites complémentaires)
managed by the supplementary pension fund and, for executives, the executive
pension A.G.I.R.C. (Association Générale des Institutions de Retraite des
Cadres – General Association of Executive Pension Institutions) which
supplements the other two.
No pensions are granted automatically. Regardless of professional record,
applications must be submitted six months before the actual date of retirement
to the competent services in the place of residence (national fund for Paris,
regional funds for outside Paris).
In all cases, the periods of salaried employment in Member States of the
European Economic Area are added up. The pension rate varies according to the
duration of the professional career and the salaries received.
In France, employees can retire at the age of 60. The social security pension
is based on the basic salary, and the rate and duration of insurance
contributions.
The basic salary is the average annual salary of the best twenty-five years
under the insurance.
At the moment, the maximum pension rate (50%) is granted to insured persons
aged at least 60 years, who can prove that they have contributed for at least
160 quarters, in other words 40 years’ contributions. This period will be
extended by one quarter per year to 41 years’ contributions in 2012 and 41
years’ ¾ contributions in 2020.
Contributions for supplementary pensions and executive pensions entitle
people to “retirement points”. The amount of your supplementary pension
reflects your contributions, since it is determined on the basis of how long you
have worked, your salaries and your contributions (employers’ and employees’
share), in other words, the number of points acquired and their value.
The amount of the pension can be increased if the employee has taken out a
supplementary insurance policy (mutual or private insurance).
It should be noted that the Law of 24 July 2003 on the reform of retirement
schemes provides for the possibility of purchasing missing annual contributions,
up to a limit of 12 quarters, and introduces tax measures to encourage employees
to have recourse to pension savings funds.
Source: European Union
© European Communities, 1995-2005
Reproduction is authorised.
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