Business travelers do not comply with EU requirement of A1 certificate
Anyone traveling on business within the European Union must carry proof of social insurance with them. The procedure is not only inconvenient, but also expensive: Each certificate costs companies an estimated 75 francs.
A regulation that costs a lot and to which only a few adhere anyway: Just one in four business travelers (27 percent) in Europe always thinks about the A1 certificate that is actually required when traveling to other European countries (Switzerland 23 percent). This is the result of a survey conducted by AirPlus International, a leading international provider of solutions for the daily management of business travel. Such an A1 certificate is required as proof of social insurance in the home country and is intended to prevent social dumping. Without the proof, the employee would have to pay into the coffers of his destination country.
More than half of business travelers violate regulation
Anyone traveling within the European Union as well as to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland has had to carry the A1 certificate since May 2010. Since this year, employers must now apply electronically. The new process has brought the issue more into the public eye. But despite possible controls and the risk of fines in individual member states: 44 percent of the business travelers surveyed said they were not even aware of this obligation - in Switzerland, this figure is as high as 51 percent. Seven percent of the travelers surveyed who are familiar with the A1 certificate do not comply with it despite being aware of it (Switzerland: six percent). This means that more than half of the business travelers surveyed (51 percent) always travel without this certificate. Just under a quarter of respondents (24 percent) said they sometimes have it with them.
High effort for companies
Currently, this certificate is required for every cross-border business trip, including, for example, visits to trade fairs, business lunches or meetings with colleagues from a branch of one's own company. "For the companies that have to ensure the electronic application process at the AHV compensation office, the effort is enormous. The same applies to the business traveler, who must submit the application before the trip in each case," says Andy Stehrenberger, managing director of AirPlus in Switzerland. The costs for an application are thus estimated at around CHF 75 - per trip and traveler. After all, there are efforts in the European Union to abolish this proof requirement for business trips again in the course of a revision of the rules. But the agreement already envisaged by the EU Commission failed in the spring at the European Council. "Following the European elections at the end of May and the constitution of the EU institutions Commission, Parliament and Council that has now taken place, measures to revise this obligation to provide proof can now be considered again as quickly as possible," Stehrenberger hopes. "However, to avoid unnecessary fines and additional payments, business travelers should continue to keep the A1 certificate on hand until then," he advises. AirPlus had asked more than 700 business travelers about the use of the A1 certificate in nine European countries, including Germany, France, Italy UK and Switzerland.
Forms and information on how to apply for an A1 certificate are available here: https://sozialversicherungen.admin.ch/de/f/5646
