Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI)

EESSI is an IT system that helps social security institutions across the EU exchange information more rapidly and securely, as required by the EU rules on social security coordination. At the moment most exchanges are paper-based: these are going to be replaced by electronic exchanges in the coming years, as member states progress with connecting to EESSI.

All communication between national institutions on cross-border social security files will take place through EESSI: social security institutions will exchange structured electronic documents and follow commonly agreed procedures. These documents will be routed through EESSI to the correct destination in another member state. Staff in social security institutions will be able to find the correct destination in another EU country using a repository of national institutions.

The central EESSI system was made available by the Commission in July 2017. Following this, member states have two years to finalise their national implementation of EESSI and to connect their social security institutions to the cross-border electronic exchanges.

EESSI will speed up exchanges between national authorities. It will allow them to handle individual cases more quickly, and facilitate a faster calculation and payment of benefits. Social security institutions across the EU will use standardised electronic documents translated into their own language, improving multilingual communication. EESSI will introduce safeguards to ensure that the data exchanged is correct and complete, helping institutions to combat fraud and error. EESSI will optimise case handling, introducing standard electronic procedures to be followed by institutions; this will further enhance the correct application of social security coordination rules. Social security institutions across the EU will use standardised electronic documents translated into their own language, improving multilingual communication. EESSI will introduce safeguards to ensure that the data exchanged is correct and complete, helping institutions to combat fraud and error. EESSI will optimise case handling, introducing standard electronic procedures to be followed by institutions; this will further enhance the correct application of social security coordination rules.