Effects of Italy’s accession to the Framework Agreement

On 28 December 2023, Italy joined the European Framework Agreement called “Framework Agreement on the application of Article 16 (1) of Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004 in cases of habitual cross-border Telework”.  

Article 1 of the Framework Agreement defines “cross-border telework” as an activity that a worker carries out remotely in one or more Member States through the use of information technologies. 

The agreement provides that cross-border teleworkers may be subject to the social security system of the Member State of the employer’s registered office, provided that the work carried out under the “teleworking” regime in the State of residence is less than 50% of the total working time. 

This regime applies only if the worker’s State of residence and the one in which the employer has its registered office are both signatories to the Framework Agreement. Therefore, if those States have not signed such a Framework Agreement, the provisions of Article 13 et seq. of Regulation (EC) No. 883/2004, which provide for the application of the social security system of the Member State of residence if the worker carries out a substantial part of his or her activity in that State, apply. 

Where the conditions set out in the Framework Agreement are met, to derogate from the general provisions established at European level regarding the identification of the applicable legislation, it will be necessary to initiate a special request procedure under Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No. 987/2009. This procedure must be undertaken before the competent authority of the Member State in which the employed worker asks to apply the legislation which, in the case of Italy, is the Italian National Social Security Entity (Istituto nazionale della previdenza sociale ‘INPS’). 

Finally, it should be noted that requests submitted up to 30 June 2024 may retroactively cover a period of up to twelve months prior to that of the request.