Law on foreign pensions

In the area of accident insurance, the law on foreign pensions makes provision for the payment of compensation to persons who have sustained an accident at work or contracted an occupational disease under the protection of a former German accident insurance institution in a territory outside present-day Germany or under the protection of a foreign accident insurance scheme.

In the case of insurance under the protection of a foreign accident insurance scheme, the persons must fulfil special personal requirements, e.g. have the status of persons of German origin who emigrated from Eastern Europe after 1992 (‘Spätaussiedler’).

In accordance with the integration principle of the law on foreign pensions, the entitlement to benefits is in principle based on the national law on accident insurance (Book VII of the German Social Code (Siebtes Buch Sozialgesetzbuch – SGB VII)). However, the amount of the pension benefits is reduced by limiting the basis of calculation (the annual earnings).

The DGUV issues opinions on questions of principle and specific matters as well as on the case-law concerning the law on foreign pensions – insofar as it relates to accident insurance – and provides information to the accident insurance institutions by circular letter.