Communication and transparency on occupational pensions - Postponement of entry into force of the Transparency Act

The Act of 26 December 2022 amending several provisions to strengthen transparency under the second pension pillar, or “Transparency Act” for short, reforms communication and transparency to plan members about their occupational pension (for more explanation: see our February 2023 Newsletter).

The Transparency Act provides for a phased entry into force, and some key provisions (on benefit statements and payout procedures) were to have started coming into force on 1 January 2024. This implementation has been delayed.

The Transparency Act is ‘principle-based’ legislation, which means that it lays down the broad principles but requires further elaboration in royal decrees, concrete standards, models and instructions. To this end, authorisations have been given to the King, the FSMA and Sigedis. This work is well under way in close cooperation with the pension institutions and social partners.

Meanwhile, it turned out that the initial estimation of the complexity and time needed for this elaboration was too optimistic and there was a demand from the sector to postpone the various implementation dates. To this end, a legislative amendment was thus approved. We are now only waiting for its publication in the Belgian State Gazette.

Moreover, a few more novelties were introduced via this legislative amendment:

• From 2026, the new affiliation document (according to the standardised format determined by the FSMA) must be uploaded on mypension.be.
• From 2028, the transparency report must be uploaded on mypension.be.
• From 2028, so-called ‘situation-specific’ benefit statements must be drawn up when a certain event (retirement, resignation, etc.) occurs during the year. This will give plan members a view of the evolution of their pension rights between 1 January (date of the annual benefit statement) and the event in question. These benefit statements will also be available on mypension.be.

Overview of amended implementation dates:

Action point

Pension institutions (both insurers and IORPs) will have to make the necessary preparations to apply the new payout procedures from 1 January 2025. Especially considering the sanctions provided by the legislator in case of late information and/or payment (statutory interest automatically and ipso jure due in case of non-compliance with deadlines).

In addition, it remains an action point, both for employers and pension institutions, to encourage their employees/plan members to register their e-mail address via mypension.be or to activate their e-Box. This will ensure that from 2026, the pension institution (or employer) will no longer have to intervene in the annual communication of the benefit statements.