Social security agreement between Belgium and Quebec enters into force

For employment outside of Europe, it must always be verified if Belgium has entered into a social security agreement with the country concerned.

The basic principle in most such agreements is that the employee is subject to the social security regime of the "work country", but in case of a secondment can temporarily remain subject to the social security regime of the home country. This continued submission to the home country social security regime has to be established in the work country with a "certificate of coverage" provided by the home country.

In the Belgian Official Gazette of 22 October the social security agreement between Belgium and Quebec was published. The agreement was entered into on 28 March 2006, but was published only now.

Belgium had already entered into a social security agreement with Canada. However, Quebec holds a special place within Canada since it is responsible for the organisation of its own social security regime. As a result, the agreement with Canada could not be applied to Quebec. That is why Belgium and Quebec have entered into a separate social security agreement. However, the agreement between Belgium and Quebec is nearly identical to the one between Belgium and Canada and has entered into force on 1 November 2010.

As a result, henceforth, it also possible to temporarily post employees to Quebec with preservation of the Belgian social security regime. On the other hand, employees who have been posted from Quebec to Belgium will be able to escape Belgian social security if they have a "certificate of coverage" from Quebec.

In principle, according to the social security agreement between Belgium and Quebec, the temporary continued submission to the social security regime of the home country (and temporarily not the work country) is restricted to a period of 24 months.