Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme –

Cover for recognised partners
2009 update

This administrative notice concerns members of the Joint Sickness Insurance Scheme (JSIS) whose recognised partner is or could be covered by the JSIS under the terms of the second subparagraph of Article 72(1) of the Staff Regulations.

Following the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 5 October 2009 in case T-58/08 P, the conditions for recognising the existence of a non-marital partnership creating an entitlement to cover for the partner under the JSIS have been clarified.

To recapitulate, only the first three conditions laid down in Article 1(2)(c) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations have to be met in order for the partner to be recognised and to be eligible for cover under the member's insurance.

i) The couple must produce a legal document recognised as such by a Member State, or any competent authority of a Member State, acknowledging their status as non-marital partners.

• A legal document from a non-EU country will be accepted as evidence of the status of non-marital partner only if it has been recognised as such by a Member State or by a competent authority of a Member State.
   
• Any document providing evidence of cohabitation characterised by a certain stability may be taken into consideration for recognising the status of stable non-marital partner, such as a certificate of cohabitation or a cohabitation agreement.
   
• The document presented must come from an authority that is officially recognised and competent to deliver such a document in the Member State.
  
  Depending on the Member States and the type or nature of the document issued, the competent authority may be a notary, an official of the register office, the municipal administration, the consulate or a family law judge.

ii) Neither partner may be in a marital relationship or in another non-marital partnership.

• Both partners must solemnly declare that they are not already married or engaged in another non-marital partnership of any legal kind.
  
  The declaration must be made using the forms in Annexes 1 and 2 to this Administrative Notice.
   
• By signing the form in question both partners legally undertake to inform the JSIS Settlements Office of any change in their status as a non-marital partner (if the partnership ends or if they get married).

iii) The partners may not be related in any of the following ways: parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, nephew, niece, son-in-law, daughter-in-law.

• The staff member must solemnly declare that he or she is not related to his/her partner in any of the ways listed above.

In order for the partnership to be recognised by the JSIS, the following documents must be presented to the JSIS Settlements Office:

• The internal forms requesting recognition of a registered non-marital partnership (see Annexes 1 and 2 ). The member and his or her partner must each complete a form.
   
• The legal document recognised by the Member State attesting to the status of non-marital partner. The original document must be submitted but will be returned to the member.
   
• Proof of the partner's marital status. This must show that the person concerned is not related to the member and that he or she is "unmarried".
   
• A copy of both sides of the partner's identity card or passport.
   
• A confidential declaration concerning the partner's insurance cover (see Annex 3) .
   
• Proof of the partner's annual taxable income in order to determine whether the JSIS will provide primary or complementary top-up cover (see Administrative Notice 41-2009). Only the partner's most recent tax statement issued by the Ministry of Finance and showing how much tax is to be paid or refunded will be accepted.

All of these clarifications of the conditions that must be fulfilled in order for the partner to benefit from cover under the JSIS will apply to applications for recognition of partnerships submitted after 5 October 2009.