The amendments to the Pension and Disability Insurance Act, enacted at the end of 2019, envisage that the right to a family pension can also be exercised by the surviving extramarital partner. Thus, ...extramarital partners have been equated (for the first time) with spouses in matrimonial relations. In order to be entitled to a survivor's pension, both spouses and extramarital partners must inter alia spend at least three years in marriage or extramarital union, or have a child together. The existence of an extramarital union is determined in a non-litigious proceeding. Although this statutory specification of the constitutional norm on the equality of marriage and extramarital union is praiseworthy, the authors point out that the new legal provision raises a number of issues. The situation is indisputable if a man and a woman were in an exclusive extramarital relationship that lasted for a long time, and particularly if they have at least one child together. However, in the event that one of them was in a parallel extramarital union with another person, or if the condition of gender differentiation does not exist or has ceased to exist, it raises the question how the existence of an extramarital union will be proven in non-litigious proceedings. The authors examine whether the existing legal framework provides for achieving the goal of the provision envisaged in the Pension and Disability Insurance Act, and how possible abuses of this right can be prevented in order to protect the conscientious (bona fides) users acting in good faith. Although the Serbian legislator finally decided to fully equalize marital and nonmarital unions in terms of exercising the right to a family pension, we believe that the existing solution needs to be improved in order to avoid confusion in practice and prevent possible abuses. Only the nominal introduction of the provision on the equality of married and non-marital partners with reference to the non-litigation procedure has already opened a number of questions in practice. In this paper, we point to some issues concerning the method of determining the quality of an extramarital union and the competition between two extramarital unions. An innovative solution, which would represent not only a concretization of the constitutional provision but also a qualitative contribution to the pension and disability insurance system, calls for amending the existing solution in the Pension and Disability Insurance Act, detailed regulation of the procedure for determining the existence of extramarital union as a named procedure in the Non-litigation Procedure Act, and the introspection what the legislator actually wants for and from an extramarital partner. Although it sounds like a serious task, the importance of an institution such as extramarital union certainly deserves not such an approach.
Both in theory and practice, great attention is paid to the analysis of the pension expenditures level, their determinants, as well as the options for their reduction, whereas the analysis of the ...revenues level and contributions, as the most significant revenue in contribution-based pension systems, is often neglected. The aim of this paper is to analyse the determinants of the level of contributions for pension and disability insurance in order to identify options for increasing their levels in the pension system of the Republic of Serbia. By using the comparative method, a comparative analysis of data about the trends of the most significant determinants of contribution levels among the European Union Member States and Serbia is performed. Research results have shown that increase in the contribution level for pension and disability insurance in the Republic of Serbia can be achieved by extending the definition of contribution base of employees, increasing the average effective retirement age and increasing the effective population coverage by this insurance. In addition to pointing out the options for increasing the contribution level for pension and disability insurance, the authors also propose the measures which can be applied in order to affect the increase of the contribution level for this insurance and, therefore, the total revenues level of the pension system of the Republic of Serbia.
Retirement policy is an unavoidable factor for the economic and social stability of the state. In our country, Serbia, the total number of pensioners in 2015 was almost 1.8 million, which is higher ...in comparison to the time period from 2002 to 2014. According to increased number of pensioners, pension reforms are a crucial step of economic stability for less developed country, such as Serbia. The first step in this question in Serbia was made in 2001, and this change was referred to the raise in the retirement age. Next step was made in 2003 and involved wider ranges of changes than the previous step. Another change in this field was followed by 2005, and it was related to age limit for retirement, which was supposed to increase for 6 months each year during the period from 2008 to 2011, while another change was a gradual pension adjustment. The last step in this road of pension reforms in Serbia has become with adopted Law on Pension and Disability Insurance that entered into force in January 2015, when age limit for retirement was extended for both genders, whereby it is clear that the aim of this measure is to equalize years of service for genders by 2023 and age limit by 2032 when 65 years will be the age limit.
Low level of pension and disability insurance coverage in Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the crucial issues related to sustainability of the systems. The immediate consequence of low level coverage ...is loss of contribution revenue which triggers all the negative consequences of unfavorable ratio of contributors towards pensioners. Moreover, low coverage is one of the major indicators of social exclusion of a large number of elderly people in the future and social exclusion of working population at present. The World Bank experts claim that countries with low level of gross domestic product per capita have low level of pension insurance coverage and vice versa. This theory is tested and confirmed by correlation analysis of pension system coverage rate and gross domestic product per capita in Bosnia and Herzegovina for period from 1970 to 1990. Estimate and analysis of coverage for the post war period was done on the basis of pension system data and Labor Market Survey population estimate. Low level of pension system coverage in Bosnia and Herzegovina is conditioned upon low level of economic activity which is reflected in low level of registered employment, large scale of unregistered work and common custom of declaring lower salary for the purpose of paying less taxes and social contributions. Negative effects for the pension and disability insurance systems are multiple and long term.
Niska razina obuhvata sustava mirovinskoga i invalidskoga osiguranja u
Bosni i Hercegovini nameće se kao jedno od temeljnih pitanja same održivosti
ovih sustava. Naime nizak obuhvat osiguranja kao ...posljedicu ima
gubitak prihoda od doprinosa i sve negativne posljedice nepovoljnoga
odnosa između broja osiguranika i broja umirovljenika. Nadasve nizak
obuhvat mirovinskoga osiguranja jedan je od osnovnih indikatora socijalne
isključenosti velikoga broja osoba starije životne dobi u budućnosti
kao i socijalne isključenosti velikoga broja radno sposobnoga stanovništva
u sadašnjosti. Stručnjaci Svjetske banke tvrde da zemlje s niskom razinom
bruto domaćega proizvoda po glavi stanovnika imaju nisku razinu
obuhvata mirovinskoga osiguranja i vice versa. Ova teorija testirana je i
potvrđena primjenom korelacijske analize stope obuhvata mirovinskoga
osiguranja i razine društvenoga proizvoda po glavi stanovnika u Bosni i
Hercegovini za razdoblje od 1970. do 1990. godine. Za poslijeratno razdoblje
urađena je procjena i analiza obuhvata entitetskih sustava mirovinskoga
i invalidskoga osiguranja u Bosni i Hercegovini rabeći podatke
nositelja osiguranja i procjene stanovništva prema Anketi o radnoj snazi.
Niska razina obuhvata mirovinskoga osiguranja u Bosni i Hercegovini
uvjetovana je niskom razinom gospodarske aktivnosti što se reflektira u
niskoj razini prijavljene zaposlenosti, rasprostranjenosti takozvanoga rada na crno i čestoj praksi prijavljivanja niže osnovice osiguranja. Negativne
posljedice po sustav mirovinskoga i invalidskoga osiguranja višestruke
su i dugoročne.
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