This section provides health-insurance information on the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons between Switzerland and the member states of the European Union (AFMP) and the Agreement instituting the European Free Trade Area (EFTA).
Entry into force
The Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (AFMP) between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) came into force on 1 June 2002. It grants Swiss and EU nationals the fundamental right of free choice of their place of work and domicile within the member states’ territory. An updated version of the EFTA Agreement also came into force on that date.
Adoption of European coordination law
When the AFMP and EFTA Agreement came into force, Switzerland adopted the European regulations on the coordination of social-security systems. On 1 May 2010, EEC regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 were replaced in all 27 EU member states by EC regulation 883/2004 (R 883/04) and by EC implementing regulation 987/2009 (R 987/09). Initially, these regulations did not apply to relations between Switzerland and the EU member states. They were adopted as part of the 3rd update of annex II to the AFMP, which came into force on 1 April 2012. Since 1 January 2016, (3rd update of appendix 2 of annex K to the EFTA Agreement) EC regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 also apply within EFTA.
The AFMP has been extended to Croatia on 1 January 2017. The Regulations (CE) No 883/2004 and 987/2009 are therefore applicable to the relations between Switzerland and Croatia (see document below).
Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information (EESSI)
The new EU regulations provide for the replacement of the present E forms (currently in paper form) by a system of electronic data exchange between social-security institutions (Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information - EESSI). Implementation of this system is currently under way in Switzerland.
Documents
00. Informationsschreiben an die Krankenversicherer, die Kantone und die Verbände der Leistungserbringer vom 22. Dezember 2016 (PDF, 344 kB, 22.12.2016)Inkrafttreten des Protokolls zur Ausdehnung des Freizügigkeitsabkommens auf Kroatien
Links
Last modification 17.08.2018
Contact
Federal Office of Public Health FOPH
Health and Accident Insurance Directorate
Section Legal Supervision of Health Insurance
Schwarzenburgstrasse 157
3003
Berne
Switzerland
Tel.
+41 58 462 21 11