Rights and obligations of the socially insured
The Charter of the socially insured contains important principles about your rights and obligations as a citizen in your contacts with the social security institutions.
The charter applies to the information in the ‘Work and Retirement’, ‘Health’ and ‘Social Security’ sections of this website.
The main purpose of the charter is to protect the population through a whole set of rules to be respected by all social security institutions. This applies to public bodies for employees, the self-employed and civil servants as well as state social security institutions.
Companies and employers can find their legal remedies and possibilities for objection on the ‘Starting out your business’ page under the heading ‘Do business’.
Each social security institution is obliged to inform the population about its rights as clearly as possible:
- A socially insured might ask specific questions to an institution.
- The social security institution is obliged to take initiatives to inform the population.
An application for benefits must be answered by the social security institution within a reasonable time:
- Within four months, the social security institution should take a decision.
- After that, within four months, the institution has to pay the benefit.
- In case of delay, the social security institution must pay interests to the entitled.
With every decision, the institution must inform the socially insured about:
- all the possibilities for appeal;
- the reasons for a decision;
- the reference number of the file.
The term for appeal before a court of law (mostly the labour court) against a decision of a social security institution is at least three months.
Law introducing the charter of the socially insured (French version)
