Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia - charateristics

Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia was founded on 1 November 1994 by Act No. 274/1994 Coll. as a statutory institution to administer the sickness insurance and pension security substituting thus its ancestor the National Insurance Institution. As of 1 April 2002, the Social Insurance Agency (SIA) has taken over from the Slovak Insurance Agency also the employer´s liability insurance in case of occupational accident and occupational disease. As of 1 January 2004 SIA administers social insurance: that means sickness insurance, pension insurance – old age and disability insurance, accident insurance, guarantee insurance and unemployment insurance according to Act N. 461/2003 Coll. As of 1 January 2005 is SIA responsible also for approval and acceptance of contracts with Pension Asset Management Companies (PAMCs) which administer II. pillar of the pension system i.e. pension saving. In this connection SIA collects contributions for the II pillar and sends it to PAMCs.

The supervisory and auditing body of Social Insurance Agency is the Supervisory Board, which consists of 11 members. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board is the Minister of the Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic.

The members of the Supervisory Board except of the chairman are appointed and recalled by the National Council of the Slovak Republic.

The organizational entities of SIA are the Headquarters of SIA and the Branch Offices of SIA, which implement the social insurance. The fundamental sources of income of SIA are contributions on sickness, old-age, disability, accident, guarantee, unemployment and contributions paid on the reserve fund by insurers, employers and the state. The National Council of the Slovak Republic approves the budget and the annual financial statement of the Social Insurance Agency.

The Act N. 461/2003 Coll. on Social Insurance entitles the Supervisory Governmental Bodies: Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic and the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic, to supervise the administration of sickness, pension, accident, guarantee and unemployment insurance.