Social Insurance Agency in Slovakia - characteristics

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 the 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 the case of occupational accident and occupational disease. As of 1 January 2004 SIA administers social insurance: that means the sickness insurance, the pension insurance – old-age and invalidity insurance, the accident insurance, the guarantee insurance and the unemployment insurance according to Act N. 461/2003 Coll of laws. 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. the 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 from 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 the SIA income are contributions for the following brances of insurance: sickness , the old-age, disability, accident, guarantee, unemployment and contributions paid to the Reserve Fund by insurers, employers and the State. The National Council of the Slovak Republic approves the SIA budget and the SIA annual financial statement.

The Act N. 461/2003 Coll. of laws on Social Insurance entitles the Supervisory Governmental Bodies: the 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 the sickness,the pension, the accident, the guarantee and the unemployment insurance.