Social agreement between France and Israel

The Convention sociale entre la France et Israel was established between the government of the State of Israel and the government of the French Republic.

The Government of the State of Israel, and The Government of the French Republic.

Resolved to cooperate in the social field, Affirming the principle of equal treatment of nationals of both States under the social security legislation of each.
Wishing to enable their nationals to retain the rights acquired under the legislation of one of the States and to provide for the aggregation of insurance periods completed by their nationals under each of the two legislations.
Have decided to conclude a Convention aimed at coordinating the application to French and Israeli nationals of French social security legislation and Israeli national insurance legislation and, to this end, have agreed on the following provisions:

TITLE 1 - General principles

Article 1

Paragraph 1

French and Israeli salaried workers or workers treated as salaried workers are subject respectively to the social security legislation listed in Article 2 below, applicable in Israel or in France, and, subject to the reservations set out in Article 2, benefit from it under the same conditions as the nationals of each of these States.

Paragraph 2

The territories covered by the provisions of this agreement are :

• for France: metropolitan France and overseas departments;
• as far as Israel is concerned; the State of Israel.

See also: The tax treaty between France and Israel

Article 2

Paragraph 1

The legislations to which this agreement applies are :
1) In France :
a) legislation governing the organization of social security ;
b) legislation governing the social insurance system applicable to insured persons in non-agricultural professions, with the exception of provisions concerning voluntary old-age insurance for persons working outside French territory;
c) social insurance legislation applicable to salaried employees and persons in a similar position in the agricultural professions;
d) legislation instituting an old-age allowance for self-employed persons (contributory scheme);
e) legislation on the prevention of and compensation for industrial accidents and occupational diseases;
f) legislation on family benefits ;
g) legislation on special social security schemes, insofar as they concern the risks or benefits covered by the legislation listed in the preceding paragraphs, and in particular the scheme relating to social security in mines.
2) In Israel :
the law on national insurance applicable to salaried employees and assimilated persons, covering the risks of old age, death, industrial accidents and occupational diseases, maternity cover and pensions for large families.

Paragraph 2

The present convention shall also apply to all legislative or regulatory acts which have modified or supplemented or which will modify or supplement the legislation listed in paragraph 1 of this article.
However, it does not apply to :
a) to legislative or regulatory acts covering a new branch of social security only if an agreement to this effect has been reached between the contracting States.
In particular, agreements on health and disability insurance will be reached once the Israeli government has instituted a legal insurance scheme for these risks.
b) Legislative or regulatory acts which extend existing schemes to new categories of beneficiaries only if there is no legal obligation to do so,
opposition of the Government of the party amending its legislation notified to the Government of the other party within a period of three months from the official publication of the said acts.

Article 3

Paragraph 1

Employees or workers treated as employees under the legislation applicable in each of the contracting States who are employed in the territory of one of them shall be subject to the legislation in force at the place where they work.

Paragraph 2

The principle laid down in paragraph 1 of this article is subject to the following exceptions:
a) salaried workers or workers treated as such who have their habitual residence in the territory of one of the two contracting States and who are employed in the other State by an enterprise having an establishment in the first State, shall remain subject to the legislation in force in the State of their habitual place of work, provided that their occupation in the territory of the second State does not extend beyond twelve months; if, for unforeseeable reasons, this occupation is prolonged beyond the duration initially foreseen and exceeds twelve months, the application of the legislation in force in the State of the habitual place of work may exceptionally be maintained with the agreement of the Government of the State of the occasional place of work;
b) employees or persons treated as employees of transport undertakings of one of the contracting States employed in the mobile parts (itinerant personnel) of such undertakings are subject exclusively to the provisions in force in the State where the undertaking has its registered office.

Paragraph 3

The competent administrative authorities of the Contracting States may, by mutual agreement, provide for exceptions to the rules laid down in paragraph 1 of this Article. They may also agree that the exceptions provided for in paragraph 2 shall not apply in certain special cases.

Article 4

Paragraph 1

The provisions of paragraph 1 of article 3 are applicable to salaried workers or workers treated as such, whatever their nationality, employed in French or Israeli diplomatic or consular posts or in the personal service of agents of such posts.
However,
a) career diplomatic and consular agents and chancellery officials are exempt from the application of this article;
b) salaried employees or persons treated as such who belong to the nationality of the country represented by the diplomatic or consular post and who are not permanently established in the country where they are employed may choose between the application of the legislation of the country of their place of work and that of their country of origin.

Paragraph 2

Workers in the service of a government administration of one of the contracting parties, who are subject to the legislation of the said party and who are seconded to the other, shall continue to be subject to the legislation of the State which seconded them.

SECTION II - Special provisions

CHAPTER 1 - Maternity and death insurance

Article 5

Paragraph 1

Workers who transfer their residence to Israel, and their dependants, are entitled to maternity benefits under the Israeli scheme, provided that they meet the conditions required in Israel for entitlement to said benefits by adding together, if necessary, periods of insurance or equivalent periods completed in France.

Paragraph 2

Workers who transfer their residence from Israel to France and their dependents are entitled to maternity benefits under the French system on two conditions:
(a) they have performed work subject to insurance in France ;
(b) they meet the conditions required in France to receive said benefits by adding together, if necessary, periods of insurance or periods recognized as equivalent completed in Israel.

Article 6

Salaried workers or workers treated as such who move from one State to another are entitled to death grants in accordance with the legislation of the State of the new place of work on the twofold condition that :
(1) they have worked in that State as an employee or in a similar capacity ;
(2) they meet the conditions required to receive these benefits under the legislation of the State of their new place of work by adding together, if necessary, periods of insurance and periods recognized as equivalent completed in the other State.

CHAPTER 2 - Old Age and Death Insurance. (pensions)

Article 7

Paragraph 1

In the case of French or Israeli employees or persons treated as such who have been affiliated successively or alternately in the two contracting States with one or more old-age insurance or death (pension) insurance schemes, periods of insurance completed under these schemes or periods recognized as equivalent to periods of insurance under the said schemes are totaled to the extent that they do not overlap, both for the purpose of determining entitlement to benefits and for the purpose of maintaining or recovering such entitlement.

Paragraph 2

Where the legislation of one of the contracting States makes the granting of certain benefits conditional upon the periods having been completed in an occupation subject to a special insurance scheme, only the periods completed under the corresponding special scheme or schemes of the other State shall be aggregated for the purpose of entitlement to such benefits.
If, in one of these two Contracting States, there is no special scheme for the profession, periods of insurance completed in the said profession under one of the schemes referred to in paragraph 1 above shall nevertheless be aggregated.
In particular, in the absence of a special mining social security scheme in Israel, only periods of work performed in mining operations in Israel which, had they been performed in France, would have given entitlement under the special mining legislation, are considered as service which can be aggregated with periods completed under the French mining social security scheme.

Paragraph 3

The benefits to which an insured person is entitled from each of the bodies concerned are determined, in principle, by reducing the amount of benefits to which he or she would be entitled if all the periods referred to in paragraph 1 above had been completed under the corresponding scheme, in proportion to the periods completed under that scheme.

Paragraph 4

If, under the legislation of one of the contracting States, the calculation of benefits is based on an average salary, an average contribution or a supplement, these shall be determined, for the purpose of calculating the benefit payable by the institution of that State, taking into account only periods of insurance completed under the legislation of the said State.

Paragraph 5

The rules set out in the preceding paragraphs apply to death insurance (pensions).

Article 8

When an insured person, taking into account all the periods referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 7, does not at the same time fulfil the conditions required by the legislation of both States, his right to a pension shall be established with regard to each legislation as and when he fulfils these conditions.

Article 9

Paragraph 1

Any insured person may, at the time of entitlement to a pension, renounce the benefit of the provisions of Article 7 of the present agreement. The benefits to which he/she may be entitled under each of the national legislations shall then be settled separately by the bodies concerned.

Paragraph 2

The insured may again exercise an option between the benefit of the provisions of Article 7 and that of the present Article when he has an interest in doing so, as a result either of a change in one of the national legislations, or of the transfer of his residence from one State to the other, or, in the case provided for in Article 8, at the time when a new right to a pension arises for him under one of the legislations applicable to him.

Article 10

Paragraph 1

If the legislation of one of the contracting States makes the granting of certain benefits subject to conditions of residence, such conditions cannot be invoked against Israeli or French nationals as long as they reside in the territory of one of the contracting parties.
However, children's allowances provided for by special legislation for mine workers are paid in accordance with the conditions laid down by that legislation.
The cumulative indemnity and the special allowance provided for by French legislation applicable to mineworkers are paid only to persons working in French mines.

Paragraph 2

Where nationals of one of the parties, who are in receipt of a pension payable by the social security institution of the other party, reside in a third State, they shall receive their pension under the same conditions as nationals of the State paying the pension.

Article 11

For the purposes of paragraph 3 of Article 7, only periods of insurance valid under the scheme under which they were completed and lasting at least one year both in France and in the State of Israel shall be taken into account.

CHAPTER 3 - Occupational injuries and diseases

Article 12

Paragraph 1

Provisions contained in the legislation of the other State concerning accidents at work and occupational diseases, which restrict the rights of foreigners or make it impossible for them to exercise their rights because of their place of residence, may not be invoked against nationals of one of the contracting States.

Paragraph 2

Increases or supplementary allowances granted in addition to pensions for accidents at work under the legislation applicable in each of the two contracting States are maintained for persons referred to in the preceding paragraph who transfer their residence from one of the States to the other.

Article 13

Paragraph 1

The victim of an accident at work or occupational disease occurring in the territory of one of the two contracting States which is not the competent country, shall receive benefits in kind from the institution of the place of stay or residence. The same applies when the condition of a victim of an accident at work or occupational disease temporarily residing in such a territory requires immediate medical care, including hospitalization.

Paragraph 2

The victim of an accident at work or occupational disease occurring in the territory of the competent State who transfers his residence to the territory of the other State shall receive benefits in kind from the institution of the place of his new residence, provided that he is authorized to do so by the competent institution, which shall take due account of the reasons for the transfer of residence.

Paragraph 3

In the cases referred to in the two preceding paragraphs, benefits in kind are provided by the institution of the place of stay or of the new residence, in accordance with the provisions of the legislation applied by the said institution, in particular as regards the extent and terms of the provision of benefits in kind; however, the duration of the provision of such benefits is that laid down by the legislation of the competent country.

Paragraph 4

However, the granting of prostheses, major appliances and other major benefits in kind is subject, except in cases of absolute emergency, to authorization by the competent institution.

Paragraph 5

Benefits in kind provided in the cases referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall be reimbursed to the institutions which provided them, in accordance with provisions to be specified in an administrative arrangement.

Paragraph 6

The provisions of paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5 of this article do not apply to victims in France of an accident at work in agriculture who transfer their residence or stay temporarily in Israel. In such cases, benefits in kind are paid directly by the liable employer or by the substitute insurer.

Article 14

In the cases provided for in paragraphs 1 and 2 of the preceding article, cash benefits shall be provided in accordance with the legislation of the competent State, at the expense of the competent institution and in accordance with procedures to be mutually agreed upon by the competent authorities of the two States.

Article 15

If the legislation of one of the two contracting States provides that, for the assessment of incapacity resulting from an accident at work or an occupational disease, account shall implicitly or explicitly be taken of accidents at work or occupational diseases which have occurred previously, the competent institution of that State shall take account of accidents at work or occupational diseases which have occurred previously in the territory or under the legislation of the other State, as if they had occurred in its territory or under its legislation.

Article 16

Paragraph 1

The victim of an occupational disease is entitled to benefits granted under the legislation of the contracting State in whose territory the said victim last carried out an activity likely to cause the occupational disease in question.

Paragraph 2

If the legislation of one of the contracting States makes entitlement to occupational disease benefits conditional upon the disease in question having been medically diagnosed for the first time in its territory, this condition is deemed to have been fulfilled when the said disease was diagnosed for the first time in the territory of the other contracting State.

Paragraph 3

If the legislation of one of the contracting States makes the receipt of benefits in respect of an occupational disease subject to the condition that the disease in question should have been diagnosed within a specified period after the cessation of the last activity likely to cause such disease, the competent institution of that State shall take account, to the extent necessary, of activities of the same nature pursued in the territory of the other contracting State, as if they had been pursued in the territory of the first State.

Paragraph 4

If the legislation of one of the contracting States makes the receipt of benefits for an occupational disease conditional upon an activity likely to cause such a disease having been carried out for a specified period, the competent institution of that State shall take into consideration, to the extent necessary, periods during which an activity of the same nature has been carried out in the territory of the other contracting State.

Paragraph 5

The provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 of this article apply only if the victim is suffering from sclerogenic pneumoconiosis.
An administrative arrangement shall regulate the manner in which the cost of benefits shall be shared between the Contracting States in the cases referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 of this Article.

Article 17

Where, in the event of aggravation of an occupational disease, the victim who has received or is receiving compensation for an occupational disease under the legislation of one of the Contracting States claims, for an occupational disease of the same nature, rights to benefits under the legislation of the other State, the following rules shall apply:
a) if the victim has not pursued in the territory of the latter State an activity likely to cause the occupational disease or to aggravate it, the competent institution of the former State remains obliged to pay benefits under its own legislation, taking into account the aggravation ;
b) if the victim carried out such an activity on the territory of the latter State,
the competent institution of the first State remains obliged to provide benefits under its own legislation, disregarding the aggravation; the competent institution of the other State grants the victim the supplement, the amount of which is determined in accordance with the legislation of that second State and which is equal to the difference between the amount of the benefit which would have been due after the aggravation and the amount which would have been due if the illness, before the aggravation, had occurred in its territory.

CHAPTER 4 - Family benefits

Article 18

Paragraph 1

The respective legislation of each of the two contracting States on family benefits will be applied to Israelis and French nationals residing in either State.

Paragraph 2

If national legislation makes entitlement to family benefits conditional on the completion of periods of work, professional activity or similar, account will be taken of periods completed in both States.

TITLE III - Miscellaneous provisions

Article 19

The competent authorities :
(1) make all administrative arrangements necessary for the application of the present Convention;
(2) communicate to each other all information concerning the measures taken for its application;
(3) communicate to each other, as soon as possible, all information concerning changes in their legislation likely to affect its application.

Article 20

Paragraph 1

For the application of the present Convention, the competent authorities and social security institutions of the two Contracting Parties shall lend each other their good offices as if it were a question of their own social security legislation.

Paragraph 2

In particular, the competent authorities will agree on the procedures for medical and administrative checks on beneficiaries of the present agreement.

Article 21

Paragraph 1

The benefit of exemptions from registration fees, court fees, stamp duties and consular taxes provided for by the legislation of one of the contracting States for documents to be produced to the administrations or social security bodies of that State, is extended to the corresponding documents to be produced for the application of the present convention to the administrations or social security bodies of the other State.

Paragraph 2

All deeds, documents and papers whatsoever to be produced for the execution of the present agreement are exempt from the legalization visa of the consular authorities.

Article 22

Appeals which should have been lodged within a specified period with an authority or body competent to receive appeals in social security matters in one of the contracting States shall be admissible if they are submitted within the same period to a corresponding authority or body in the other State. In this case, the latter authority or body shall transmit the appeals without delay to the competent authority or body.
If the authority or body to which the appeal has been lodged does not know the competent authority or body, transmission may be made through the authorities referred to in article 23 below.

Article 23

In each of the contracting States, the competent administrative authorities, within the meaning of this Convention, shall be the Ministries which are responsible, each insofar as it is concerned, for the application of the schemes listed in Article 2.

Article 24

Organizations liable to pay benefits under the present convention shall be validly discharged in the currency of their State.
In the event of provisions being adopted in either of the two contracting States with a view to subjecting foreign exchange trade to restrictions, measures shall be taken forthwith, by agreement between the two governments, to ensure, in accordance with the provisions of the present convention, the transfer of sums due on either side.

Article 25

There is no derogation from the rules laid down by the schemes referred to in Article 2 for the conditions of participation by insured persons in elections to which the operation of the social security system gives rise.

Article 26

The formalities which the legal or regulatory provisions of one of the contracting States may lay down for the provision, outside its territory, of benefits provided by the competent bodies of that country, shall also apply, under the same conditions as to nationals, to persons entitled to such benefits by virtue of the present convention.

Article 27

Paragraph 1

All difficulties relating to the application of the present agreement shall be settled by mutual agreement between the administrative authorities referred to in Article 23.

Paragraph 2

Should it not be possible to reach a solution by this means, the dispute shall be settled by an arbitration procedure organized by an arrangement to be made between the two governments.

Article 28

Paragraph 1

Benefits the payment of which had been suspended under the provisions in force in one of the contracting States by reason of the residence of the persons concerned abroad will be paid as from the date of entry into force of the present convention.
The benefits that could not be awarded to the persons concerned will be liquidated and paid from the same date.
This paragraph will only apply if requests are made within one year of the date of entry into force of this agreement.

Paragraph 2

The rights of French or Israeli nationals who have obtained, prior to the entry into force of the present agreement, the settlement of old-age insurance pensions or annuities may be reviewed at the request of the persons concerned.
The revision will have the effect of granting beneficiaries, as from the first day of the month following the coming into force of the present agreement, the same rights as if the agreement had been in force at the time of liquidation.
However, if the previously liquidated rights have been the subject of a lump-sum settlement, there is no need for a review.

Article 29

The present agreement shall be approved in accordance with the constitutional provisions laid down in each of the two States. It shall enter into force on the first day of the third month following the exchange of notifications that these provisions have been complied with on both sides.
The present agreement is concluded for a period of one year from the date of its entry into force. It will be tacitly renewed from year to year, unless terminated three months prior to expiry.
In the event of denunciation, the provisions of the present agreement will remain applicable to acquired rights, notwithstanding any restrictive provisions that the schemes concerned may lay down in the event of an insured person's stay abroad.

Done in duplicate at Paris on December 17, 1965 in the Hebrew and French languages, both texts being equally authentic.
For the Government of the State of Israel For the Government of the Republic of Israel
French
Walter Eytan Gilles de Chambrun