The Reach of Free Movement: The Right to Export Sickness Benefits Within the European Union and the European Economic Area

The Norwegian social security scandal concerns the right to export sickness benefits pursuant to EU Regulation 883/2004 on the Coordination of Social Security Systems. The Regulation is binding in Norway due to its membership in the EEA Agreement. Nonetheless, the Regulation has been largely disregarded in that country, and thousands of social security claims have been rejected, as Norway’s Insurance Act requires continued presence in Norway to retain payable benefits. In this context, some hundred individuals have been sentenced to prison for welfare fraud because they stayed in another EU/EEA State and exported cash benefits in the absence of a prior authorization from Norwegian authorities. The judgment of the EFTA Court in Case E-8/20, Criminal proceedings against N, of 5 May 2021 clarifies that nationals of the EEA EFTA States benefit from a general and fundamental right to free movement that puts them on an equal footing with EU citizens. Further, it confirms that Regulation 883/2004 on the coordination of social security systems affords a right to export sickness benefits that is far more extensive than that of its predecessor, Regulation 1408/71.