S.I. No. 552/2008 - Social Welfare (Agreement With the Republic of Korea on Social Security) Order 2008

1. This Agreement shall remain in force and effect until the expiration of one calendar year following the year in which written notice of its termination is given by one Contracting Party to the other Contracting Party.

2. If this Agreement is terminated, rights regarding entitlement to or payment of benefits acquired under it shall be retained. The Contracting Parties shall make arrangements dealing with rights in the process of being acquired.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.

Done in duplicate at Dublin this 31st day of October 2007, in the English and Korean languages, each text being equally authentic.

Martin Cullen

Taeyong Cho

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND

FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Social and Family Affairs

16 December 2008

MARY HANAFIN.

Minister for Social and Family Affairs.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

This Order gives effect to the bilateral Agreement on Social Security made between Ireland and the Republic of Korea which comes into effect from 1 January 2009. The Order provides that the Social Welfare Acts and relevant Regulations will be modified to take account of the provisions of the Agreement.

The Agreement provides that periods of insurance in Ireland and in the Republic of Korea may be taken into account, where necessary, by either State in order to qualify for certain benefits and pensions.

In the case of Ireland the Agreement covers State pension (contributory), State pension (transition), widow’s and widower’s (contributory) pension, guardian’s payment (contributory), invalidity pension and bereavement grant.

The Agreement also contains provisions which allow workers in one State, who are sent temporarily by an employer to work in the territory of the other State, to remain attached to the social security system of the first State for a period up to 5 years.

3. Determinations concerning entitlement to benefits which were made before the entry into force of this Agreement shall not affect rights arising under it.

4. Benefits determined before the entry into force of this Agreement may be newly determined upon application if a change results solely from the provisions of this Agreement. If the new determination under the preceding sentence of this paragraph results in no entitlement or in an entitlement to a lesser amount of benefits than that paid for the last period prior to the entry into force of this Agreement, the same amount of benefits as previously paid shall continue to be paid.

5. In applying Article 7 in case of persons who were sent to a Contracting Party prior to the date of entry into force of this Agreement, the periods of employment referred to in that Article shall be considered to begin on that date.

Article 21

Entry into Force

This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the third monthfollowing the month in which each Contracting Party shall have received from the other Contracting Party written notification that it has fulfilled all requirements for the entry into force of this Agreement.

Article 22

Period of Duration and Termination

6. A period of continuous incapacity for work in accordance with thelegislation of Ireland which occurs while the person is resident in Korea shall be deemed to be a continuous period of incapacity for work under the legislation of Ireland for the purpose of determining if a person is permanently incapable of work.

7. In the case of persons who are or have been subject to the legislation of Ireland, the Agency of Ireland shall take into account any periods of coverage of less than 12 months in total completed by such persons under the legislation of Korea—

(

a

) for the purposes of applying paragraph 2 of this Article, excepting sub-paragraph (

b

), or,

(

b

) for the purposes of applying paragraph 3 of this Article, notwithstanding the condition for totalisation in paragraph 1 ofcompletion of at least 52 contribution weeks of coverage under the legislation of Ireland,

provided no right to benefit is acquired taking into account these periods by virtue of the provisions of the legislation of Korea.

PART IV

MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

Article 12

Administrative Arrangement

S.I. No. 552 of 2008

SOCIAL WELFARE (AGREEMENT WITH THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA ON SOCIAL SECURITY) ORDER 2008

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

26

th December

, 2008.

WHEREAS

the arrangements in respect of matters relating to social security set out in the Agreement in the Schedule to this Order (hereinafter called “the Agreement”) were made by the Government of Ireland with the Government of the Republic of Korea;

AND WHEREAS

it is provided in Article 21 that the Agreement will come into force on the first day of the third month following the month in which each Contracting Party shall have received from the other Contracting Party written notification that it has fulfilled all requirements for the entry into force of this Agreement;

AND WHEREAS

the aforesaid notifications were exchanged in Dublin and Seoul on the 7th and 23rd days of October, 2008 respectively,

NOW THEREFORE

the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, in exercise of the powers conferred on her by Sections 4 and 287 of the

Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005

(No. 26 of 2005), hereby makes the following Order—