As an international organization, CERN has the obligation to provide social protection to its employees, pensioners, and their families. To ensure this protection, the organization established its own pension and health insurance scheme from its inception. Since the 1970s, member states have requested that CERN study the risks associated with possible dissolution of the organization and provide solutions to ensure the protection of social benefits. Several decisions have been made by the CERN Council to guarantee the continuation of social protection for those affected by the organization’s dissolution. Below are the main steps of this process.
In 1986, the CERN Council adopted a resolution by which the organization committed to “guarantee the payment of statutory benefits acquired by members and beneficiaries of the Pension Fund (…) until the extinction of the rights of the last beneficiary.” This principle has been included in the Pension Fund’s statutes since 1989.
In 1996, the Council adopted a second resolution making it possible to create a Swiss foundation to replace the Pension Fund in the event of the organization’s dissolution. This foundation aims to perpetuate and secure the fund’s capital.
Following this resolution, a working group of the Permanent Consultation Committee (PCC), commonly called the “Pension Guarantee Working Group,” was created in 1997 to study the following issues and develop the foundation’s regulations (defining the rights of its members and beneficiaries):
- The withdrawal of one or more member states during the organization’s existence and its consequences for the Pension Fund;
- Maintaining the level of benefits to be paid by the foundation after the organization’s dissolution and preserving the purchasing power of beneficiaries;
- Ensuring that, in the event of dissolution, the organization will settle its debts with the Pension Fund;
- Health insurance for the foundation’s beneficiaries.
The “Pension Guarantee Working Group,” chaired by a member of the legal service, is still active. The staff association, the Pension Fund, the CHIS, the HR department, and the GAC-EPA-EPA are represented.
Questions 1 to 4 have been successfully addressed with mechanisms providing good guarantees, including the latest decision made in December 2022 by the Council:
“CERN guarantees benefits acquired under the Regulations by members of the Scheme until the extinction of the last Member’s rights. In the event of CERN’s dissolution, the Council will take the necessary measures to guarantee the rights acquired on the day of the dissolution.”
The working group’s efforts (which should now be called the “Social Protection Guarantee Working Group”) are far from over. The focus is now on ensuring that the Swiss foundation intended to replace the Pension Fund in the event of CERN’s dissolution can effectively accomplish its missions and write its regulations (it is currently envisaged that the foundation, which will ensure the continuation of the Pension Fund’s activities, will also ensure the continuation of CHIS activities).
Updated on May 5, 2023.
