General Information:

The Agreement applies:

Relating to Spain:

To the following benefits of the Contributory Social Security System and the State Passive Classes Scheme:

• Pension or retirement benefits.
• Permanent disability or unfit for work benefits not arising from a work-related injury or occupational disease.
• Death and survival benefits not arising from a work-related injury or occupational disease.

In relation to Japan:

• State pension (except the State Pension Fund).
• Wage-Earners' Pension Insurance (except the Wage-Earners' Pension Fund).
• Pension of the Mutual Society for National Civil Servants.
• Pension of the Mutual Society for Local Civil Servants and Personnel of a Similar Status (except the pensions system for elected members of local corporations).
• Pension of the Mutual Society for Personnel of Private Professional Associations

Regarding these benefits, remember that:

To get the contributory benefits provided for in the Agreement, completed periods of insurance in Spain and Japan can be added together, as long as they do not overlap.

Contributory financial benefits can be collected irrespective of whether the interested party is residing or currently located in Spain or Japan. There is an exception in Japanese legislation for gaining entitlement to the Basic Disability Pension or the Basic Survival Pension which requires, if the interested party is aged over 60 and under 65, habitual residence in Japan on the date of their first medical examination or death.

Each country pays its own benefits directly to the beneficiary.

Those who meet the requirements of the legislations of both countries for entitlement to a contributory pension may receive it from either country.

Retirement, Permanent Disability, and Death and Survival Benefits from Spanish Social Security.

The Spanish Institution will examine the application for benefits in the following way:

• It will check that the interested party is entitled to the pension, taking into account only periods of insurance in Spain.
• It will calculate the benefit by adding periods of insurance completed in Spain to the periods certified in Japan, as long as they do not overlap (theoretical pension). In this case, the benefit will not be for the full amount. Instead, it will be calculated based on the proportion of periods of insurance completed in Spain to the total amount of the Spanish and Japanese periods (prorated pension).
• There is an exception for the cases in which the total duration of the periods of insurance certified in Spain is less than one year. In these cases the competent Spanish Institution will not grant any benefits.
• The benefits calculated as specified in the previous paragraphs will be compared and the competent Spanish Institution will grant and pay the benefit that is most favourable to the interested party.

The recognition and calculation of the pension will take into account:

• The competent Spanish institution will consider the worker to be subject to its legislation at the time of the causal event, if at that time they are insured in Japan or receiving a Japanese pension based on its own periods of insurance. The same criterion will apply to the granting of survival pensions, with regard to having insured status or being a beneficiary of the deceased.
• If, for a benefit to be granted, it is a requirement that some periods of insurance have been completed immediately prior to the causal event of said benefit, this requirement will be considered to have been met if the interested party can prove that they took place in the period immediately prior to the granting of the benefit by Japan.
• The pension reduction, suspension or cancellation clauses provided for in Spanish legislation for pensioners who work will be applicable even if the work is carried out in Japan.
• If, for a Spanish pension to be granted, it is necessary to add in Japanese periods of insurance, the pension will be calculated using the actual contribution bases of the insured person for the years immediately prior to the payment of the last contribution to Spanish Social Security. The amount obtained will be increased annually according to the established revaluations until the date of the causal event for benefits of the same kind.
• To receive benefits in certain special schemes (for example, Seafarers and Coal Mining) only the Japanese periods of insurance that were spent in the same occupation or employment will be taken into account.
• In the case of a Spanish Social Security retirement pension that considers a total of insurance periods accredited in Japan, this total shall also be used to determine the age of entitlement to the pension.

Japanese Pension System Benefits.

• It provides for adding Spanish periods of insurance if a person does not have sufficient periods of insurance to gain entitlement to Japanese benefits and as long said benefits do not overlap.
• It excludes the possibility of adding together supplementary pensions for certain occupations in accordance with the pension systems of mutual societies, as well as a lump sum payment of an amount equal to the full reimbursement of contributions.
• When, in order to gain entitlement to disability or survival benefits (with the exception of the lump sum payment of an amount equal to the full reimbursement of contributions) Japanese legislation requires that the date of the first medical examination or the date of death occurs during a specific insurance period, this requirement shall be considered to have been fulfilled if said date occurs during the periods of insurance covered under Spanish legislation.
• Nevertheless, if the interested party can prove that they have periods of insurance in two or more Japanese systems for wage-earners, the requirement will be considered to have been fulfilled in one of these pension systems in accordance with Japanese legislation.