General information

The Agreement applies to the following benefits:

Relating to Spain:

To the following contributory benefits of the Spanish Social Security System, except for the special schemes for civil servants and the military:

• Benefits for temporary disability in the event of common diseases and non-work-related injuries.
• Maternity benefits and benefits for risk during pregnancy .
• Benefits for permanent disability, retirement and survival.
• Benefits for work-related injury and occupational disease.
• Death grant.

In relation to Ecuador:

To the following contributory benefits in the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute's Compulsory Insurance Scheme.

• Maternity benefit.
• Illness allowance.
• Disability, old age and death Insurance benefits (including widow's and orphan's survival pensions).
• Occupational risk insurance benefits.
• Funeral Grant.
  

Regarding these benefits, remember that:

• To get the contributory benefits provided for in the Agreement, completed periods of insurance in Spain and Ecuador can be added together.

• Contributory financial benefits can be collected, except for temporary disability benefits, irrespective of whether the interested party is residing or currently located in Spain or Ecuador.

• Each country will pay its own benefits directly to the beneficiary. However, if the amount corresponding to benefit payments of a similar nature is higher than that owed by the Social Security of the other country, it can be deducted from the initial payments of the pension granted.

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

Temporary disability, risk during pregnancy, and maternity

Economic benefits for these contingencies are granted by the country where the recipient is insured, taking into account, if necessary, any periods of insurance in the other country, if they do not overlap.

Permanent Disability, Retirement and Survival

Each country will examine the pension application separately, as follows:

• They will check whether the interested party is entitled to the benefit, taking into account only their own insurance periods, without adding those of the other country.

• Then the benefit will be calculated by adding together their own insurance periods and those accredited in the other country (theoretical pension). In this case, the benefit will not be for the whole amount but a proportion of the periods of insurance in the country granting the benefit and the sum of the periods in Spain and Ecuador (prorated pension).

There is an exception for cases where the total duration of the insurance periods accredited in one of the two countries is less than one year, and they alone do not entitle the worker to a pension in that country. The other country may accept them as its own if necessary, but without applying the "pro rata temporis" clause.

If the periods of accredited insurance in both of the countries come to less than one year, they will be added together by the country in which the interested party meets the requirements for being granted a pension. In the event that the worker is entitled to a benefit in both countries, this will only be granted by the country in which the worker has their most recent accredited periods of insurance. In none of these cases will the “pro rata temporis” clause be applicable.

• The benefits calculated as indicated in previous sections will be compared, and each country will recognise and pay the benefit which most favours the interested party.

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

• If the legislation of one of the countries  requires a maximum length of periods of insurance for a full benefit to be granted, when  adding them up, the competent Institution in that country will take into account only the contribution periods in the other country needed to give entitlement to that pension. 
• If, when adding up the periods, there are voluntary periods of insurance that overlap with obligatory insurance periods, both the theoretical pension and the amount of the financial benefit will be calculated without taking into account the voluntary periods of insurance.

However, the resulting amount will increase in proportion to the voluntary periods of insurance that were not calculated. This increase will be calculated according to the terms of the legislation of the country in which the voluntary periods of insurance were completed.

• The Institution calculating the pension will consider the worker to be subject to its legislation if they are insured in the other country, or receive a benefit in that country based on its own insurance periods. For the recognition of survivor's pensions, it will be considered whether the deceased was insured in or received a pension from the other country.
• If the recognition of entitlement requires some insurance periods to have been completed immediately before the causal event of the benefit, this requirement will also be considered to have been met if the interested party accredits them in the period immediately before the recognition of the benefit in the other country.
• If the legislation of one of the signatory countries contains clauses which reduce, suspend or eliminate the pension in the case of pensioners who work, these clauses will be applicable even if the work is performed in the other country.
• If it was necessary to add in periods of insurance in Ecuador to grant a Spanish pension, the pension will be calculated using the actual contribution bases of the insured person in Spain for the years immediately prior to the payment of the last contribution paid 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.
• Ecuadorian disability, old age and death benefits will be granted subject to the contributions actually received. The minimum pension will be proportional to the length of time that contributions were paid to the Ecuadorian Social Security Institute. Prorated pensions cannot exceed the maximum pension in force.
• For entitlement to the benefits of certain special regimes (for example, Seafarers or Coal Mining), only the periods in the other country spent in the same profession or job will be taken into account.
• In the case of a Spanish Social Security retirement pension that considers a total of insurance periods accredited in Ecuador, this total shall also be used to determine the age of entitlement to the pension.
  

Work-related Injury and Occupational Disease

The benefit will be determined by the country whose legislation the worker is subject to on the date when the accident occurred or the disease was contracted.