SOCIAL SECURITY (INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS) ACT 1999

SCHEDULE 2 - ITALY  

Note: See section 5.

PART A AGREEMENT ON SOCIAL SECURITY BETWEEN AUSTRALIA AND THE REPUBLIC OF ITALY  

PART II - PROVISIONS RELATING TO BENEFITS  

AUSTRALIAN BENEFITS  

ARTICLE 7   Totalisation of Periods of Residence and Periods of Contributions  

Totalisation for Australia

1.    
Where a person to whom this Agreement applies has accumulated:

(a) a period as an Australian resident that is less than the period required to qualify that person, on that ground, under the legislation of Australia for a benefit; and

(b) a period of Australian working life residence equal to or greater than the minimum period identified for that person in paragraph 4; and

(c) a period of credited contributions in Italy;

then that period of credited contributions shall be deemed, only for the purposes of meeting any minimum qualifying period for that benefit set out in the legislation of Australia, to be a period when that person was an Australian resident.

2.    
For the purposes of paragraph 1, where a person:

(a) has been an Australian resident for a continuous period which is less than the minimum period of continuous residence required by the legislation of Australia for entitlement of that person to a benefit; and

(b) has accumulated a period of credited contributions in Italy in 2 or more separate periods that equals or exceeds in total the period referred to in sub-paragraph (a);

the total of the periods of credited contributions shall be deemed to be one continuous period.

3.    
For the purposes of this Article, where a period as an Australian resident and a period of credited contributions coincide, the period of coincidence shall be taken into account once only by Australia as a period as an Australian resident.

4.    
The minimum period of Australian working life residence to be taken into account for the purposes of sub-paragraph 1(b) shall be as follows:

(a) for the purposes of an Australian benefit payable to a person outside Australia: the minimum period required shall be 12 months, of which at least 6 months must be continuous; and

(b) for the purposes of an Australian benefit payable to an Australian resident in Australia: no minimum period of Australian working life residence shall be required.

5.    
For the purposes of paragraphs 1 and 2 and for the purpose of a claim by a woman for a pension payable to a widow, that woman shall be deemed to have accumulated a period of credited contributions for any period her late husband accumulated a period of credited contributions, but any period during which the woman and her late husband both accumulated periods of credited contributions shall be taken into account once only.