COMPARISONS : Legislation Tables : Social Security Laws and Measures to Support Self-Employed Artists - Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe

Social Security Laws and Measures to Support Self-Employed Artists

For more information see the individual country profiles:

Chapters 5.1.4 "Social Security Frameworks"

Country	Social Security Laws / Comprehensive Public Schemes	Tax Measures		Unemployment Assistance	Pension Supplements
Country	Social Security Laws / Comprehensive Public Schemes	Income Tax Deductions	Income Averaging	Unemployment Assistance	Pension Supplements
Albania	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	Yes
Armenia	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	Yes
Austria	Law on Social Security for Artists (2001)	Yes	Yes	Yes *	Yes
Azerbaijan	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	Yes	Yes
Belgium	July 2003 new measures to improve the social security system for artists were passed.	No	No	Yes	Yes
Bulgaria	Ordinance on Social Security of Persons who Practice a Liberal Profession and of the Bulgarian Citizens Working Abroad (2000)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Canada	Status of the Artist Act (1995)	Yes	No	No	Yes
Croatia	Rights of Self-Employed Artists and Promotion of Cultural and Artistic Work (1996, amended 2000)	Yes	No	No	Yes
Denmark	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Estonia	Act on Creative Artists and Creative Artists' Unions (2004)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Finland	Act on the Pensions of Artists and Some Particular Groups of Short -Time Workers (1985, basically not for self-employed artists, who are expected to start working as entrepreneurs and register for the respective pension scheme).	Yes	Yes	Yes**	Yes***
France	Social Security Scheme for Self-Employed Artists (1977)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Georgia	Law on Art Workers and Art Unions, Article 8, paragraph 2	No	No	No	Yes
Germany	Artists' Social Insurance Act (1981)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Greece	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	No	No	Yes
Holy See	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	Yes	Yes
Hungary	The EKHO law (Act CXX/1995).	Yes	No	No	Yes
Ireland	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	No	Yes	No
Italy	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Latvia	In 2004 a Law was adopted on "Long-service pensions for performing artists employed by state and local government professional orchestras, choirs, concert organizations, circuses and theatres".	Yes****	No	No	No
Liechtenstein	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Lithuania	The Law on the Status of Art Creators and their Organizations (2004)	No	No	No	Yes
FYR of Macedonia	Law on Culture (1998)	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Malta	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Moldova	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Monaco	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Netherlands	Artists Income Scheme Act (1998)	No	Yes	Yes	No
Norway	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	Yes	No
Poland	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	No	No	Yes
Portugal	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Romania	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Russia	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
San Marino	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	No
Serbia	Law on the Rights of Self-employed Artists (1993, amended 1998).	Yes	No	No	Yes
Slovakia	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes*****	Yes	No	No
Slovenia	There are some specific measures for self-employed artists.	Yes	No	No	Yes
Spain	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	Yes	No	No
Sweden	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Switzerland	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	Yes	No
Ukraine	No law for self-employed artists.	No	No	No	Yes
UK	No law for self-employed artists.	Yes	Yes	No	No

Source:      Council of Europe/ERICarts, Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, 12th edition, 2011.
*                Voluntary for freelance and self-employed persons in Austria; since 2008 the artists social insurance contains also health and accidents.
**               But self-employed artists or grant receivers have had problems in proving their unemployment status.
***              There is an extraordinary pension system for artists and journalists; the pension is given selectively and must be applied.
****         The income tax excludes expenses that are connected with the creation and publication of art works if the author receives payment for his work.
*****           Flat expenses 40% of income (copyright royalties).

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