A Pan-European Pension Product: Revision of the PEPP Regulation to Incorporate Occupational Pension Provisions.
The blueprint argues for revising the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) Regulation to integrate occupational pension features from the IORP II Directive, creating a single, portable EU retirement product. It highlights that PEPP offers harmonization, portability, and consumer protection, but is currently limited to personal savings with no employer contribution mechanism. Conversely, IORP II supports occupational pensions but is fragmented by national rules, making cross-border plans rare and administratively complex. This dual limitation leaves mobile workers with fragmented entitlements and multinational employers with inefficiencies. The proposed “Occupational PEPP” would be a voluntary second regime, allowing employer and employee contributions, multiple tailored investment strategies, and alignment with national labour law while retaining EU-wide portability and regulatory consistency under EIOPA oversight.
By combining PEPP’s portability with IORP II’s social and governance features, the reform could boost pension coverage through tools like auto-enrolment, improve adequacy by reducing “small pots,” and facilitate consolidation. Employers—especially SMEs and multinationals—could streamline schemes, cut costs, and offer benefits across borders. Workers would maintain one continuous account through job or country changes, enhancing mobility and retirement security. The blueprint positions this as aligned with EU goals for the Capital Markets Union, free movement of labour, and investment in long-term projects, with strong precedent from EIOPA papers, stakeholder advocacy, and political proposals like the “European 401(k)” concept.
You can download the full paper here.