the Social Security Institute because he was fulfilling an instalment-based payment agreement and so he should be considered as having full compliance with his social security obligations. However, the Ombudsman found this complaint lacked grounds because in accordance with article 217 of the Social Security Contribution Regimes Code, self-employed workers must have all their contributions effectively paid three months before the fact that determines social benefits. This is because self-employed workers are treated as employers by the law and their social security contributions are reverse charged. In any event, article No. 219 of the Social Security Contribution Regime Code states that self-employed workers can reacquire their entitlement to social benefits if they pay their debt within the deadline established. The complainant was duly informed and the case was closed. • Case Q-3358/16 Entity addressed: Social Security Institute (Instituto da Segurança Social, IP) Date: 2016.07.04 Subject: Request for early retirement of pension entitlement. Rejection of the request The Ombudsman received a complaint concerning the rejection of a request for early retirement of age pension entitlement. After examining the complaint and all the documentation it was concluded that the complainant did not meet the requirements of the applicable law. According to article 28, No. 2 of Decree-Law No. 187/2007, of May 10 to access the early retirement pension, at the age of 55, the applicant must have completed 30 years with records of remunerations. At the age of 55, the claimant had only 28 years of remuneration records. The claimant informed that he had worked for 14 years in Angola, claiming that the remunerations registered in that period should be considered for purposes and access to the early pension. During that period the claimant did not pay any contributions to an officially recognized pension fund, which is why the working years in Angola could not be considered for access to the early pension. The Decree-Law No. 335/90, of 29 October, expressly defined the pension funds that were officially recognized in Angola by the time this country was still considered a part of Portuguese territory. 132 |