The French transport code (article R6527-28) sets forth a comprehensive list of periods that can be credited to your CRPN pension account.

Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

What you stand to gain depends on how the periods are credited.

Periods can be credited to your account in three different ways:

• Periods credited free of charge lengthen your career and reduce or even cancel out any rate reduction that may apply to your pension entitlements. However, they have no effect on how your pension entitlements are calculated and there is no reason to apply for free credits if you already qualify for a pension with no rate reduction.
• Periods credited through the payment of contributions raise the amount of your pension entitlements.
• Periods credited through buyback lengthen your career, which is also true for free credits, but carrying out a buyback will also raise the amount of your pension entitlements.

When certain requirements are met, periods of military service and periods in combat can also be credited to your account free of charge.

Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

The following periods can be credited free of charge :

1. Periods of maternity leave and periods of temporary unpaid pregnancy-related medical leave, et, à compter du 16 décembre 2021, le congé d’adoption,
2. Periods of paternity leave,
3. Unpaid periods off work as part of an alternating work pattern,
4. Periods off work when parental leave is taken as part of an alternating work pattern,
5. Periods of partial employment 2020,
6. From 16 December 2021: reclassification leave or mobility leave

Only périods 1 through 4 are also eligible for buyback.

In order for periods 3 and 4 to be credited to your account, they must not have generated CRPN benefits, nor may contributions have been paid for these periods under another scheme.

For periods from 2020, validation is done by direct declaration by employers to the CRPN.

When certain requirements are met, periods of military service and periods in combat can also be credited to your account free of charge.

Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

• Periods of prescribed temporary medical leave from 01/01/2012 during which you were paid all or part of your salary (article L6526-1 and 2 of the French Transport Code),
• Periods of prescribed temporary medical leave from 01/01/2012 with compensation from a compulsory providence scheme (e.g. SIACI), or those prior to 2012 if no employer’s contributions were paid to CRPN.

Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

• Military service beyond the statutory period
• Periods with a suspended contract, listed by decree*: parental leave, training, etc.
• Acquisition of a qualification (subsequent to first membership)
• Quarters in education eligible for buyback under the general scheme
• Pre-retirement with FNE payments
• Unemployment with benefits following termination of an air crew employment contract

* Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

To have periods credited free of charge:

For periods off work prior to 2020, you will need to submit the required documentation according to the same rules as for buybacks and contribution payments (please see below : How do I get these periods credited to my account?).

Periods off work from 2020 are credited free of charge based on employer reports. You have no application or documentation to submit, unless you are applying for early crediting in connection with a claim for entitlements.

For contribution payments:

The member must pay contributions, which are calculated without any weighting factor, within the calendar year following the period being applied for.

To buy back periods:

Buybacks of periods listed under article R6527-28 of French transport code must be carried out:

For quarters in education:

Buyback can occur at any age prior to the member’s 60th birthday and prior to claiming all pension entitlements.

For all other periods eligible for buyback:

• • Either during the member’s career, before their 50^th birthday:

Payment for a buyback simulation drawn up during the year of the member’s 50^th birthday must reach CRPN by the day before their 50^th birthday.

• • Or during the period preceding submission of a claim for all entitlements. In this case, buyback must be carried out no more than 6 months prior to the effective date for the member’s claim of all entitlements:

The buyback payment must be submitted prior to the claim, meaning before the member’s claim reaches the pension board for approval. In the special case where a claim for all entitlements follows a previous partial claim of entitlements through the alternating work-retirement program, CRPN must have received the buyback payment by the day before the effective date of the claim for the remainder of the member’s entitlements, which had not been claimed through the alternating work-retirement program.

• • Or during the period preceding submission of a claim in the special case where entitlements were claimed prior to the member’s 50^th birthday on the basis of permanent unfitness for work:

In this case, the payment deadline is the same as in the point above.

The buyback calculation rules have been set by the board of directors*. These rules take account of the member’s circumstances, age, and type of period being bought back. The tables of weighting factors and percentages which apply to each case in order to ensure that buybacks are actuarially neutral appear in these decisions.

* Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

By submitting an application through your personal account, in the “Online requests – Crediting periods not worked to your account”, and attaching the required documentation.

Or

By sending us a request for a contribution payment simulation (for any applicable periods 3 and 4 of article R6527-28 of french transport code of the previous fiscal year) or for a buyback simulation, along with the required documents, or by submitting the documentation that is required to have periods to be credited to your account free of charge:

• Buyback or free credit simulation form
• Form with a signed statement to have periods on an alternating basis credited to your account
• Form with a signed statement to have military service credited to your account

CRPN must have received any request for a contribution payment simulation or a buyback simulation before November 30. Otherwise, we cannot guarantee that your request will be granted for the current fiscal year.

The amount of your contribution payment or buyback must be paid by:

• Check from your personal account made out to CRPN,
• Transfer: bank details provided on request.

All contribution and buyback payments are final.

Please refer to our informational guide entitled Buybacks, contribution payments, and free credits.

CRPN’s rules have been updated to incorporate partial employment.

With regard to 2020, any periods of partial employment on which no contributions were paid are credited to members’ accounts free of charge when reported directly by employers to CRPN.

As of 2021, periods of partial unemployment remain contribution-exempt but are treated as contributory periods. As such, they are credited to members’ accounts on the basis of contributions without actually being assessed for contributions (Decree no. 2021-570 of 10 May 2021).

You can read the news of 7 June 2021 here.