Act on Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Connection with Insurance, Pensions and Similar Financial Services

Act on Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Connection with Insurance, Pensions and Similar Financial Services 1)

Hereby is promulgated the Act on Equal Treatment of Men and Women in Connection with Insurance, Pensions and Similar Financial Services, cf. Act Consolidation No. 950 of 14 August 2015, with the amendments resulting from Section 18 of Act No. 706 of 8 June 2018 and Section 336 of Act No. 718 of 13 June 2023.

Chapter 1 Introductory Provisions

Section 1. The Act shall ensure equal treatment of men and women

1. in the economically active part of the population, including self-employed persons, employees who are temporarily without work due to illness, pregnancy and maternity leave, accident or involuntary unemployment, and persons seeking work, as well as retired and disabled employees and these employees' entitled dependents, in occupational social security schemes, and
2. in connection with insurance and similar financial services.

Subsection 2. Occupational social security schemes are understood as schemes intended to ensure that employees or self-employed persons collectively within a company or a group of companies within a trade sector or within a professional or cross-professional branch or organization receive benefits that are intended to supplement benefits from statutory social security schemes or replace them, regardless of whether membership of these schemes is mandatory or not.

Subsection 3. The insured are understood as those who have the right to benefits from the occupational social security schemes.

Subsection 4. Insurance and similar financial services are understood in this Act as such benefits that are not agreed in connection with employment and occupation.

Subsection 5. The Act does not prevent provisions on the protection of women in connection with pregnancy, maternity leave, childbirth and adoption.

Subsection 6. The Act does not prevent provisions on flexible pension age on the same terms for men and women.

Section 2. Sections 7, 8, 10, 11 and 14 do not apply to the extent that a corresponding duty of equal treatment follows from a collective agreement, cf. however Section 11, subsection 4.

Section 3. The provisions of the Act cannot be derogated from by agreement to the detriment of the insured or the insured.

Section 3a. Discrimination includes the following:

1. Harassment and sexual harassment, as well as less favorable treatment based on a person's rejection or acceptance of such behavior.
2. Instruction to discriminate against a person on the grounds of gender.
3. Any form of less favorable treatment of a woman in connection with pregnancy and during absence for 14 weeks of maternity leave after childbirth.

Subsection 2. Direct discrimination occurs when a person is treated less favorably than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on grounds of gender.

Subsection 3. Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral provision, criterion or practice would put persons of one sex at a particular disadvantage compared with persons of the other sex, unless that provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.

Subsection 4. Harassment occurs when unwanted behavior related to a person's gender occurs with the purpose or effect of violating that person's dignity and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.

Subsection 5. Sexual harassment occurs when unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical behavior of a sexual nature occurs with the purpose or effect of violating a person's dignity, in particular by creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.

Chapter 2 Scope of Application of the Act

Section 4. This Act, except Chapter 4a, applies to all occupational social security schemes concerning

1. accidents at work and occupational diseases,
2. sickness,
3. invalidity,
4. unemployment, or
5. old age.

Subsection 2. This Act, except Chapter 4a, also covers occupational social security schemes concerning other benefits in kind or cash, including benefits for survivors and family benefits.

Subsection 3. Chapter 4a applies in connection with insurance and similar financial services, cf. Section 1, subsection 4.

Section 5. This Act does not apply to

1. statutory security schemes,
2. regulations, statutes and rules for civil servants and municipal officials, according to which a legal status is provided for these corresponding to that applicable to state officials,
3. public law provisions on social protection, insofar as these are intended to supplement or replace the schemes mentioned in nos. 1 and 2,
4. individual agreements for self-employed persons,
5. schemes for self-employed persons in which only one person participates, or
6. pension agreements for employees in which the employer is not a party.

Subsection 2. The Act also does not apply to occupational social security schemes insofar as the benefits are financed by voluntary employee contributions.

Section 6. The Act applies to security schemes linked to an employment contract where the employee usually performs his work in Denmark, even if the employee is temporarily employed abroad.

Subsection 2. The Act also applies if the employee does not usually perform his work in a specific country and the employer has its domicile in Denmark.

Subsection 3. Subsections 1 and 2 apply mutatis mutandis to self-employed persons.

Chapter 3 Content of Equal Treatment

Section 7. In occupational social security schemes, there must be no discrimination on grounds of gender, either direct or indirect, especially as regards

1. the scope of application of the schemes,
2. the conditions for access to the schemes,
3. rights and obligations in the schemes, or
4. rights in connection with withdrawal from and after withdrawal from the schemes, cf. however Section 8, subsection 5.

Section 8. Occupational social security schemes must not contain provisions according to which discrimination takes place on the basis of gender with regard to the determination and calculation of contributions and benefits, cf. however subsections 2-5.

Subsection 2. For members admitted before 1 July 1999 to occupational social security schemes where benefits are calculated on the basis of predetermined contributions, benefits may be different for men and women, insofar as the calculation is based on actuarial factors that are different for the two sexes. Employers' contributions may be set differently for men and women in these schemes, provided that this results in an approximation of the benefit levels for men and women.

Subsection 3. For members admitted before 1 July 1999 to occupational social security schemes where contributions are calculated on the basis of predetermined benefits, employers' contributions may be different for men and women, insofar as the calculation is based on actuarial factors that are different for the two sexes.

Subsection 4. The calculations referred to in subsections 2 and 3 are made on the calculation bases that the relevant occupational social security scheme otherwise uses. In the schemes referred to in subsection 3, benefits paid instead of the originally agreed benefits may be different for the two sexes as a result of the use of these calculation bases.

Subsection 5. In the calculation of benefits in connection with withdrawal from and after withdrawal from occupational social security schemes for members admitted before 1 July 1999, subsections 2-4 apply mutatis mutandis.

Chapter 4 Sanctions, Assessment of Evidence and Enforcement

Section 9. Provisions in individual or collective contracts or agreements, the company's internal regulations and statutes for self-employed businesses and trades, as well as for employee and employer organizations or other schemes etc., which are in conflict with Sections 3, 7, 8, 10 and 11 are invalid. This also applies to decisions, coordinated behavior and practice in conflict with Sections 3, 7, 8, 10 and 11.

Subsection 2. If a person who considers himself/herself to be infringed, cf. Sections 7 and 8, establishes factual circumstances that give rise to a presumption that direct or indirect discrimination has been exercised, it is incumbent on the opposing party to prove that the principle of equal treatment has not been infringed.

Section 10. If provisions in an agreement etc. are declared invalid, cf. Section 9, they must be amended within 6 months so that they are not in conflict with Sections 3, 4, 6-8 or 11.

Section 11. Persons whose rights are infringed by violation of Sections 7, 8, 9 or 10 shall be awarded compensation.

Subsection 2. An employee, including an employee representative, who is dismissed or subjected to other unfavorable treatment or consequences because a claim for equal treatment has been made under Sections 7, 8, 9 or 10, shall be awarded compensation from the employer.

Subsection 3. Compensation under subsection 2 is determined with regard to the employee's period of employment and the circumstances of the case in general.

Subsection 4. Subsections 1-3 apply mutatis mutandis where the duty of equal treatment follows from a collective agreement, but where the agreement does not give the relevant party access to compensation for dismissal that is not reasonably justified by the employee's or the company's circumstances. The claim is processed through labor court procedures.

Section 12. (Repealed)

Section 13. Paid benefits cannot be sought to be repaid by virtue of this Act.

Section 14. A person covered by the Act who believes that equal treatment under the Act is not being observed may seek this established by the courts.

Section 15. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority oversees compliance with this Act. The rules on the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority and employees of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority in Sections 344-356 of the Act on Financial Business and Sections 174, 259-262, 267-271, 273-278 and 280-303 of the Act on Insurance Business apply mutatis mutandis.

Subsection 2. Trade unions and employers covered by the Act and companies under the supervision of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority must provide the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority with the information necessary for the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority's supervision under the Act.

Section 16. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority may set detailed rules on the provisions mentioned in Sections 8 and 15.

Section 17. Decisions made by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority in accordance with the Act or regulations issued pursuant to the Act may be brought before the Business Appeal Board no later than 4 weeks after the decision has been communicated to the relevant party.

Section 18. The Minister for Gender Equality may, on his/her own initiative or upon request, investigate matters concerning the Act.

Subsection 2. Trade unions and employers covered by the Act and companies under the supervision of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority must, upon request, provide the Minister for Gender Equality with any information that is of significance for the Minister for Gender Equality's activities under the Act.

Subsection 3. The information, cf. subsections 1 and 2, which the Minister for Gender Equality receives under the Act, is subject to the duty of confidentiality in Section 354 of the Act on Financial Business and Sections 285 and 288-290 of the Act on Insurance Business.

Section 18a. Public authorities must, within their area of responsibility, work for equality and incorporate equality into all planning and administration in the areas covered by this Act.

Chapter 4a Insurance and Similar Financial Services

Section 18b. The use of gender as a factor in the calculation of premiums and benefits in connection with insurance and similar financial services in all new contractual relationships entered into after 21 December 2012 must not lead to differences in individual premiums and benefits.

Chapter 4b Communication

Section 18c. The Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs may set rules that written communication to and from the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority regarding matters covered by this Act or regulations issued pursuant to this Act must be conducted digitally.

Subsection 2. The Minister for Industry, Business and Financial Affairs may set detailed rules on digital communication, including the use of specific IT systems, special digital formats and digital signatures etc.

Section 18d. A digital message is deemed to have been received when it is available to the addressee of the message.

Chapter 5 Criminal Provisions

Section 19. Violation of Section 3, Section 7, Section 8, Section 15, subsection 2, Section 18, subsection 2, and Section 18b may be punished by a fine if the violation is committed intentionally or through gross negligence.

Subsection 2. In regulations issued by the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority pursuant to the Act, a fine may be imposed if the violation is committed intentionally or through gross negligence.

Subsection 3. Companies etc. (legal persons) may be subject to criminal liability according to the rules in Chapter 5 of the Penal Code.

Chapter 6 Entry into Force and Transitional Provisions

Section 20. The Act enters into force on 1 March 1998.

Subsection 2. For employees, the Act has effect for all benefits that can be attributed to periods of employment after 17 May 1990. For self-employed persons, the Act has effect for all benefits that can be attributed to periods of employment after 1 March 1998.

Subsection 3. The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority may, upon application, allow that the provision in Section 8, subsection 1, only takes effect from a later date, but no later than 1 January 2002.

Subsection 4. Rights and obligations covered by the Act and concerning a period of membership of a scheme that precedes 17 May 1990 remain subject to the provisions of the scheme that were applicable for the relevant period.

Section 21. (Omitted)

Section 22. The Act does not apply to the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

Act No. 1231 of 18 December 2012 (Mandatory Digital Communication and Adjustments Due to Portfolio Transfer etc.) contains the following entry into force and transitional provisions:

Section 69 Subsection 1. The Act enters into force on 1 January 2013. Subsection 2. (Omitted)

Act No. 706 of 8 June 2018 (Strengthened Efforts Against Money Laundering etc. in the Financial Sector, Introduction of New Forms of Alternative Investment Funds, Amendment of the Prospectus Requirement Threshold etc.) 2) contains the following entry into force and transitional provisions:

Section 24 Subsection 1. The Act enters into force on 1 July 2018, cf. however subsections 2 and 3. Subsections 2-6. (Omitted)

Act No. 718 of 13 June 2023 (Act on Insurance Business) 3) contains the following entry into force provision:

Section 321. The Act enters into force on 1 January 2024. Section 322. (Omitted)

The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, 7 May 2025 Louise Mogensen / Karina Vilhof Ankergren

1. The Act contains provisions implementing Council Directive No. 86/378 of 24 July 1986 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes, Official Journal of the European Communities 1986, L 225, page 40, as amended by Council Directive No. 96/97 of 20 December 1996 amending Directive 86/378/EEC on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women in occupational social security schemes, Official Journal of the European Communities 1997, L 46, page 20, Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (recast), Official Journal of the European Union 2006, L 204, page 23, and parts of Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services, Official Journal of the European Union 2004, No. L 373, page 37.

2. The amendment concerns Section 18c, subsection 3, and Section 18d.

3. The amendment concerns Section 15, subsection 1, second sentence, and Section 18, subsection 3.