Established by the Social Security Financing Act for 1999, the FRR originally emerged as a separate accounting section within the French Old Age Solidarity Fund (Fonds de Solidarité Vieillesse – FSV).

With the Act of July 17^th, 2001, the FRR became a stand-alone unit. This particular reform was necessary in light of the FRR’s stated purpose and the sizeable funds that were entrusted to its management. In a decree issued on December 19^th, 2001, the FRR acquired its official name (Fonds de réserve pour les retraites) and its status as a publicly-owned, state-funded administrative agency operating under the dual auspices of the French Minister in charge of Social Security and the French Minister in charge of the Economy and Budget.

The Fund was set up to manage the sums that are allocated to it, setting them aside in a trust until 2020, after which they will be used to contribute to the long-term survival of mandatory old age insurance plans (the general plan, CNAVTS) and the RSI (Régime social des indépendants - benefits for self-employed workers).

The FRR had assets totaling 33.4 billion euros on December 31^th, 2009. By virtue of the aforementioned Act of 2001, it receives a number of different allocations, which may be divided into four broad categories:

• A portion of the 2 percent social tax on income from estates and investments
• Surplus sums from the French National Old Age Funds (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse – CNAV and Fonds de Solidarité Vieillesse – FSV))
• Proceeds from the sale of certain state-owned assets (through privatization, the sale of Caisse d’épargne units, the sale of UMTS licenses, etc.)
• Miscellaneous endowments and allocations.

2009 Financing

The resources allocated by virtue of the Act of July 19^th, 2001 totaled 1.461 billion euros in 2009, bringing total endowments received by the FRR since inception to 26 billion euros. This total comprises the bulk of equity, which amounted to 29.9 billion euros on December 31^th, 2009.

The 3.06 billion euros payment made to the FRR by the CNIEG (Caisse Nationale des Industries Electriques et Gazières) was 3.336 billion euros at December 31^th, 2009. This one-off contribution is intended to be handed over to the CNAVTS (Caisse Nationale d’Assurance Vieillesse des Travailleurs Salariés) starting in 2020.