From Dirección de Información y Defensa de los Afiliados a la Seguridad Social, Communications Department - INFORMATIVE NOTE (PDF 435kb)
Law 13-20 makes the DIDA an autonomous institution, with legal status, to promote, guide and defend the members of the Dominican Social Security System.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Executive Power of the Dominican Republic promulgated Law 13-20 which modifies Law 87-01 on Social Security with the objective of strengthening the role, management and functional capacity of the Directorate of Information and Defense of Affiliates (DIDA) and the Social Security Treasury (TSS).
The director of DIDA and Regional President for Latin America of the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW), Nélsida Marmolejos, considered that the new law gives both institutions more authority and conditions to exercise their functions.
In addition to strengthening the TSS and the DIDA, the new law modifies the surcharge for late payments of the Dominican Social Security System (DSSS) and the commission scheme applied by the Pension Fund Administrators (PFA).
From its beginning in 2001 until February 2020, the DIDA was defined as a technical dependency of the National Social Security Council (CNSS) with a defined budget and operational autonomy pursuant to Article 29 of Law 87-01 of May 9, 2001, which created the Dominican Social Security System (DSSS).
Marmolejos explained that Article 5 of said law modifies Article 29 of Law No.87-01, and defines DIDA as an autonomous and decentralized public entity, attached to the Ministry of Labor, with legal status, in charge of providing information and managing the claims and complaints of members.
She added that "Being an autonomous entity, having legal status and financing the operations of the institution with contributions from the System itself, strengthens the role for which it was created and allows the promotion, guidance and defense of social security affiliates to be exercised with efficiency and effectiveness".
Law 13-20 gives DIDA the responsibility of promoting the DSSS and informing members of their rights and duties, receiving claims and complaints, processing them and following up on them until their final resolution, advising, monitoring and promoting legal assistance to beneficiaries in their friendly dispute appeals, conducting studies on the quality and timeliness of the services provided by the Health Services, pensions and occupational hazards administrators, and measuring the quality and timeliness of the delivery of benefits and information to members.
