Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2016:156
Date: 2016-03-17
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Appeals Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases;Appeal - successful

Summary 1. Officials — Remuneration — Financial rules applicable to officials posted to a third country — Allowance for living conditions — Conditions for granting — Obligation for the institutions to adopt general implementing provisions — Infringement — Whether infringement may be relied on by an official challenging the legality of a decision on granting the allowance (Staff Regulations, Art. 110 and Annex X, Arts 1, third para., and 10(1)) 2. Officials — Staff Regulations — General implementing provisions — Procedure for adopting — Obligation on the administration to consult the Staff Committee — No staff committee within the European External Action Service — Possibility of consulting the Staff Committee of the Commission (Staff Regulations, Art. 99) 3. Officials — Remuneration — Financial rules applicable to officials posted to a third country — Allowance for living conditions — Conditions for granting — Obligation for the institutions to adopt general implementing provisions — Institution still in a period of adjustment — No effect (Staff Regulations, Art. 110 and Annex X, Arts 1, third para., and 10(1)) 1. The obligation arising from the third paragraph of Article 1 of Annex X to the Staff Regulations to adopt general implementing provisions for the second sub-paragraph of Article 10(1) of that Annex before adopting a decision establishing a list of third countries in which living conditions can be deemed equivalent to those normally obtaining in the Union is explained by the fact that the latter provision confers on the appointing authority a particularly broad discretion when it comes to determining those third countries. In laying down that obligation, therefore, the legislature intended, first, that the criteria to be used for determining the third countries should be established according to the procedure for adopting general implementing provisions described in Article 110(1) of the Staff Regulations, a procedure which allows the appointing authority to seek clarification about the relevant parameters by consulting its Staff Committee and seeking the opinion of the Staff Regulations Committee. Secondly, the legislature intended the criteria to be established in the abstract, independently of any procedure designed to determine, in a specific case, whether the living conditions in a third country were equivalent to those in the EU, in order to avoid the risk that the criteria chosen might be influenced by the outcome which the administration hoped to obtain. That being so, the third paragraph of Article 1 of Annex X to the Staff Regulations cannot be regarded as merely laying down a formal requirement to be met by a decision establishing a list of third countries in which living conditions can be deemed equivalent to those normally obtaining in the EU. Instead, it provides that the prior adoption of general implementing conditions in accordance with the procedure described in Article 110(1) of the Staff Regulations is a mandatory requirement which must be fulfilled in order for that decision to be legally adopted. Consequently, the fact that a decision establishing a list of third countries in which living conditions can be deemed equivalent to those normally obtaining in the EU has the effect of withdrawing the allowance for living conditions from the appellant is adequate justification for the appellant’s interest in raising a plea of infringement of the obligation to adopt general implementing provisions, as a legal requirement to which the adoption of that decision was subject. (see paras 25, 26, 32-34) 2. See the text of the decision. (see para. 38) 3. See the text of the decision. (see para. 45)