Order — ECLI:EU:F:2014:159
Date: 2014-06-12
Language of the case: French
Court formation: President of the Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases;Application for interim measures - unfounded

Summary Judicial proceedings — Costs — Withdrawal justified by the conduct of the opposite party (Staff Regulations, Art. 24; Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 103(5)) As provided for in Article 103(5) of the Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, a party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been applied for in the other party’s observations on the discontinuance. However, upon application by the party who discontinues or withdraws from proceedings, those costs are to be borne by the other party if this appears justified by the conduct of that party. That provision must be applied in the case of an action seeking the annulment of a decision to appoint an official as an initial assessor and the suspension of that official for alleged harassment where, after the action has been brought, the defendant institution has, essentially, acceded to the applicant’s requests, thus implicitly acknowledging, to some extent, the validity of some of those requests. Consequently, the institution must bear its own costs as well as paying the costs incurred by the applicant. Where it is because the institution has not taken specific, targeted measures to suspend the assessor and/or the reporting period that the applicant has had no choice but to bring an action in order to safeguard his rights and induce the appointing authority to act on his claims of psychological and sexual harassment which he allegedly suffered, it appears justified to order the institution to pay the costs, and that finding is not altered by the fact that the reporting period in question was resumed in compliance with the principle of impartiality and the audi alteram partem rule. (see paras 13, 17-19)