Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2016:465
Date: 2016-09-13
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Appeals Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Appeal - unfounded;Staff cases;Action for damages

Judgment of the General Court (Appeal Chamber) of 13 September 2016 — Pohjanmäki v Council (Case T‑410/15 P) (Appeal — Civil service — Officials — Promotion — 2013 promotion year — Respective roles of the Appointing Authority and the Joint Consultative Committee — Absence of staff reports — Failure on the part of the members of the JCC to consult the staff reports — Compatibility of the functions of the rapporteur in the JCC with those of the former rapporteur — Equal treatment — Obligation to state reasons) 1. Officials — Promotion — Consideration of comparative merits — Administration’s discretion — Judicial review — Limits (Staff Regulations, Art. 45) (see paras 28, 60) 2. Officials — Promotion — Consideration of comparative merits — Administration’s discretion — Scope — Taking account of staff reports — Other factors that may be taken into consideration (Staff Regulations, Art. 45) (see paras 29-31) 3. Officials — Promotion — Consideration of comparative merits — Procedures — Taking account of staff reports — Previous examination by promotion consultative committees — Procedures — Examination of staff reports by a single member of a promotion consultative committee — Admissibility (Staff Regulations, Art. 45) (see para. 48) 4. Officials — Promotion — Criteria — Merits — Taking account of seniority in grade — Subsidiary matter — Taking account of consistency of merits over time — Scope (Staff Regulations, Art. 45) (see para. 61) 5. Appeal — Pleas in law — Mistaken assessment of the facts — Inadmissibility — Review by the General Court of the assessment of the evidence — Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted (Art. 257, third para., TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Annex I, Art. 11(1)) (see para. 69) 6. Officials — Promotion — Complaint by a candidate not promoted — Rejection decision — Obligation to state reasons — Scope — Inadequate statement of reasons — Regularisation during the proceedings — Conditions (Art. 296 TFEU; Staff Regulations, Arts 25, second para., 45 and 90(2)) (see paras 77-80) Re: APPEAL brought against the judgment of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal (First Chamber) of 18 May 2015, Pohjanmäki v Council (F‑44/14, EU:F:2015:46) seeking to have that judgment set aside. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the appeal; 2. Orders Ms Jaana Pohjanmäki to bear her own costs and to pay the costs incurred by the Council of the European Union in the appeal.