Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2003:149
Date: 2003-05-22
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Concepts: http://publications.europa.eu/resource/authority/fd_577/F-04.03.02
Procedure: Staff cases - unfounded

SUMMARY — CASE T-249/01 
Summary 
1. Officials - Competitions - Conditions for admission - Requirements stricter 
than those laid down in the Staff Regulations with regard to grading - Permissible 
(Staff Regulations, Art. 5(1)) 
2. Officials - Competitions - Competition on the basis of qualifications and tests 
- Requirement of university degrees or diplomas - Requirement of a degree giving 
access to a doctorate - Admissibility for a Category A competition - Assessment 
in the light of the legislation of the State where the degree was awarded -
Discrimination - None 
(Staff Regulations, Art. 27) 
1. The provisions of Article 5(1) of the Staff Regulations, which require Category 
A officials to have a university education, seek to provide a general definition of the 
minimum level required for' the officials in that category and do not prevent there 
being fixed in a competition notice conditions which are more rigorous than those 
which correspond to the minimum requirements set out therein. 
(see para. 20) 
See: T-21/97 Goycoolea v Commission [1998] ECR-SC I-A-215 and II-679, para. 64 
2. The fact that the qualifications submitted by candidates for a competition are 
evaluated according to the law of the Member State in which they pursued their 
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BOIXADER RIVAS v PARLIAMENT 
studies does not, in itself, entail any difference in treatment between candidates who 
are nationals of different Member States. 
Thus, where a notice of competition for a Category A post requires candidates, in 
order to be admitted to the competition, to have a university degree providing access 
to a doctorate, the exclusion of candidates holding a university degree awarded in 
a Member State which, although requiring three years of study, does not confer that 
entitlement, does not constitute discrimination with regard to those with degrees 
awarded in other Member States which, according to the law of those States, allow 
access to a doctorate even though they were obtained after the same number of 
years' study. 
Moreover, in the light of Article 27 of the Staff Regulations, which provides that 
the aim of all recruitment is to secure for the institution the services of officials of 
the highest standard of ability, the requirement of a degree providing access to a 
doctorate cannot be considered arbitrary. 
(see paras 31-36) 
See: T-16/90 Panagiotopoulou v Parliament [1992] ECR II-89, para 55; T-299/97 
Alonso Morales v Commission [1999] ECR-SC I-A-249 and II-1227 
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