Judgment;Information — ECLI:EU:T:2025:137
Date: 2025-02-05
Language of the case: French

Judgment of the General Court (Ninth Chamber) of 5 February 2025 – UG v ERCEA (Case T‑45/23) ( Civil service – Contract staff – Reports – Appraisal reports – 2021 appraisal period – Rule of correspondence – Duty to have regard for the welfare of staff – Manifest error of assessment – Proportionality ) 1. Judicial proceedings – Application initiating proceedings – Formal requirements – Actions brought by officials – Failure to produce the complaint – Rectification – Admissibility (Art. 270 TFEU; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 78(2) and (6); Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 90(2)) (see paragraphs 38-40) 2. Actions brought by officials – Prior administrative complaint – Correspondence between the complaint and the application – Same subject matter and legal basis – Submissions and arguments not made in the complaint but closely related to it – Admissibility – Change in the legal basis of a claim – Not sufficient to characterise it as having a new cause of action (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90 and 91(2)) (see paragraphs 46-50) 3. Officials – Reports procedure – Appraisal report – Nature and purpose – Obligation to state reasons – Scope – Obligation to substantiate, by means of factual elements, the comments included in the appraisal report –None (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 43) (see paragraphs 69-74, 158) 4. Officials – Reports procedure – Appraisal report – Discretion of assessors – Judicial review – Limits – Manifest error of assessment – Concept – Burden of proof (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 43) (see paragraphs 75-79, 105, 131-136, 172) 5. Officials – Reports procedure – Appraisal report – Assessment of efficiency of an official – Conditions rendering the performance of duties difficult taken into consideration – Limits – Failure to mention the existence of a pandemic – Breach of duty to have regard for the welfare of officials –None (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 43) (see paragraphs 89-92) 6. Officials – Reports procedure – Appraisal report – Assessment of conduct in the service – Mention of a one-off incident in order to warn the official assessed and to avoid reoccurrence – Whether permissible (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 43) (see paragraphs 103, 104) 7. Actions brought by officials – Prior administrative complaint – Complaint directed against an appraisal report – Review by the competent authority – Limits (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 43 and 90(2)) (see paragraph 172) Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders UG to pay the costs.