Order — ECLI:EU:F:2015:158
Date: 2015-12-17
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Second Chamber
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases - unfounded;Action for damages - unfounded

Summary 1. Judicial proceedings — Decision taken by way of reasoned order — Conditions — Appeal manifestly inadmissible or manifestly lacking any foundation in law — Scope (Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, Art. 81) 2. Actions brought by officials — Pleas in law — Lack of or inadequate statement of reasons — Separate plea from that concerning substantive legality (Staff Regulations, Art. 25, second para.) 3. Officials — Members of the contract staff — Member of the contract staff in function group I — Reclassification of the contract into a contract of a member of the temporary staff for an indefinite period at grade AST 3, AST 4 or AST 5 — Conditions (Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, Art. 2(a) and (b) and Art. 8, second para.) 4. Officials — Members of the contract staff — Member of the contract staff in function group I — Reclassification of the contract into a contract as a member of the contract staff for an indefinite period in function group II, III or IV — Not permissible (Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, Arts 3a, 3b, 80 and 88) 1. Under Article 81 of the Rules of Procedure of the Civil Service Tribunal, where an action is, in whole or in part, manifestly inadmissible or manifestly lacking any foundation in law, the Tribunal may give a decision by reasoned order without taking further steps in the proceedings. In particular, the dismissal of an action by reasoned order made on the basis of Article 81 of the Rules of Procedure not only benefits procedural economy, but also saves the parties the costs entailed by the holding of a hearing, if, upon reading the case-file, the Tribunal, provided that it considers itself to be sufficiently informed by the documents before it, is entirely convinced of the manifest inadmissibility of the application or that it is manifestly lacking any foundation in law and further considers that the holding of a hearing would be unlikely to provide new evidence capable of affecting that belief. (see paras 23, 24) See: Orders of 10 July 2014 in Mészáros v Commission, F‑22/13, EU:F:2014:189, paragraph 39, and 23 April 2015 in Bensai v Commission, F‑131/14, EU:F:2015:34, paragraph 28 2. The obligation to state reasons is an essential procedural requirement which is distinct from the question whether the reasons given are correct, which goes to the substantive legality of the contested measure. Claims and arguments intended to deny that a measure is well founded are thus of no effect in the context of a plea alleging the lack or inadequacy of a statement of reasons. (see para. 37) See: Order of 16 September 2013 in Bouillez v Council, T‑31/13 P, EU:T:2013:521, paragraph 20 3. Contracts of employment relating to the posts referred to in Article 2(a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants may, in accordance with the first paragraph of Article 8 of those conditions, be concluded for an indefinite period. That however is not true of contracts relating to the posts referred to in Article 2(b) of the conditions, as the second paragraph of Article 8 of the conditions requires the duration of such contracts to be limited. Furthermore, there is no reason why, in the light of the tasks carried out by a member of staff and the factual circumstances, the judicature should not legally classify as a contract of employment as temporary staff a contract, formally presented as a contract of employment as contract staff, under which the member of staff has actually taken on duties corresponding to a post included in the list of posts appended to the section of the budget relating to the institution which the budgetary authorities have defined as temporary. In this regard, it is for the member of staff concerned to prove, first, that posts corresponding to the duties which he has actually performed appeared, at the relevant time, in the list of posts appended to the section of the budget relating to the institution concerned and that such posts were available, and secondly, that the duties which he performed as a member of the contract staff corresponded to defined permanent public service duties. In the absence of any specific provision in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants as to the manner of proof, the member of staff concerned may rely on any conclusive evidence to demonstrate that he has performed defined permanent public service duties. (see paras 47-49) See: Judgment of 21 September 2011 in Adjemian and Others v Commission, T‑325/09 P, EU:T:2011:506, paragraphs 81, 87 and 88 4. It is apparent from the wording of Article 3a(1)(a) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants that institutions may only engage contract staff to carry out manual or administrative support service tasks, that is, tasks in function group I, according to Article 80 of the conditions. In other words, Article 3a(1)(a) of the conditions does not permit institutions to engage contract staff to carry out tasks in function groups II, III, or IV. The engagement of contract staff in function groups II, III and IV is governed by article 3b of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, which provides that institutions may engage contract staff for auxiliary tasks to perform duties other than those referred to in Article 3a(1)(a) of the Conditions. It is apparent when Articles 3b and 88 of those Conditions are read together that a contract as a member of the contract staff for auxiliary tasks under Article 3b is a renewable fixed-term contract, subject to the proviso that the engagement of a member of the contract staff for auxiliary tasks cannot have an actual duration greater than six years. Accordingly, even if a member of the contract staff in function group I has actually taken on tasks corresponding to duties in function group III, the institution cannot grant a request for reclassification of the contract of the person concerned into a contract as a member of the contract staff for an indefinite period in function group III without infringing Articles 3a, 3b and 88 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants. (see paras 60-63)