Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2018:874
Date: 2018-12-04
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Procedure: Staff cases - unfounded

Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber, Extended Composition) of 4 December 2018 — Janoha and Others v Commission (Case T‑517/16) (Civil service — Members of the contract staff — Reform of the Staff Regulations of 1 January 2014 — Article 6 of Annex X to the Staff Regulations — New provisions relating to the days of leave granted applicable to officials posted in a third country — Objection of illegality — Second paragraph of Article 10 of the Staff Regulations — Articles 7 and 33 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights — Equal treatment — Acquired rights — Legitimate expectations — Legal certainty — Misuse of powers) 1. Actions brought by officials — Purpose — Statements of law — Inadmissibility (Arts 263 TFEU and 270 TFEU; Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 91) (see para. 26) 2. Actions brought by officials — Action against a decision rejecting a complaint — Admissibility — Obligation to rule on pleas directed against the decision rejecting the complaint — Pleas devoid of independent content or purely confirmatory decision — None (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90 and 91) (see paras 28-30) 3. Actions brought by officials — Acts adversely affecting an official — Definition — Decision implementing a legislative amendment concerning the reduction in annual leave of officials posted in third countries — Included (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90(2) and 91(1), and Annex X, Art. 6, as amended by Regulation No 1023/2013) (see paras 34-36) 4. Plea of illegality — Scope — Measures the illegality of which may be pleaded — General measure providing the basis of the contested decision — Need for a legal connection between the contested measure and the contested general measure (Art. 277 TFEU) (see paras 40, 41, 44-47) 5. Officials — Staff Regulations — Regulation amending the Staff Regulations — Procedure for adoption — Consultation of the Staff Regulations Committee — Reconsultation in the event of substantial modification of the initial proposal — Scope of the obligation (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 10, second para.) (see paras 52, 53, 55, 56) 6. Officials — Leave — Annual leave — Purpose — Officials posted in a third country — Right to respect for family life and to maintain personal links with the place of principal interests — No effect on the right to annual leave (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 7 and 33; Staff Regulations of Officials, Annex X, Art. 6, as amended by Regulation No 1023/2013) (see paras 72-75) 7. Officials — Equal treatment — Meaning — Rights to annual leave — Different treatment for different categories of persons employed by the European Union — Differences linked to their respective situations — Breach of the principle of equal treatment — None (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Arts 20 and 21; Staff Regulations of Officials, Annex V, Arts 4, first para., 7, second para. and Annex X, Arts 7, second para. and 8; Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union, Art. 120) (see paras 82, 88, 93) 8. Acts of the institutions — Temporal application — Immediate application of the new rule to the future effects of a situation which arose under the old rule — Adoption of Regulation No 1023/2013 amending the rights to annual leave of officials posted in a third country — Infringement of the principles of legal certainty and protection of legitimate expectations and acquired rights — None (Staff Regulations of Officials, Annex X, Art. 6, as amended by Regulation No 1023/2013) (see paras 99-104) 9. Actions brought by officials — Pleas in law — Misuse of powers –Meaning — Burden and administration of proof (see paras 110-112) Re: Application based on Article 270 TFEU and seeking annulment of the decisions reducing the number of the applicants’ days of annual leave as of 2014. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Mr Andrea Janoha and the other members of the contract staff of the European Commission whose names are set out in the annex, in addition to bearing their own costs, to pay those incurred by the Commission; 3. Declares that the Council of the European Union is to bear its own costs.