Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2003:305
Date: 2003-11-18
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Concepts: Refund of expenses
Procedure: Staff cases - successful

SUMMARY - CASE T-13/02 
Held: The decision of the Parliament of 17 April 2001 refusing 
to grant the applicant an installation allowance is annulled. 
The Parliament is ordered to pay the applicant the 
installation allowance provided for by Article 5 of 
Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, amounting to two 
months' basic salary, together with default interest from 
24 January 2002. The interest rate to be applied shall be 
two points higher than the rate fixed by the European 
Central Bank for principal refinancing operations 
applicable during the period concerned. The Parliament is 
ordered to bear all the costs. 
Summary 
Officials - Reimbursement of expenses - Installation allowance - Change in place 
of employment - Family having established its residence at the new place of 
employment by reason of the change, but prior to it - No effect 
(Staff Regulations, Art. 20; Annex VII, Art. 5(2) and (4)) 
Under the terms of Article 5(2) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations an installation 
allowance is payable where an official is transferred to a new place of employment 
and is thereby obliged to change his place of residence in order to comply with 
Article 20 of the Staff Regulations. That provision refers to the causal link that must 
exist between the official's change of post and his change of residence. However, 
it does not establish a predetermined time sequence for the respective dates of, first, 
the adoption or implementation of the decision to change the place of employment 
and, second, the actual change of residence. Thus, where it is as a result of the 
imminence of the official's posting to a new place of employment that his family 
takes up residence there, his family may physically move to the new residence 
before the formal decision on the posting is adopted, without having the effect of 
I-A - 288 
VON HOFF v PARLIAMENT 
depriving the official of the allowance in question pursuant to the rule, set out in 
Article 5(4), that the official is not entitled to the installation allowance if he is 
posted to the place where his family resides. 
(sec paras 34. 38. 46) 
I-A - 289