Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2000:214
Date: 2000-09-20
Based on: Merger Treaty (1965)
Subject matter: Staff regulations and employment conditions - EC
Concepts: Vacancy notice
Procedure: Staff cases - unfounded

SUMMARY - CASE T-220/99 
Summary 
Officials — Vacancy notice - Purpose — Consideration of comparative merits -
Discretion of the appointing authority — Limits — Compliance with the conditions 
set out in the vacancy notice — Judicial review — Scope 
(Staff Regulations, Art. 7) 
The exercise by the appointing authority of its discretion in making appointments 
presupposes a meticulous comparative examination of the application files and a 
careful regard for the requirements set out in the vacancy notice. The vacancy 
notice constitutes a legal framework which the appointing authority imposes on itself 
and which it must observe meticulously. 
For the purpose of verifying whether the appointing authority has remained within 
the bounds of that legal framework and has thus acted solely in the interests of the 
service, the Court must first establish what were the conditions required under the 
vacancy notice and then verify whether the candidate chosen by the appointing 
authority to fill the vacant post indeed satisfied those conditions. Such a review 
does not mean that the Court is substituting its own assessment of the candidates' 
merits for that of the appointing authority; it is limited to the question whether, 
regard being had to the considerations which may have influenced the administration 
in making its assessment, the latter remained within reasonable bounds and did not 
use its power in a manifestly incorrect manner. 
(see paras 31 and 32) 
I-A - 188 
BEHMER v PARLIAMENT 
See: 233/85 Bonino v Commission [1987] ECR 739, para. 5; T-169/89 Frederiksen v 
Parliament [1991] ECR II-1403, para. 69; C-35/92 P Parliament v Frederiksen [1993] 
ECR I-991, paras 15 and 16; T-82/91 Latham v Commission [1994] ECR-SC I-A-15 and 
II-61, para. 62; T-21/96 Giannini v Commission [1997] ECR-SC I-A-69 and II-211, para. 
19 
I-A - 189