REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL

on the use made in 2010 by the institutions of Council Regulations No 300/76, last amended by Regulation No 1873/2006 (on shift work), No 495/77, last amended by Regulation No 1945/2006 (on standby duty), and No 858/2004 (on particularly arduous working conditions)

Introduction

The Council Regulations on standby duty (No 495/77) and on particularly arduous working conditions (No 858/2004) require the Commission to report regularly to the Council on the number of officials and other servants in each category receiving the allowances referred to in the respective Regulations and the total related expenditure.

This report is based on the latest full-year figures available at the time of its preparation and thus refers to 2010. It covers all the Institutions, and for the sake of completeness also contains the same type of information on the use of continuous work and shift work (Council Regulation No 300/76).

Shift work allowance

The legal bases for this allowance are Article 56a of the Staff Regulations and Council Regulation No 300/76 of 9 February 1976, as last amended by Council Regulation No 1873/2006 of 11 December 2006.

Payment of the allowance is limited to officials and other servants

paid from research appropriations and employed in:

- an establishment of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), or

- in indirect action, or

paid from operating appropriations and employed in:

- an information and communication technology (ICT) services department,

- a safety and security department,

- a telephone switchboard/information service or at a reception desk,

- a department providing support for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)/European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) or for emergency and crisis coordination arrangements, or

- employed to run or supervise technical installations.

Four different rates of the monthly allowance are provided for (2010 figures):

- rate 1: work involving two shifts, excluding weekends: EUR 382.17.

- rate 2: work involving two shifts, including nights and weekends: EUR 576.84.

- rate 3: 24 hours per day, excluding weekends: EUR 630.69.

- rate 4: 24 hours per day, 7 days a week: EUR 859.84.

The following figures indicate the number of allowances granted by each institution for 2010.

Number of beneficiaries per rate:

Institution | Rate 1 | Rate 2 | Rate 3 | Rate 4 | Total |

382.17 | 576.84 | 630.69 | 859.84 |

Commission | 20 | 29 | 8 | 57 | 114 |

- of which: JRC | 0 | 29 | 8 | 22 | 59 |

Council | 60 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 106 |

Parliament | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 |

Court of Justice |

Court of Auditors |

European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) |

Committee of the Regions (CoR) |

European Data Protection Supervisor |

Ombudsman |

Total | 103 | 29 | 8 | 103 | 243 |

Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff):

Institution | AD | AST | Contract staff | Total |

FG I | FG II | FG III | FG IV |

Commission | 10 | 86 | 14 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 114 |

- of which: JRC | 9 | 43 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 59 |

Council | 0 | 106 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 106 |

Parliament | 0 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 |

Court of Justice |

Court of Auditors |

EESC |

CoR |

EDPS: |

Ombudsman |

Total | 10 | 214 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 243 |

Number of beneficiaries per type of employment:

Commission | 214 | 125 | 34 | 373 |

- of which: JRC | 175 | 15 | 34 | 224 |

Council | 76 | 0 | 0 | 76 |

Parliament |

Court of Justice |

Court of Auditors | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |

EESC |

CoR |

EDPS: |

Ombudsman |

Total | 292 | 125 | 36 | 453 |

Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff):

Institution | AD | AST | Contract staff | Total |

FG I | FG II | FG III | FG IV |

- Number of beneficiaries per type of employment:

FG I | FG II | FG III | FG IV |

Commission | 31 | 174 | 8 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 232 |

- of which: JRC | 31 | 166 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 217 |

Council |

Parliament |

Court of Justice |

Court of Auditors |

EESC |

CoR |

EDPS: |

Ombudsman |

Total | 31 | 174 | 8 | 1 | 18 | 0 | 232 |

Services concerned and reasons

Parliament, the Council and the Commission have been using this type of special working conditions and paying the corresponding allowances for several years. According to information received this year, the Court of Auditors introduced a standby service in 2010. Until now, only the Commission has used the allowance for particularly arduous working conditions, at the JRC and the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB).

Reasons for shift work

Commission: Within the Commission, it is the JRC which has, for mainly technical reasons, the greatest need for this type of work organisation (59 out of a total of 114 persons listed in 2010).

In 2010, in the other DGs (operating budget), shift work was performed by 55 persons in the following types of services:

- Security and prevention: 26

- Technical installations: 13

- Information and communication technology (ICT): 9

- Telephone/reception: 7

All four rates (types of allowance) are applied in the Commission, predominantly rates 2 and 4, with the latter (continuous work) being used mainly in the security services.

Council: The number of shift work allowances in the Council stands at 106 for 2010. This allowance is used exclusively in the areas of security and prevention and CFSP/ESDP. Shift work consists of either a two-shift arrangement (rate 1) or a continuous 24-hour service (rate 4).

European Parliament: The European Parliament has been using the continuous service or shift work since 2008. Twenty-three allowances were granted for shift work at the Parliament for 2010. This allowance is used exclusively in the telephone service/reception domain. The shift work used is a two-shift system (rate 1).

Reasons for standby duty

Commission: In 2010, the Commission paid standby allowance to some 373 members of staff, approximately 60% (224) of whom were employed in one of the research centres.

The reasons for standby duty are, as in previous years, generally security- and safety-related, from the fire-fighting service, including radiation protection, to radiation monitoring, plus some technical services. In most cases at the JRC, standby duty is carried out at home, with the exception of Ispra and Karlsruhe, where duty is undertaken at the place of work or at home and at the place of work.

In the other Commission directorates-general, the standby services are mainly used for security and safety, technical installations and IT services, plus assistance for Member States. Compared with 2009 there has been a significant increase in standby services in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) and a fall in the field of security and at the JRC. Generally speaking, standby services as a whole have remained stable.

Council: The Council paid allowances for standby services to 76 members of its staff in 2010. These staff were assigned to the running and supervision of technical installations, security services and support for CFSP/ESDP. Standby duty was performed exclusively at home.

Court of Auditors: In 2010 the Court of Auditors set up a standby service for information and communication technologies (ICT).

Reasons for using the allowance for particularly arduous working conditions

Commission: The Commission is the only institution to have used this possibility in 2010. The Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) introduced this possibility in one of its services (reproduction service) in 2008; the Joint Research Centre was already using it.

With respect to the criteria for arduous working conditions, all three categories listed in the Regulation for which the allowance can be granted were applicable, i.e.:

(a) individual protection (e.g. the wearing of particularly uncomfortable protective clothing);

(b) the place of work (e.g. high noise levels, dangerous sites), and

(c) the nature of the work (e.g. handling of corrosive substances).

In 2010, the total number of hours worked under such conditions were broken down as follows:

63 129 hours relating to individual protection,

128 204 hours relating to the place of work, and

19 724 hours relating to the nature of the work.

Budget expenditure, per institution and per allowance (in EUR)

Institution | Shift work | Standby duty | Arduous working conditions | Total |

Commission | 738 206.78 | 1 727 377.36 | 586 841.02 | 3 052 425.16 |

- of which: JRC | 295 513.01 | 676 593.16 | 555 738.93 | 1 527 845.10 |

Council | 694 513.03 | 174 440.03 | 868 953.06 |

Parliament | 97 242.76 | 97 242.76 |

Court of Justice |

Court of Auditors | 497.75 |

EESC |

CoR |

EDPS: |

Ombudsman |

Total | 1 529 962.57 | 1 902 315.14 | 586 841.02 | 4 019 118.73 |

Total expenditure, that is the amount spent for all three allowances in all the European institutions, was just over €4 million in 2010.