1.

On 29 January 1982 Mr Becker, a member of the temporary staff in Grade A 5 employed since 1981 in the Commission's Informatics Engineering Division, wrote to the Director-General for Administration, Mr Morel, asking him to reconsider his status with a view to his possible establishment as an official in career bracket A 5/A 4. He stated that although he had been informed by the Personnel Department that temporary staff of his level were normally established in Grade A 6, in his case studies in economics had been followed by lengthy experience in the computer field (1969-75), after which he had been employed until 1981 by the Commission as an assistant to Mr Borschette and Mr Vouel, Members of the Commission. When he left Mr Vouel's Cabinet he had been promised that he would shortly be established in Grade A 5. Mr Becker concluded his letter by writing: ‘in view of the foregoing ... and of the responsibilities that my present duties entail... I trust — even though in the last resort I would be prepared to accept the solution proposed ... — that you will be able to find a way of establishing me as an official in Grade A 5 under the existing rules.’ On 4 July 1983 Mr Becker applied to be admitted to competition COM/339/82 for a post of administrator in career bracket A 7/A 6 in the division in which he was already working. He appended to his application a memorandum stating: having for the time being no other choice ‘I would observe ... that my application by no means signifies that I have renounced my acquired rights’. The memorandum went on to say that the reply to his letter of 29 January 1982 stated that ‘henceforward, exceptions would be made to the principle of establishment in the starting grade only in the case of posts of head of a specialized department or similar posts.’ It continued: ‘However, I see that the administration has just published several notices of internal competitions on the basis of qualifications for posts in Grades A 5/A 4 and A 3 in order to regularize the position... of temporary research staff. My situation is basically similar, which means that I have been treated unfairly in this case’. On 6 February 1984, having passed the competition, Mr Becker was appointed as a probationary official in Grade A 6, Step 5. But the matter did not end there. Some months later the Commission announced that three internal competitions would be held for posts in career bracket A 5/A 4. Thereupon Mr Becker submitted to the appointing authority a request pursuant to Article 90 (1) of the Staff Regulations in which he asked to be reclassified in Grade A 5, on the ground that the publication of the said notices of competition showed that the Personnel Department had misled him about the possibility of appointment in a career bracket higher than ‘the starting grades’. The appointing authority rejected that request and his subsequent complaint. Mr Becker thereupon lodged this application, which was received at the Court on 23 July 1985. He claims that the Court should: (a) annul the decision rejecting his complaint; (b) declare that the Commission is under a duty to treat him in the same way as it treats other officials; (c) order the Commission to compensate the applicant for the damage which he has suffered.