Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1 . Officials - Actions - Actions having the same subject-matter - conditions

( Staff Regulations, Art . 91 )

2 . Officials - Representation - Staff Committee - Elections - Regularity - Obligations of the institutions - Scope

( Staff Regulations, Art . 9(2 ); Annex II )

3 . Officials - Representation - Staff Committee - Elections - Adoption of electoral rules by a general meeting of officials - Period of validity - Modification - Conditions

( Staff Regulations, Art . 9; Annex II, Art . 1 )

4 . Officials - Representation - Staff Committee - Elections - Adoption of electoral rules by a general meeting of officials - Period which must elapse between the adoption of the electoral rules and the end of the term of office of the outgoing committee - Justification of the date from which the period is to be calculated

( Staff Regulations, Art . 9; Annex II, Art . 1 )

Summary

1 . Two actions have the same subject-matter when they are between the same parties, have the same purpose and are based on the same submissions . The act whose annulment is sought is an essential element of the subject-matter of an action .

Even if the arguments on which the applicant relies are in part identical to those on which he relied during previous proceedings, the action represents a new dispute and not a repetition of the previous ones when it concerns a question which has not yet been settled .

2 . The duty of the institutions to ensure that officials have complete freedom to choose their representatives in accordance with established rules is not confined to penalizing irregularities already committed or preventing any likely to occur . The institutions have the right to intervene of their own volition if they have doubts as to the regularity of an election . That right extends also to cases where - within the institution - such doubts must be dismissed in order to create conditions of legal certainty .

3 . The rules governing elections to the Staff Committee adopted by a general meeting of the staff of an institution remain in force until validly replaced or amended, no later than one month before the end of the term of office of the outgoing committee, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the implementing provisions adopted by the institution .

4 . A provision which requires the general meeting of officials responsible for determining the rules for elections to the Staff Committee to be held no later than one month before the end of the term of office of the outgoing committee aims principally at allowing the voting system to be laid down in such a way as to create the conditions for quiet reflection and thereby make the choice of voting system as objective as possible .

The requirements of legal certainty make it necessary to take, as the date from which the prescribed period is to be calculated, the date of the expiry of the term of office of the outgoing Staff Committee and not that of the elections . Unlike the date of the elections, the date on which the term of office of the outgoing Staff Committee expires is known in advance, so that no doubt can arise as to the time-limit for changes to the electoral rules .