Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 28 February 2008 — Neirinck v Commission

(Case C-17/07 P)

‛Appeals — Staff cases — Temporary staff — Contract staff — Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) — Recruitment procedure — Rejection of candidature — Action for annulment — Action for damages’

1. Appeals — Grounds — Admissibility — Examination by the Court of its own motion (see para. 38)

2. Appeals — Grounds — Mere repetition of the pleas and arguments put forward before the Court of First Instance — Error of law relied on not identified — Inadmissible (Art. 225 EC; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the Court, Art. 112(1)(c)) (see paras 40, 88)

3. Officials — Actions — Interest in bringing proceedings — Actions for annulment brought against an appointment by an applicant who could not himself be appointed — Inadmissible (Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 90 and 91) (see paras 45, 46)

4. Officials — Decision adversely affecting an official — Rejection of candidature — Obligation to state the reasons on which the decision is based — Regularisation of a lack of reasoning during the procedure before the Court — Conditions (Art. 253 EC; Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 25, second para., and 90(2)) (see paras 50-52, 57-59, 95)

5. Officials — Contract staff — Recruitment — Assessment of the suitability of candidates — Discretion of the Selection Board — Judicial review — Limits (Staff Regulations of Officials, Annex III; Conditions of Employment of Other Servants , Art. 82) (see para. 82)

6. Officials — Actions — Actions for damages — Annulment of the illegal act in dispute — Sufficient compensation (Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 91) (see paras 96-98)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Second Chamber) of 14 November 2006 in Case T-494/04 Neirinck v Commission dismissing the application of the appellant seeking (i) annulment of the Commission’s decisions rejecting her candidature for the post of lawyer in the Buildings Policy sector of the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) and appointing another applicant to that post and (ii) an award of damages — Concept of interest in bringing proceedings — Obligation to state reasons — Distortion of the clear sense of the evidence — Misuse of powers — Interests of the service, principle of the administration’s duty to have regard for the interests of officials and the principle of sound administration.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the judgment of the Court of First Instance (Second Chamber) of 14 November 2006 in Case T 494/04 Neirinck v Commission in so far as the Court dismissed the plea in law alleging that an infringement of the obligation to state reasons vitiated the decision of the Commission of the European Communities of 27 April 2004 informing Mrs Neirinck that she had failed the oral examination within the recruitment procedure for the post of lawyer in the Buildings Policy sector of the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels, as a member of the contract staff;

2. Dismisses the appeal as to the remainder;

3. Annuls the decision of the Commission of the European Communities of 27 April 2004 informing Mrs Neirinck that she had failed the oral examination within the recruitment procedure for the post of lawyer in the Buildings Policy sector of the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels, as a member of contract staff;

4. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;