Keywords

Summary



Keywords

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1. Officials ° Working conditions ° Obligation to be at the disposal of the institution at all times ° Scope ° Obligation for the officials concerned to communicate their private addresses at the administration' s request ° Failure to comply ° Disciplinary measure

(Staff Regulations, Art. 55, first paragraph)

2. Privileges and immunities of the European Communities ° Officials and other servants of the Communities ° Exemption from formalities for the registration of aliens ° Communication to the national authorities of the host State of officials' private addresses ° Transmission to local authorities in place of residence ° Permissibility

(Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, Arts 12(b), 16, 18 and 19)

3. Officials ° Actions ° Action based on Article 179 of the Treaty ° Interpretation by the authorities of a Member State of an agreement concluded with the Community institutions ° Assessment of validity ° Court' s lack of jurisdiction

(EEC Treaty, Art. 179)

Summary

1. Article 55, first paragraph, of the Staff Regulations, which provides that officials in active employment are at all times to be at the disposal of their institution, cannot be effectively applied unless the administrative authorities have at their disposal information enabling them to contact their officials and servants at any time at their private address. Moreover, both the principles governing relations between employers and employees and plain common sense require an employee' s address to be known to the employer. Accordingly, an employee' s refusal to communicate his private address to the administration constitutes a failure to fulfil his obligations under Article 55 of the Staff Regulations justifying a disciplinary measure.

2. The privileges and immunities that the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, solely in the interests of the Communities, grants to their officials have a purely functional character, inasmuch as they are intended to avoid any interference with the functioning and independence of the Communities. The Protocol therefore has neither the purpose nor the effect of depriving the Member States of the possibility of being in a position to know at any time the population movements affecting their territory. Furthermore, it is for the Member States to determine what authorities are to be responsible for such a task in the public service. Therefore the combined requirements of Articles 12(b), 16, 18 and 19 of the Protocol do not prevent the information regarding an official' s private address obtained on the basis of the Protocol by the authorities of the host Member State in pursuance of an agreement concluded between the Government of that State and the Community institutions from being transmitted to other public bodies, in particular the commune in which the official resides, in the conditions provided for in Article 19 of the Protocol and for the sole purpose of allowing the national public authorities to know the population movements affecting their territory.

3. It is not for the Court, when reviewing the lawfulness of a decision of the administration in the conditions laid down in Article 179 of the Treaty, to assess the validity of the national authorities' interpretation of the requirements of an agreement concluded between a Member State and the Community institutions.