Case T‑273/17

Alessandro Quadri di Cardano

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European Commission

(Civil service — Members of the contract staff — Expatriation allowance — Article 4(1)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations — Ten-year reference period — Nationality of the State of employment — Residence in the State of employment — Duties in an international organisation — Temporary employment contract)

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Second Chamber), 13 July 2018

Officials — Remuneration — Expatriation allowance — Conditions for granting — Various non-successive contracts concluded between the member of staff and the institutions — Determination of entitlement to the expatriation allowance upon each entry into service — Account taken of previous decisions awarding the expatriation allowance — Precluded — Infringement of acquired rights — None

Officials — Remuneration — Expatriation allowance — Conditions for granting — Based on objective factors — Account taken of reasons which led the person concerned to reside habitually in the country of which he is or was a national — None

Officials — Remuneration — Expatriation allowance — Conditions for granting — Performance of duties in the service of a State or an international organisation — Meaning — Requirement of a direct legal relationship between the person concerned and the State or organisation — Performance of duties for an institution but as an employee of a temporary employment agency — Not included

Officials — Remuneration — Expatriation allowance — Conditions for granting — Habitual residence outside the Member State of employment during the reference period — Calculation of the period — Periods spent in the service of a State or international organisation to be disregarded — Lawfulness — Conditions — Service outside the State of employment

For the purposes of calculating the ten-year reference period provided for in Article 4(1)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, the only periods that can justifiably be disregarded are those during which the individual concerned has performed duties in the service of a State or of an international organisation situated ‘outside’ the State of employment. Consequently, it is unnecessary to disregard the periods during which the applicant performed duties in the service of an international organisation situated in the State of employment of which he is a national or to extend the reference period by an equivalent amount. (see para. 62)

The period of temporary work, on the basis of employment contracts between the applicant and a private agency, cannot be regarded as amounting to the performance of duties ‘in the service of an international organisation’ within the meaning of Article 4(1)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations. The intervention of an agency with which the applicant signed temporary employment contracts prevents a finding of a direct legal relationship between the applicant and the institution during the period of temporary work. (see paras 70, 71)

The actual reasons which caused a member of staff to remain in the country of employment of which he is a national must not be taken into account for the purposes of the grant of the expatriation allowance. An examination of the substance of the various reasons which led the person concerned to settle in the country of which he is a national would necessarily be based on assessments of a subjective nature, which is not consistent with either the wording or the purpose of Article 4(1)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations. (see para. 90)

See the text of the decision. (see paras 100-103)

See the text of the decision. (see paras 109, 110)