It is apparent from Article 17(2) (a) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations that that provision is intended to establish a system for the transfer of part of an official's remuneration in the currency of certain States with which, prior to his employment, he had established privileged links. That transfer system is based on the presumption that the official continues to have commitments in the State or States with which such links have been established. Point (a) specifies that those links may be established, inter alia, by his nationality, the existence of his own domicile or the place of residence of a dependent relative in the State or States concerned. In that regard, the fact that the son of an official pursues, as from a date subsequent to the official's entry into the service of the institution, a university education in another Member State does not prove the existence of a privileged link between the official and that State which predates his employment.

According to the Commission's administrative practice, an official can have part of his emoluments transferred pursuant to Article 17(2)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations even if he does not satisfy the conditions laid down in Article 17(2)(a). That administrative practice is intended to enable an official who does not receive an expatriation or foreign residence allowance also to have part of his emoluments transferred in order to cover expenditure arising out of commitments proved to have been regularly undertaken by him outside the country where the institution has its seat or outside the country where he carries out his duties.

The maximum amount which may be transferred pursuant to Article 17(2)(a) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations is equivalent to the amount of an official's expatriation or foreign residence allowance and the provisions of Article 17(2)(b) refer, with regard to the amount of regular transfers, only to the commitments proved to have been regularly undertaken by him, without laying down a specific limit.

Although, under Article 3 of the of the Rules laying down the procedure for the transfer of part of an official's emoluments, the aggregate amount of regular transfers, as they are defined in Article 17(2)(a) and (b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, may not exceed 35% of the net remuneration, it does not follow that in any circumstance the maximum available for transfers pursuant to Article 17(2)(b) is the amount resulting from the difference between 35% of the net remuneration and the amount of the expatriation allowance. In so far as the application of Article 17(2)(b) is not dependent on that of Article 17(2)(a) and therefore does not presuppose that the maximum provided for under (a) has been used up, the maximum amount for transfers within the meaning of the provisions of (b) is therefore equal to the commitments proved to have been regularly undertaken, up to the amount of the balance resulting from the deduction of the amount actually used pursuant to the provisions of (a) from the overall maximum of 35%.

No point of law or of fact serves to demonstrate, in connection with the administrative practice of treating transfers pursuant to Article 17(2)(b) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations separately from those provided for under (a), that, even where the transfer possibilities provided for under (a) have not been exhausted, the maximum amount transferable pursuant to the provisions of (b) must be limited to 19% of the net remuneration even though the 35% ceiling would not be exceeded.

(see paras 37, 39-41)