JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fourth Chamber)

17 May 1995

Case T-241/94

Friedrich Nagel

v

Commission of the European Communities

‛Officials — Annual leave — Travel expenses — Excess luggage charges’

Full text in French II-353

Application for:

annulment of the Commission's decision of 17 August 1993 not to reimburse the excess luggage air transport charges incurred by the applicant's spouse when travelling between the applicant's place of origin and his place of employment;

an order that the Commission should reimburse those charges.

Decision:

Partial annulment; for the rest, application dismissed.

Abstract of the Judgment

The applicant, an official of the Commission assigned to the latter's delegation in Sierra Leone, claimed the reimbursement of travel expenses incurred by him, his spouse and his three children during the year 1992 in connection with his annual leave. He sought reimbursement of the cost of five aeroplane tickets and also the sum of BFR 22800 corresponding to the air transport charges in respect of excess luggage incurred by his spouse in making a different journey from that for which he claimed reimbursement of the cost of the tickets.

By decision of 17 August 1993, the Commission informed the applicant that it would defray the cost of the five aeroplane tickets, but that it would not pay the excess luggage charges in respect of the journey made by his spouse, on the ground that those charges were incurred in connection with a journey other than one to be reimbursed pursuant to Article 8(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations.

The single plea in law alleging infringement of Article 8(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations and Article 8 of the internal directives on the reimbursement of costs due to an official posted to a nonmember country

As provided in Article 8(4), first subparagraph, of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, an official employed outside the Communities is entitled for himself and, if he is entitled to receive the household allowance, for his spouse and other dependants within the meaning of Article 2, in each calendar year, subject to the submission of supporting documents, to repayment of travel expenses to his place of origin, or to repayment of travel expenses to another place not exceeding the expense of travel to his place of origin (paragraph 20).

subject to the submission of supporting documents, to repayment of travel expenses from the place of origin to the place of employment or to repayment of travel expenses to another place not exceeding the cost of the former journey (paragraph 21).

Article 8 of the internal directives provides for repayment, up to a given ceiling, of the air transport costs in respect of accompanied luggage, in excess of the free allowance granted by the air transport lines, incurred by an official posted to a nonmember country, his spouse and dependants ‘in travelling annually on leave’ (paragraph 23).

The Court finds that, while the Commission is right in placing restrictions on the repayment both of travel expenses pursuant to Article 8(4) of the Staff Regulations and also of the air transport charges in respect of excess luggage for a single annual return journey, for each person, it does not follow from the wording of Article 8 of the internal directives that the repayment allowed thereunder of air transport costs in respect of accompanied luggage is to be reserved, as the Commission maintains, for charges incurred on the journey the cost of which is refunded pursuant to Article 8(4) of the Staff Regulations. In so far as the Commission seeks to rely in that connection on the principle accessorium sequitur principale, it should have stated clearly in Article 8 of the internal directives that the air transport costs in respect of accompanied excess luggage for which it is responsible must relate to the journey the cost of which is repaid pursuant to Article 8(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations (paragraph 28).

The Commission's decision of 17 August 1993 not to refund the air transport excess luggage charges incurred by the applicant's spouse in respect of a journey other that for which he claimed and obtained repayment of the cost of the ticket pursuant to Article 8(4) of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations must, therefore, be annulled and the applicant is consequently entitled to the repayment of the sum of BFR 22800 in respect of excess luggage charges, together with default interest thereon at 8% per annum, to run from 17 August 1993 until the date of actual payment (paragraph 32).

Operative part:

The Commission's decision of 17 August 1993 is annulled.

The Commission is ordered to pay the applicant the sum of BFR 22800, together with default interest thereon at 8% per annum, to run from 17 August 1993 until the date of actual payment.