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Point 1 of Annex II to the contested notice, entitled ‘Justification for selecting languages for each selection procedure’ states: ‘The EU institutions believe that the decision on the specific languages to be used in each individual selection procedure and, in particular, any restriction of the choice of languages, must be made on the basis of the following considerations: (i) Requirement that new recruits be immediately operational New recruits need to be immediately operational and capable of performing the duties for which they were recruited. Therefore, EPSO must ensure that successful candidates possess adequate knowledge of a combination of languages that will enable them to carry out their duties in an effective manner and in particular that successful candidates are able to communicate effectively in their daily work with their colleagues and managers. It may therefore be legitimate to organise some tests in a limited number of vehicular languages to ensure that all candidates are able to work in at least one of these, whatever their first official language. Failure to do so would create a high risk that a substantial proportion of successful candidates would be unable to undertake the tasks for which they are recruited within a reasonable timeframe. Moreover, it would neglect the evident consideration that candidates applying to work in the EU civil service are willing to join an international organisation that must make use of vehicular languages in order to work properly and carry out the tasks entrusted to it under the EU Treaties. (ii) The nature of the selection procedure In some cases, limiting candidates’ choice of languages may also be justified by the nature of the selection procedure. In line with Article 27 of the Staff Regulations, EPSO assesses candidates in open competitions which it uses to evaluate candidates’ skills and better predict whether candidates will be capable of performing their duties. The assessment centre is a selection method that consists of evaluating candidates in a standardised manner, based on various scenarios observed by several selection board members. The assessment uses a competency framework drawn up in advance by the appointing authorities and a common scoring method and joint decision making. Assessing specific skills in this way enables the EU institutions to evaluate candidates’ ability to be immediately operational in an environment that closely matches the reality of the job. A substantial body of scientific research has shown that assessment centres simulating real-life working situations are the best predictor of real-life performance. Assessment centres are therefore used worldwide. Given the length of careers and the degree of mobility within the EU institutions this kind of assessment is crucial, in particular when selecting permanent officials. To ensure that candidates can be assessed on an equal footing and can communicate directly with assessors and the other candidates taking part in an exercise, candidates are assessed together in a group with a common language. Unless the assessment centre takes place in a competition with a single main language, this necessarily requires that the assessment centre be organised in a restricted number of languages. (iii) Budgetary and operational constraints For several reasons, the EPSO Management Board believes it would be impractical to organise the assessment centre phase of a single competition in all EU official languages. Firstly, such an approach would have very serious resource implications, rendering it impossible for the EU institutions to meet their recruitment needs within the current budgetary framework. It would also not be reasonable value for money for the European taxpayer. Secondly, conducting the assessment centre in all official languages would require a substantial number of interpreters to work on EPSO competitions and the use of appropriate premises with interpreting booths. Thirdly, a much higher number of selection board members would be needed to cover the different languages used by candidates.’