WRITTEN QUESTION E-0955/97 by Bryan Cassidy (PPE) to the Council (17 March 1997)

Subject: Age limits in recruitment advertisements for posts in Council

At the end of 1992, under the UK Presidency of the Council, at least two open competitions for permanent posts were advertised by the Council with age limits of 50 years or above.

Could the Council report on the impact of these advertisements with a much higher than usual age limit?

Could the Council report on the age limits used in recruitment advertisements from that time until now?

Does the Council agree that the setting of arbitrary age limits in recruitment advertisements is unfair, discriminatory, and not beneficial to the Council as an employer?

Answer (5 June 1997)

The recruitment procedure for officials of the European Communities is governed by the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities ((Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 of the Council of 29 February 1968 laying down the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities and institution special measures temporarily applicable to officials (Staff Regulations of Officials). OJ L 57, 4.3.1968, p. 1, since amended on several occasions. )). The competition procedure for recruitment is laid down in Article 29 of the Staff Regulations and Annex III thereto.

In accordance with Article 1(g) of Annex III, the notice of competition may, where appropriate, specify an age limit, which may be varied to take account of special situations (such as extensions of the age limit to take account of a period devoted to bringing up children or a period of military service or in the event of a disability). Furthermore, in accordance with established case law concerning the Staff Regulations, "the Appointing Authority has a broad discretion in drawing up the requirements of the competition¨ ((See paragraph No 24 of the grounds of the judgment of 28 November 1991, Case T-158/89, van Hecken v. ECS, ECR II.1354. )).

It is true that between 1992 and 1995 an age limit of 50 was applied by the Council for a number of competitions for secretaries and translators ((Secretaries of Dutch mother tongue (C/337 NL), German mother tongue (C/334 DE), Finnish mother tongue (C/355 FIN), Swedish mother tongue (C/353 SV), English mother tongue (C/340 EN), French mother tongue (C/360 FR) and Spanish mother tongue (C/374 ES) - respectively OJ C 244A of 23.9.92, OJ C 246A of 24.9.92, OJ C 221 of 17.8.93 (for FIN and SV), OJ C 7A of 11.1.94, OJ C 345A of 7.12.94 and OJ C 110A of 16.4.96. Translators of Spanish mother tongue (LA/333 ES and LA/364 ES), Italian mother tongue (LA/336 IT), German mother tongue (LA/335 DE), Greek mother tongue (LA/339 GR), Swedish mother tongue (LA/350 SV), Finnish mother tongue (LA/352 FIN and LA/368 FIN), Dutch mother tongue (LA/366 NL) and Portuguese mother tongue (LA/365 PT) - respectively OJ C 153A of 18.6.92 and OJ C 76A of 28.3.95, OJ C 243A of 22.9.92, OJ C 248A of 25.9.92, OJ C 22A of 26.1.93, OJ C 144 of 25.5.93 and OJ C 49A of 28.2.95, OJ C 144 of 25.5.93 and OJ C 48A of 25.2.95, OJ C 127A of 23.5.95, OJ C 253A of 29.9.95. )).

Since then, the Community institutions and bodies, including the Council, have decided to rationalize their recruitment methods and have undertaken to recruit officials by means of interinstitutional notices of competition, except in the case of a need specific to one institution. They also decided, on budgetary grounds as well as for reasons connnected with the quality requirements stipulated in Article 27 of the Staff Regulations ((The first paragraph of Article 27 of the Staff Regulations reads as follows: "Recruitment shall be directed to securing for the institution the services of officials of the highest standard of ability, efficiency and integrity¨. )), to apply henceforth an age limit of 35 for access to competitions for starting grades (D4, D3, C5, B5, A8 and A7). For access to intermediate grades (D1, C3, C1, B3, B1 and A5), the general age limit is 50. Provision is made for the age limit for the starting grades to be varied to cope with specific difficulties in recruitment, particularly with regard to certain specialized activities.

The Council takes the view that such age limits make it possible to recruit officials at the optimum standard of ability and efficiency for the posts concerned and therefore comply with the requirements of Article 27 of the Staff Regulations.