WRITTEN QUESTION E-2717/02 by Vitaliano Gemelli (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Administrative cases brought by officials and other staff of the European Commission.
Date: 2002-09-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, European official, action brought before an administrative court, action by staff, legal action, legal expenses, regulations for civil servants, servant (EU), statistics

C 222 E/14

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

18.9.2003

Throughout the co-decision procedure leading up to the adoption of Directive 2002/58/EC of
2. and 3.
the Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 2002 concerning the processing of personal data and the
protection of privacy in the electronic communications sector (1), the Commission has defended the view
that the general obligation to erase traffic data when they are no longer needed for the provision of the
communication service or for billing purposes, must be maintained. However, the existing margin for
Member States to restrict rights and obligations under the Directive where this is necessary for public
security, national security defence and the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal
offences also remains in place, subject to the conditions now explicitly set out in the same Directive
(legislative measure, necessity, appropriateness and proportionality in a democratic society, limitation in
time).

5.

The Commission agrees with the need to ensure conformity with the above mentioned Convention.

Incompatibility between any particular traffic data retention measure and the human rights
4. and 6.
which the Union is committed to respect, is not a foregone conclusion. The Commission is currently
conducting a legal analysis of the compatibility of traffic data retention measures with various legal
instruments, including those referred to in the question. Whether Member States can impose general traffic
data retention requirements on providers of communications services under the European Convention on
Human Rights and if so, in which form and subject to which safeguards, remains to be seen since there is
as yet no case law from the Court of the European Convention on Human Rights or indeed the Court of
Justice on this specific matter.

(1) OJ L 201, 31.7.2002.

(2003/C 222 E/016)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2717/02

by Vitaliano Gemelli (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(26 September 2002)

Subject: Administrative cases brought by officials and other staff of the European Commission

The initial answer of 24 May 2002 to Written Question E-0661/02 (1) states that a substantial number of
the cases brought by Commission staff (30,5 % before the Court of First Instance and 13,2 % before the
Court of Justice) during the period from 1 January 1996 to 20 June 2001 were deemed to be well founded
and were considered admissible, if only in part, by the two courts.

However, this information is insufficient to determine the full impact on human and financial resources,
bearing in mind that in such cases the Commission is usually ordered to pay the legal costs, including the
fees of the plaintiffs’ lawyers and, on occasion, of those acting for the Commission.

Will the Commission give details of the total number of legal cases during the period in question in which
the Commission had to pay legal costs, together with the average cost of each case?

Will it give details of the total number of persons employed in-house or externally for the management of
administrative disputes covered by Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations?

(1) OJ C 229 E, 26.9.2002, p. 117.

Answer given by Mr Prodi on behalf of the Commission

(21 November 2002)

The Commission is collecting the information it needs to answer the question. It will communicate its
findings as soon as possible.