Practice directions to parties on judicial proceedings before the European Union Civil Service Tribunal
Date: 2008-01-25
Institutions: Court of Justice of the European Union
Subjects: European civil service, European official, judicial proceedings, labour tribunal, ordinary court of law

13.3.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

L 69/13

RULES OF PROCEDURE

PRACTICE DIRECTIONS TO PARTIES ON JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN
UNION CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL

Table of Contents

I. WRITTEN PROCEDURE ..................................................................................................................................................................

A. Application ....................................................................................................................................................................................

1. Lodging the application ......................................................................................................................................................

2. Mandatory information and rules on presentation of the application ................................................................

3. Putting the application in order .......................................................................................................................................

4. Interim measures ...................................................................................................................................................................

B. Defence and other pleadings and documents relating to the written procedure ..................................................

C. Use of technical means of communication ........................................................................................................................

D. Applications for confidential treatment ...............................................................................................................................

E. Applications for legal aid .........................................................................................................................................................

II. ORAL PROCEDURE ..........................................................................................................................................................................

A. Location .........................................................................................................................................................................................

B. Preparation for the hearing .....................................................................................................................................................

C. Conduct of the hearing .............................................................................................................................................................

D. Specific features of simultaneous interpretation ...............................................................................................................

E. Amicable settlement ...................................................................................................................................................................

F. End of the hearing .....................................................................................................................................................................

14

14

14

14

15

16

16

17

17

18

18

18

18

19

19

19

20

III. ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THESE DIRECTIONS ......................................................................................................................

20

ANNEX: GUIDE FOR LEGAL AID APPLICANTS AND COMPULSORY FORM .................................................................

21

THE EUROPEAN UNION CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL,

Having regard to Article 120 of its Rules of Procedure;

Whereas:

It is in the interests of the efficient conduct of proceedings
before the Civil Service Tribunal and the expeditious processing
of cases that practice directions should be issued to the lawyers
and agents of parties, dealing with the manner
in which
pleadings and other procedural documents relating to the
written procedure are to be submitted so as to ensure the
efficient conduct of the hearing;

Proceedings before the Civil Service Tribunal are subject
language
Community;

to
a multilingual

arrangements

appropriate

to

It is in the interests of the parties to proceedings before the Civil
Service Tribunal that the Tribunal provide concise responses to
matters on which the parties’ representatives wish to be better
informed, and provide guidance to enable them to draft their
pleadings appropriately;

are

certain inherent

electronic
There
management of procedural documents within the Civil Service
Tribunal;

constraints

in the

Compliance with these directions
the number of
requests for regularisation and the risk of inadmissibility as a
result of failure to comply with the rules as to form;

reduces

It is in the interests of the efficient conduct of proceedings
before the Civil Service Tribunal
that practice directions
should be given to persons concerned regarding the submission
of applications for legal aid and the conduct of
the oral
procedure;

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Official Journal of the European Union

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HEREBY DECIDES TO ADOPT THE
DIRECTIONS:

FOLLOWING PRACTICE

I. WRITTEN PROCEDURE

A. Application

1. Lodging the application

1. Every application shall be addressed to the Registry of the
Tribunal. It must comply with the provisions of Article 34
of the Rules of Procedure.

2. The information to be included in the application and the
documents required to be annexed to it are listed in
Article 35(1), (2), (3) and (5) of the Rules of Procedure.

3. Article 35(5) and the third subparagraph of Article 39(1) of
the Rules of Procedure concern the certificate required to
be lodged at the Registry by the applicant’s lawyer and by
any lawyer who may be assisting the defendant’s agent. It
should be noted that the principle of compulsory represen-
tation before the Tribunal is laid down by Article 19 of the
Statute of the Court of Justice. With the exception of the
Member States, other States which are parties to the EEA
Agreement
Iceland and Liechtenstein) and the
Community institutions which are represented by their
therefore be represented by a
agents,
lawyer authorised to practise before a court of a Member
State or of another State party to the EEA Agreement.
However, the obligation to be represented by a lawyer
does not apply to the procedure for obtaining legal aid
(see, in that regard, Title I, Chapter E).

the parties must

(Norway,

4. In addition, although no written instructions from the
applicant to the lawyer representing him are required on
lodging the application, any change in the number or
(e.g. replacement of one lawyer by
identity of lawyer(s)
lawyer, withdrawal of
another, presence of an additional
instructions from one of the lawyers who made the appli-
cation) must be notified to the Registry in writing without
delay.

5. The applicant’s lawyer should state clearly on the first page
of the application his address, telephone and fax numbers
and email address. In the case of an address for service in
the Rules of
Luxembourg pursuant
Procedure,
be
accepted as an address for service.

to Article 35(3) of
applicant’s own address

cannot

the

In the case of more than one representative, the signature
of one of them will be sufficient. The signature by proxy of
a person other than the applicant’s representative(s) will not
be accepted, even where that signatory is a member of the
same chambers or practice as the representative(s).

2. Mandatory information and rules on presentation
of the application

7. The language of the case shall be the language chosen for
the drafting of
in accordance with
application,
Article 29 of the Rules of Procedure which, in relation to
language arrangements, refers to Article 35 of the Rules of
Procedure of the Court of First Instance.

the

8. In the interests both of the parties themselves and of the
proper administration of justice, pleadings should be as
concise as possible having regard to the nature of
the
facts and complexity of the issues raised. An application
should not therefore, in principle, exceed 10 to 30 pages,
depending on the circumstances of the case.

9. The form of order sought must be precisely worded and set
out at the beginning or end of the application, and its
heads of claim must be numbered.

10.

In the case of 10 or more applicants, a list of all their
names and addresses should be attached to the application
to tfp.greffe@
and sent
curia.europa.eu at the same time as the application, indi-
cating clearly the case to which the list relates.

to the Registry by

email

11. An application must be accompanied by a summary of the
dispute, designed to facilitate the drafting of the notice
prescribed by Article 37(2) of
the Rules of Procedure,
which will be prepared by the Registry. That summary,
which should not be more than two pages long, should
indi-
also be sent by email to tfp.greffe@curia.europa.eu,
cating clearly the case to which it relates.
In principle,
the summary will be available in its entirety on a special
page on the website www.curia.europa.eu, to enable any
person concerned to make enquiries. Accordingly,
the
summary of the case must satisfy certain requirements as
to style which will be indicated on the relevant page of that
website.

6. The handwritten signature of the lawyer should be legible
and appear at the end of the application. The absence of a
signature cannot be rectified. A copy, such as a stamp,
facsimile signature, photocopy, etc. will not be accepted.

12. An application made pursuant to Article 44(4) of the Rules
of Procedure for the name of the applicant or of other
persons, or certain information, to be omitted from the
publications relating to a case (anonymity), must give
reasons and be clearly indicated in a letter accompanying
the application.

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13.

If the application is lodged after the submission of an
application for legal aid (see Title I, Chapter E), the effect
of which, under Article 97(4) of the Rules of Procedure, is
to suspend the period prescribed for the bringing of an
action, this must be pointed out at the beginning of the
application. If the application is lodged after notification of
the order making a decision on an application for legal aid,
reference must equally be made in the application to the
date on which the order was served on the applicant.

14. An application must be submitted in such a way as to
enable it to be processed electronically by the Tribunal,
scanning and
in particular by means of document
character
following
recognition.
requirements must be complied with:

Accordingly,

the

purpose of the proceedings; this is desirable in view of the
material and linguistic constraints on the Tribunal and the
parties. In particular, information to which the Tribunal has
access (e.g. case-law of the Community Courts cited in
is not to be produced. The following formal
pleadings)
requirements must be complied with:

(a) annexes must be numbered and contain a reference to
the pleading to which they are attached (e.g. Annex
A.1, A.2 etc. in an application; Annex B.1, B.2 etc. in
a defence; Annex C.1, C.2 etc. in a reply; Annex D.1,
D.2 etc. in a rejoinder). In the case of more than three
annexes, they should preferably be lodged with page
dividers;

(a)

the text must be easily legible and appear on one side
of the page only (‘recto’, not ‘recto verso’);

(b) annexes must be readily legible. An annex will not be

accepted if the print quality is inadequate;

(b) the paragraphs of the text must be numbered consecu-

tively;

(c) documents must not be bound together or fixed to
each other by any other means (e.g. glued or stapled);

(d) the text must appear in characters of a current type
line spacing and margins to ensure

with sufficient
that a scanned version will be legible.

15. The pages of the application and annexes must in addition
be numbered consecutively in the top right-hand corner,
including any annexes and page dividers. This is intended
to ensure that all pages of documents scanned by the
Tribunal have been duly scanned.

16.

the

second

subparagraph

accordance with

In
of
Article 34(1) of the Rules of Procedure, the application
and any annexes must,
like other pleadings, be lodged
together with five paper copies for the Tribunal and a
copy for every other party to the proceedings
(thus
normally seven paper copies). The first page of each set
of copies must be endorsed by the lawyer to the effect that
the copies are certified true copies of the original, and bear
his signature or initials. Without prejudice to point 34 of
these directions, electronic files of pleadings and/or their
annexes will not therefore be accepted.

17. As regards the annexes, the Tribunal requests the parties to
be rigorous in their selection of documents relevant for the

(c) annexes must be drawn up in the language of the case
or be accompanied by a translation. Annexes which do
not satisfy those requirements cannot in principle be
accepted (see Article 29 of
the Rules of Procedure
which, in relation to language arrangements, refers to
Article 35(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of
First Instance); under Article 8(5) of the Instructions to
the Registrar, a derogation from that rule is possible
only where it is duly justified;

(d) annexes must be preceded by a schedule of annexes
containing, in respect of each document annexed, the
number (e.g. A.1), an indication of the nature of the
‘letter of … from X to Z’), the page
document (e.g.
in the application
reference or paragraph number
‘p. 7, para.
where the document
17’), the number of pages of the document, and the
page reference (within the consecutively numbered set
of documents)
the particular
document annexed. An example of a schedule of
application’
annexes
in the
available on the website www.curia.europa.eu

is mentioned (e.g.

the first page of

included

‘model

for

is

3. Putting the application in order

18.

to put

it is necessary,

irregularities in an application,

in accordance with Article 36 of

In order to give parties the opportunity to make good any
formal
in
the application in order.
certain circumstances,
the Rules of
Thus,
Procedure and Article 8(1) of
the Instructions to the
Registrar, the Registrar will require an application to be
put
in order where the following information has not
been provided, which could lead to the rejection of the
application as being inadmissible:

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— the name and address of the applicant (Article 35(1)(a)

of the Rules of Procedure);

— the description and address of the lawyer representing
the Rules of
(Article 35(1)(b) of

applicant

the
Procedure);

— designation of the party against whom the application
is made (Article 35(1)(c) of the Rules of Procedure);

and

(‘the

Staff Regulations’)

— production of the act of which annulment is sought,
the complaint for the purposes of Article 90(2) of the
Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Commu-
nities
decision
responding to the complaint, together with the dates
on which the complaint was submitted and the decision
notified (Article 35(2) of the Rules of Procedure). The
applicant is required to provide a clear explanation of
the reasons for any failure to produce those documents
(e.g. the fact that the administration did not reply to the
complaint within the period prescribed by the Staff
Regulations);

the

4. Interim measures

23. An application to suspend the operation of the contested
measure and other interim measures must be made in
accordance with the provisions of Article 102 of
the
Rules of Procedure.

B. Defence and other pleadings and documents relating to
the written procedure

24. The guidance notes provided in Title I, Chapter A in
relation to applications shall apply mutatis mutandis
to
to the Tribunal
other pleadings and documents
under the written procedure.

sent

25. The information required to be included in the defence is
set out in Article 39(1) of the Rules of Procedure. The
authority given by the defendant institution/agency to its
agent(s) and/or to a lawyer in accordance with the first
paragraph of Article 19 of the Statute of the Court of
Justice must be produced together with the defence, but
separately from any annexes.

— production of a certificate of the lawyer’s authority to
practise (Article 35(5) of the Rules of Procedure).

26. The number of pages of a defence is subject to the same
limit as an application, namely 10 to 30 pages, depending
on the circumstances of the case. Other pleadings must, as
a rule, be less than 15 pages.

19. Under Article 8(1) of the Instructions to the Registrar, a
request for an application to be put in order may also be
made, depending on the circumstances of the case, where
an application is not in conformity with these practice
directions.

27. The institutions and agencies are requested to attach
systematically to the defence any measures of general appli-
cation referred to in their observations which are not
published in the Official Journal.

20. The Registrar shall prescribe a period within which the
applicant is to put the application in order, in accordance
with Article 36 of the Rules of Procedure.

21.

In the cases referred to in point 18 above, service of the
application on the defendant will be delayed. Where the
application is put in order within the prescribed period, the
procedure will take its normal course. If the applicant fails
to put the application in order, the Tribunal shall decide
whether the application is inadmissible.

28.

In addition, the following information must appear on the
first page of any pleading:

(a)

the category of pleading (defence,
rejoinder,
application for leave to intervene, statement in inter-
inadmissibility, observations on …,
vention, plea of
replies to questions, etc.);

reply,

(b) the case number in the list (F- …/…) where this has

already been communicated by the Registry.

22.

In the cases referred to in point 19 above, the Registrar
shall decide whether or not service should be delayed. If the
applicant fails to put the application in order or challenges
the request for regularisation, the Registrar shall refer the
matter to the President for a decision, in accordance with
Article 8(7) of the Instructions to the Registrar.

29. The rules, referred to in Chapter A of this title, governing
the circumstances in which a request is or may be made to
put an application in order shall apply mutatis mutandis to
the defence and to other pleadings and documents relating
to the written procedure.

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C. Use of technical means of communication

30. All pleadings
generally
any
including applications for extensions of
lodged at the Registry in original form.

and procedural documents,
correspondence

sent

and more
to the Tribunal,
time, must be

31. Where, in order to comply with procedural time-limits, a
copy of a document is sent to the Tribunal electronically
before the original document is lodged (as allowed under
Article 34(6) of the Rules of Procedure),
it may be sent
either:

— by fax to the Registry (fax number: (+352) 4303 4453),

or

— by email (email address: tfp.greffe@curia.europa.eu).

The first page of each procedural document
lodged
following its electronic transmission must be marked
‘Previously sent by fax/email on …’ so that corresponding
documents can be readily identified.

32. Under the abovementioned Article 34(6) of the Rules of
Procedure, where a procedural document includes annexes,
the copy sent to the Tribunal by fax or by email may
comprise only the document itself and the schedule of
annexes.

33.

In the case of transmission by email, only a scanned copy
of
the signed original will be accepted. A document
despatched in the form of an ordinary electronic file or
one which bears an electronic signature or a facsimile
signature generated by computer will not be treated as
complying with Article 34(6) of the Rules of Procedure.

34. The lodging of a pleading or a procedural document by fax
or email will be treated as complying with the relevant
procedural time-limit only if the signed original of that
document reaches the Registry no more than 10 days
after such lodging, as specified in Article 34(6) of
the
Rules of Procedure. It should be borne in mind that the
extension on account of distance of 10 days provided for
under Article 100(3) of the Rules of Procedure does not
apply
to
time-limit. However,
Article 100(2) of the Rules of Procedure, if the period of
10 days provided for under Article 34(6) of the Rules of
Procedure would otherwise end on a Saturday, Sunday or

according

that

to

official holiday (a list of which is annexed to the Rules of
Procedure of the Court of Justice), it will be extended until
the end of the first following working day.

35. The signed original of any procedural document must be
sent without delay, immediately after the earlier electronic
despatch, without any corrections or amendments, even of
a minor nature, being made to it, except for the correction
of clerical errors which must however be listed on a
separate sheet and sent with the original. Subject to that
exception,
in the event of any discrepancy between the
signed original and the copy previously lodged, only the
date on which the signed original was lodged will be taken
into consideration for the purposes of compliance with
procedural time-limits.

D. Applications for confidential treatment

36. Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 44(2) and (3)
of the Rules of Procedure, the Tribunal shall take into
consideration only those documents which have been
made available to the parties’
representatives and on
which they have been given an opportunity of expressing
their views (Article 44(1) of the Rules of Procedure).

37. Nevertheless, a party may apply for any part of

the
contents of the case-file which are secret or confidential:

— not to be made available to a party in a joined case

(Article 46(3) of the Rules of Procedure);

— to be omitted from the documents served on an
intervener (Article 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure).

38. Any application for confidential treatment made pursuant
to Article 46(3) or Article 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure
must be made by separate document.

39. Such an application must be specific and limited to what is
strictly necessary. It may not in any event cover the entirety
of a pleading and may only exceptionally extend to the
entirety of an annexed document.

40. An application for confidential treatment must accurately
identify the particulars or passages concerned and briefly
state the reasons for which each of those particulars or
passages is regarded as secret or confidential.

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41. The application must be accompanied by a non-confi-
dential version of each pleading or document concerned,
with the confidential material deleted.

E. Applications for legal aid

42. The use of the form annexed to these practice directions is
compulsory in making an application for legal aid. Any
request for legal aid submitted otherwise than by using
the application form will not be taken into consideration
and will give rise to a reply from the Registrar reiterating
that the use of the form is compulsory and attaching a
copy of the form.

43. The form can be downloaded from the website www.
curia.europa.eu.
requested from the
can also be
Registry of the Tribunal by email, post or telephone (see
details below).

It

44. The duly completed and signed form,

together with
supporting documents, should be sent to the following
address:
Tribunal,
the
L-2925 Luxembourg (telephone number: (+352) 4303-1;
fax number: (+352) 4303 4453; email address: tfp.greffe@
curia.europa.eu).

Registry

Service

Civil

of

II. ORAL PROCEDURE

A. Location

45. The public hearings of the Civil Service Tribunal take place,

— where the language of
‘Allegro’ courtroom at
35A Avenue J.F. Kennedy, Luxembourg, 1st floor;

the case is French,
the seat of

in the
the Tribunal, at

— where the language of the case is a language other than
in the ‘Dalsgaard’ courtroom in the Erasmus
the European
Niedergrünewald,

the Court of
du

Justice of
Fort

rue

French,
building of
Communities,
Luxembourg.

regarded as essential for specific reasons (for example, if the
Tribunal has summoned a party to give evidence, who
cannot express himself in French), a reasoned request to
that effect must be sent to the Tribunal as soon as the
notice to attend the hearing is received, so that any
change of room or the presence of interpreters can be
organised as quickly as possible.

Justice

47. There is a map of the buildings on the website of the Court
of
Communities www.
European
curia.europa.eu. There is ample parking around both
buildings, although it is metered; the ‘Erasmus’ building
also has an underground car park which visitors may use.

the

of

48. As a security measure, access to the buildings is controlled.
Parties and their representatives are requested to produce
their identity card, passport, professional card or some
other form of identification.

B. Preparation for the hearing

49. The representatives of the parties are given notice to attend
the hearing by the Registry a few weeks before it takes
place. Requests to postpone the date of a hearing are
granted only in very exceptional circumstances. Such
requests must be duly reasoned, accompanied by appro-
and submitted to the
priate
Tribunal without delay.

supporting documents,

the proceedings,

report normally describes

50. With the notice to attend the hearing, the parties receive
the preparatory report for the hearing, drawn up by the
the
judge-rapporteur. That
subject-matter of
the forms of order
sought, the aspects on which the parties are requested to
concentrate in their oral arguments, the issues of fact and
of law which need to be explored in greater depth etc., and
indicates the time allowed for the opening arguments of
the parties’ representatives. The Tribunal may also indicate
its intention to examine the possibilities of an amicable
settlement of the dispute at the hearing.

46. The notice to attend the hearing always states the place
where it will be held. Whereas the ‘Dalsgaard’ room has
technical equipment for simultaneous interpretation into all
the official
languages of the European Communities, the
‘Allegro’ room does not, and hearings there are held only
in French. Nevertheless, if, in the latter case, the presence of
interpreters for the whole hearing or for some purposes is

51.

If the representative of a party intends not to be present at
the hearing, he is requested to notify the Tribunal of this
without delay. In those circumstances, the hearing will take
place in his absence. This will also apply should the
Tribunal
from the hearing
without due notification.

find that a party is absent

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52.

If the representative of a party wishes to be replaced by a
qualified person not initially instructed by his client, he is
also requested to notify the Tribunal of this without delay
and to ensure that the appropriate authorisation for that
person and, where appropriate, certification of the rights of
audience held by the lawyer or adviser standing in for him
have been submitted prior to the hearing.

58. As the courtrooms are equipped with an automatic ampli-
fication system, each person addressing the Tribunal
is
requested to press the button on the microphone before
starting to speak. The parties’ representatives are likewise
requested, when citing a court judgment, to give its full
reference,
the parties, and to
specify, where appropriate, the page of the publication on
which the passage in question appears.

including the names of

C. Conduct of the hearing

53. The parties’ representatives are required to appear before
the Tribunal in their robes. The Tribunal always has some
plain robes available should they be needed; the court usher
at the hearing should be asked about this.

59.

It must be borne in mind that documents must be lodged
before the Tribunal during the written procedure. The
Tribunal can accept documents submitted at the hearing
only in very exceptional circumstances. The same rule
applies to any evidence offered in support at the hearing.

54. A few minutes before the start of the hearing, the parties’
representatives are escorted by the court usher to the
judges’ deliberation room behind the courtroom to meet
the judges hearing the case in order to settle arrangements
for the conduct of the hearing.

55. Everyone present must stand when the members of the
Tribunal enter the room. The hearing then begins by the
Registrar calling the case.

56. As the judges have perused the written observations, the
parties’ representatives are requested not to repeat in their
the written statements
oral arguments the content of
exchanged, but to concentrate on the issues referred to in
the preparatory report for the hearing and to answer the
judges’ questions. The same applies, where appropriate, to
the parties themselves, if they have been asked to address
the Tribunal. As the aim of the hearing is to clarify the
issues of fact and of law required to give judgment on the
case, the conduct of the hearing must facilitate a dialogue
between the judges and the parties and their represen-
tatives.

57.

In any event, the parties’ representatives have the oppor-
tunity to put forward an opening argument, for which the
preparatory report for the hearing gives guidance as to the
time allowed (normally between 15 minutes for each party
in cases heard by a Chamber composed of three judges or a
single judge, and 30 minutes
in cases heard by the
Chamber composed of five judges or where the Tribunal
is sitting as a full Court). That period does not include the
time used to answer the questions put by the judges or to
reply to the other party’s oral submissions.

D. Specific features of simultaneous interpretation

60.

In cases in which simultaneous interpretation is required,
parties’ representatives are reminded that
is generally
preferable to speak freely on the basis of notes rather
than to read out a text. Likewise, a series of
short
sentences is preferable to a long, complicated construction.

it

61.

If, however, oral submissions are prepared in writing, it is
advisable when drafting the text to take account of the fact
it must be presented orally and should therefore
that
resemble an oral address as closely as possible.
In that
in order to facilitate interpretation, the parties’
situation,
representatives are requested to send any written text or
reference documents for their oral submissions to the inter-
preting department in advance, so that the interpreters may
include it in their preparatory study of the file (Interpreting
Directorate, fax number: (+352) 4303 3697; email address:
interpret@curia.europa.eu). That text will not, of course, be
forwarded to the other parties or to members of the bench.

E. Amicable settlement

62. At the request of the parties’ representatives or on its own
initiative, the Tribunal can decide to suspend the hearing
for a short time where the parties’ representatives wish to
discuss a proposal for amicable settlement with their clients
or with the other party’s representative, if necessary before
one or more judges. Should a discussion in camera be
desired, a separate room can be made available. Any
requests
addressed to the
to this
Registrar or the court usher.

should be

effect

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F. End of the hearing

63. The presiding member of the bench announces the end of
the hearing. The parties subsequently receive brief minutes
of the hearing and are subsequently notified in writing of
the next steps to be taken in the proceedings, in particular
of the date of delivery of the judgment.

the European Union. They shall enter into force on the first
day of the second month following their publication.

65. For

the assistance of
Tribunal will make
available on the website www.curia.europa.eu

the parties,
various

checklists

the Registry of

the
and models

III. ENTRY INTO FORCE OF THESE DIRECTIONS

Done at Luxembourg, 25 January 2008.

64. These practice directions revoke the ‘Notes for the guidance
of parties and their representatives for the hearing of oral
argument before
the European Union Civil Service
Tribunal’. They shall be published in the Official Journal of

Registrar

W. HAKENBERG

President

P.J. MAHONEY

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GUIDE FOR LEGAL AID APPLICANTS AND COMPULSORY FORM

ANNEX

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APPLICATION FOR LEGAL AID

GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS AND COMPULSORY FORM

I. GUIDE FOR LEGAL AID APPLICANTS (1)

A. Legal background

1. Jurisdiction of the Tribunal

Admissibility of actions before the Tribunal

Legal aid applicants should note the following provisions:

— Article 236 of the EC Treaty and Article 152 of the EAEC Treaty, and Article 1 of Annex I to the Statute of

the Court of Justice, concerning the jurisdiction of the Tribunal;

— Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations, which specify a number of requirements as to the admissibility

of actions before the Tribunal.

2. Legal background in relation to legal aid

The rules concerning legal aid are contained in the Rules of Procedure.

In particular, they provide as follows:

a. R e q u i r e m e n t s f o r t h e g r a n t o f

l e g a l a i d

— Any natural person who, because of his financial situation, is wholly or partly unable to meet the costs
involved in legal assistance and representation by a lawyer in proceedings before the Tribunal is to be
entitled to legal aid (first subparagraph of Article 95(2) of the Rules of Procedure).

— The financial situation is to be assessed, taking into account objective factors such as income, capital and

the family situation (second subparagraph of Article 95(2) of the Rules of Procedure).

— The application for legal aid must be accompanied by all information and supporting documents making
it possible to assess the applicant’s financial situation, such as a certificate issued by the competent
national authority attesting to his financial situation (first subparagraph of Article 96(2) of the Rules
of Procedure).

— An application for legal aid may be made before or after the action has been brought. The application

need not be made through a lawyer (Article 96(1) of the Rules of Procedure).

— If the application is made before the action has been brought, the applicant must briefly state the subject
matter of the proposed action, the facts of the case and the arguments in support of the action. The
application must be accompanied by supporting documents in that regard (second subparagraph of
Article 96(2) of the Rules of Procedure).

— Legal aid is to be refused if the action in respect of which the application is made appears to be

manifestly inadmissible or manifestly unfounded (Article 95(3) of the Rules of Procedure).

(1) This guide is an integral part of the legal aid application form. The information which it contains is taken from the Rules of Procedure

of the Civil Service Tribunal and the Practice Directions to parties.

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— If the circumstances which led to the grant of legal aid should alter during the proceedings, the President
may at any time, on his own motion or on application, withdraw legal aid, having heard the person
concerned (Article 97(5) of the Rules of Procedure).

— The Tribunal may provide, in accordance with Article 120 of the Rules of Procedure, for the compulsory
use of a form in making an application for legal aid (Article 96(3) of the Rules of Procedure). The
Tribunal has taken the opportunity to do so in the Practice Directions to parties.

b. P r o c e d u r e

— If the person concerned has not indicated his choice of lawyer or if his choice is unacceptable, the
Registrar is to send a copy of the order granting legal aid and a copy of the application to the competent
authority of the Member State concerned mentioned in Annex II to the Rules supplementing the Rules of
Procedure of the Court of Justice. The lawyer instructed to represent the applicant is to be designated
having regard to the suggestions made by that authority (second subparagraph of Article 97(3) of the
Rules of Procedure).

— The introduction of an application for legal aid is to suspend the period prescribed for the bringing of the
action until the date of notification of the order making a decision on that application or, where that
order does not designate a lawyer to represent the person concerned, until the date of notification of the
order designating a lawyer to represent the applicant (Article 97(4) of the Rules of Procedure).

c. P a r t i a l

l e g a l a i d

An order granting legal aid may specify an amount to be paid to the lawyer instructed to represent the
person concerned or fix a limit which the lawyer’s disbursements and fees may not, in principle, exceed. It
may provide for a contribution to be made by the person concerned to the costs referred to in Article 95(1)
of the Rules of Procedure, having regard to his financial situation (third subparagraph of Article 97(3) of the
Rules of Procedure).

d. R e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r c o s t s

— Where, by virtue of the decision closing the proceedings, the recipient of legal aid has to bear his own
costs, the President shall fix the lawyer’s disbursements and fees which are to be paid by the cashier of the
Tribunal by way of a reasoned order from which no appeal shall
lie (Article 98(2) of the Rules of
Procedure).

— Where, in the decision closing the proceedings, the Tribunal has ordered another party to pay the costs of
the recipient of legal aid, that other party shall be required to refund to the cashier of the Tribunal any
sums advanced by way of aid (Article 98(3) of the Rules of Procedure).

— Where the recipient of the aid is unsuccessful, the Tribunal may, in ruling as to costs in the decision
closing the proceedings, if equity so requires, order that one or more parties should bear their own costs
or that those costs should be borne, in whole or in part, by the cashier of the Tribunal by way of legal
aid (Article 98(4) of the Rules of Procedure).

B. Procedure for submission of an application for legal aid

In accordance with point 42 of the Practice Directions to parties, every application for legal aid must be submitted
using the form below. Any request for legal aid submitted otherwise than by using the application form will not be
taken into consideration.

The application for legal aid may be lodged by fax or by email. An application lodged by either means will,
however, be taken into consideration only upon receipt of the original at the Tribunal.

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In the event of transmission by email, only a scanned copy of the signed original will be accepted.

The original of the application for legal aid must be signed by the applicant himself or by his lawyer, failing which
the application will not be taken into consideration and the document will be returned.

If the application for legal aid is submitted by the applicant’s lawyer before the application initiating proceedings is
lodged, the legal aid application must be accompanied by documents certifying that the lawyer is authorised to
practice before a court of a Member State or of another State party to the EEA Agreement.

C. Effect of proper lodging of an application for legal aid before the action has been brought

Where an application for legal aid is properly lodged before the action has been brought, the period prescribed for
the bringing of the action will be suspended until the date of notification of the order making a decision on that
application or of the order designating a lawyer to represent the applicant for legal aid. Time for bringing an action
will not run, therefore, while the application for legal aid is being considered by the Tribunal.

If the original of the application for legal aid is received at the Registry of the Tribunal within a period of 10 days
after the lodgement of that application by fax or email, the date of the lodgement by fax or email will be taken
into account in the suspension of the time limit for bringing an action.

If the original application for legal aid is received at the Tribunal more than 10 days after lodgement by fax or
email, the date of such lodgement by fax or email will not be taken into consideration; it is the date of lodgement
of the original application for legal aid that will be taken into account.

D. Contents of the application for legal aid and supporting documents

1. Applicant’s financial situation

The application must be accompanied by all information and supporting documents making it possible to assess
the applicant’s financial situation, such as a certificate issued by the competent national authority attesting to his
financial situation.

Documents may include, for example:

— certificates issued by social security or unemployment benefit authorities;

— declarations of income or tax notices;

— salary slips;

— bank statements.

Sworn statements made and signed by the applicant himself are not sufficient proof that he is wholly or partly
unable to meet the costs of the proceedings.

The information given on the form concerning the applicant’s financial situation and the documents lodged in
support of the information provided should give a complete picture of his financial situation.

Applicants should note that they should not confine themselves to providing the Tribunal with details of their
resources; they should also provide the Tribunal with information which will enable the Tribunal to assess the
capital held.

An application which does not establish to the requisite legal standard the applicant’s inability to meet the costs
of the proceedings will be rejected.

The applicant is required to notify the Tribunal at the earliest possible opportunity of any change in his financial
situation which might justify the application of Article 97(5) of the Rules of Procedure, according to which, if
the circumstances which led to the grant of legal aid should alter during the proceedings, the President may at
any time, on his own motion or on application, withdraw legal aid, having heard the person concerned.

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2. Subject matter of the proposed action, facts of the case and arguments in support of the action

If the application for legal aid is made before the action has been brought, the applicant must briefly state the
subject matter of the proposed action, the facts of the case and the arguments which he intends to put forward
in support of his action. The form includes a section for that purpose.

A copy of any supporting document that is relevant for the purposes of assessing whether the proposed action
is admissible and well founded must be annexed to the form; for example:

— if applicable, the measure which the applicant seeks to have annulled;

— if applicable, the complaint within the meaning of Article 90(2) of the Staff Regulations and the decision
responding to the complaint, together with the dates on which the complaint was submitted and the
decision notified;

— if applicable, the request within the meaning of Article 90(1) of the Staff Regulations and the decision
responding to the request, together with the dates on which the request was submitted and the decision
notified;

— correspondence with the prospective defendant.

3. Other useful information

No original documents will be returned. The applicant is therefore advised to supply photocopies of supporting
documents.

An application may not be supplemented by the subsequent lodging of addenda. Such addenda will be returned,
unless they have been lodged at the request of the Tribunal. It is essential, therefore, to supply all necessary
information on the form and to attach copies of any documentary proof of the information supplied. In
exceptional cases, documents intended to establish that the legal aid applicant is wholly or partly unable to
meet the costs of the proceedings may nevertheless be accepted subsequently, subject to the delay in their
production being justified.

If the space available in any section of the form is insufficient, that section may be completed on a separate
page attached to the application.

E. Address

The form may be downloaded at www.curia.europa.eu. It may also be requested from the Registry of the Civil
Service Tribunal by email, post or telephone (see details below).

The duly completed and signed form, together with supporting documents, should be sent to the following
address:

Registry of the Civil Service Tribunal
L-2925 Luxembourg
Tel.: (+ 352) 4303-1
Fax: (+ 352) 4303 4453
Email: tfp.greffe@curia.europa.eu

II. LEGAL AID APPLICATION FORM

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