REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL on the use made in 2010 by the institutions of Council Regulations No 300/76, last amended by Regulation No 1873/2006 (on shift work), No 495/77, last amended by Regulation No 1945/2006 (on standby duty), and No 858/2004 (on particularly arduous working conditions)
Date: 2011-11-23
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European official, indemnification, operation of the Institutions, servant (EU), shift work, working conditions

EUROPEAN COMMISSION 

Brussels, 23.11.2011 
COM(2011) 781 final 

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

on the use made in 2010 by the institutions of Council Regulations No 300/76, last 
amended by Regulation No 1873/2006 (on shift work), No 495/77, last amended by 
Regulation No 1945/2006 (on standby duty), and No 858/2004 (on particularly arduous 
working conditions) 

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REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

on the use made in 2010 by the institutions of Council Regulations No 300/76, last 
amended by Regulation No 1873/2006 (on shift work), No 495/77, last amended by 
Regulation No 1945/2006 (on standby duty), and No 858/2004 (on particularly arduous 
working conditions) 

1. 

Introduction 

The Council Regulations on standby duty  (No 495/77) and on particularly arduous working 
conditions  (No  858/2004)  require  the  Commission  to  report  regularly  to  the  Council  on  the 
number of officials and other servants in each category receiving the allowances referred to in 
the respective Regulations and the total related expenditure. 

This report is based on the latest full-year figures available at the time of its preparation and 
thus  refers  to  2010.  It  covers  all  the  Institutions,  and  for  the  sake  of  completeness  also 
contains the same type of information on the use of continuous work and shift work (Council 
Regulation No 300/76). 

2. 

Shift work allowance 

The  legal  bases  for  this  allowance  are  Article  56a  of  the  Staff  Regulations  and  Council 
Regulation  No  300/76  of  9  February  1976,  as  last  amended  by  Council  Regulation 
No 1873/2006 of 11 December 2006. 

Payment of the allowance is limited to officials and other servants 

paid from research appropriations and employed in: 

– 
– 

an establishment of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), or 
in indirect action, or  

paid from operating appropriations and employed in: 

– 
– 
– 
– 

– 

an information and communication technology (ICT) services department, 
a safety and security department, 
a telephone switchboard/information service or at a reception desk, 
a department providing support for the Common Foreign and Security Policy 
(CFSP)/European  Security  and  Defence  Policy  (ESDP)  or  for  emergency  and 
crisis coordination arrangements, or 
employed to run or supervise technical installations. 

Four different rates of the monthly allowance are provided for (2010 figures): 

– 
– 
– 
– 

rate 1: work involving two shifts, excluding weekends: EUR 382.17. 
rate 2: work involving two shifts, including nights and weekends: EUR 576.84. 
rate 3: 24 hours per day, excluding weekends: EUR 630.69. 
rate 4: 24 hours per day, 7 days a week: EUR 859.84. 

The following figures indicate the number of allowances granted by each institution for 2010. 

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2.1. 

Number of beneficiaries per rate: 

Institution 

Rate 1 

Rate 2 

Rate 3 

Rate 4 

382.17 

576.84 

630.69 

859.84 

Total 

0 

29 

20

60
23

8 

29

0
0

22 

8

0
0

59 

57 

46 
0 

114

106
23

Commission 
- of which: JRC 
Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
European Economic and Social 
Committee (EESC) 
Committee of the Regions (CoR) 
European Data 
Protection Supervisor 
Ombudsman 

Total 

103

29

8

103 

243

2.2. 

Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff): 

Institution 

AD 

AST 

FG I 

FG II 

FG III 

FG IV 

Total 

Contract staff 

Commission 
- of which: JRC 
Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 

EDPS: 
Ombudsman 

9 

10

0
0

86

43 

5 

106
22

0 

14

0
0

2 

0

0
1

0 

4 

0 
0 

0 

0 
0 

114

59 

106
23

Total 

10

214

14

1

4 

0 

243

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2.3. 

Number of beneficiaries per type of employment: 

Institution 

Commission 
- of which: JRC 
Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 

EDPS: 
Ombudsman 
Total 

JRC 

Indirect 
action 

ICT Safety 

Switchbo
ard/Recep
tion 

CFSP/ 
ESDP 

Technical 
installations  Total 

59 

59 

0 

0 
0 

0

0
0

0 

9

0
0

0 

0 

26

82
0

0 

7

0
23

0 

0 

24 
0 

13

0
0

59 

114

106
23

59 

0

9

108

30

24 

13

243

3. 

Standby duty allowance 

The  legal  bases  for  this  allowance  are  Articles  55  and  56b  of  the  Staff  Regulations  and 
Council  Regulation  No  495/77  of  8  March  1977,  as  last  amended  by  Council  Regulation 
No 1945/2006 of 11 December 2006. 

Payment of the allowance is limited to officials and other servants 

paid from research appropriations and employed in: 

– 
– 

an establishment of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), or  
in indirect action, or 

paid from operating appropriations and employed in: 

– 
– 
– 
– 

– 

the running or supervision of technical installations, 
a safety and security department, 
an information and communication technology (ICT) services department, 
a department providing support for the Common Foreign and Security Policy 
(CFSP)/European  Security  and  Defence  Policy  (ESDP)  or  for  emergency  and 
crisis coordination arrangements, or 
for  the  purposes  of  a  mechanism  established  to  provide  assistance  to 
Member States 24 hours a day, seven days a week (MS 24/7). 

The  standby  duty  allowance  is  expressed  in  points.  The  number  of  points  granted  for  each 
hour of actual standby duty is fixed as follows: 

– 
– 
– 
– 

standby duty at home, working day: 2.15 points 
standby duty at home, weekend: 4.3 points 
standby duty at the place of work, working day: 11 points 
standby duty at the place of work, weekend: 22 points. 

Each point is equal to 0.032% of the basic salary of an official in grade 1, step 1 (= €0.85 in 
2010). 

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3.1. 

Number of beneficiaries per type of standby duty: 

Institution 

At home 

At home and at 
the place of 
work 

At the place of 
work 

Total  

Commission 
- of which: JRC 
Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 
EDPS: 
Ombudsman 
Total 

214 
175 
76 

125 
15 
0 

2 

0 

34 
34 
0 

2 

292 

125 

36 

224 

373

76

4

453

3.2. 

Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff): 

Institution 

AD 

AST 

Contract staff 

FG I 

FG II 

FG III   FG IV 

Commission 

116 

221

25

- of which: JRC 

73 

124 

20 

1 

Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 
EDPS: 
Ombudsman 
Total 

17 

57

1 

3

2

0

134 

281

27

2

0

0

2

Total 

373

224 

76

4

1 

5 

4 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

4 

5 

453

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3.3. 

Number of beneficiaries per type of employment: 

Indirect 
action 

Technical 
installations 
17

JRC 

224 

224 

26

Safety 

ICT 

CFSP/
ESDP 

MS 
24/7 

Total 

38

17

56 

38

373

33 

224 

76

4 

4

Institution 

Commission 
- of which: JRC 
Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 
EDPS: 
Ombudsman 

Total 

224 

0

43

55

60 

33 

38

453

4. 

Allowance for particularly arduous working conditions 

The  legal  bases  for  this  allowance  are  Article  56c  of  the  Staff  Regulations  and  Council 
Regulation No 858/2004 of 29 April 2004, which replaced Council Regulation No 1799/72. 

The  allowance  for  particularly  arduous  working  conditions  is  expressed  in  terms  of  points 
granted for each hour of actual work, with a distinction being made between special working 
conditions  connected  with  "safety of the individual", "place of work"  and "nature of work". 
The number of points varies between 2, e.g. for an average sound level exceeding 85 decibels, 
and an upper limit of 50 in the case of an official wearing a self-contained fire protection suit. 
Each point is equal to 0.032% of the basic salary of an official in grade 1, step 1 (= €0.85 in 
2010). 

Institution 

AD 

AST 

Contract staff 
FG III 

FG II 

FG I 

Total 

FG IV 

31 

174

8

1

18

0 

232

31 

166 

1 

1 

18 

0 

217 

Commission 
- of which: JRC 

Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 
EDPS: 
Ombudsman 

Total

31 

174

8

1

18

0 

232

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5. 

Services concerned and reasons 

Parliament,  the  Council  and  the  Commission  have  been  using  this  type  of  special  working 
conditions  and  paying  the  corresponding  allowances  for  several  years.  According  to 
information  received  this  year,  the  Court  of  Auditors  introduced  a  standby  service  in  2010. 
Until  now,  only  the  Commission  has  used  the  allowance  for  particularly  arduous  working 
conditions, at the JRC and the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB). 

5.1. 

Reasons for shift work 

Commission: Within the Commission, it is the JRC which has, for mainly technical reasons, 
the greatest need for this type of work organisation (59 out of a total of 114 persons listed in 
2010). 

In 2010, in the other DGs (operating budget), shift work was performed by 55 persons in the 
following types of services: 

– 
– 
– 
– 

Security and prevention: 26 
Technical installations: 13 
Information and communication technology (ICT): 9 
Telephone/reception: 7 

All four rates (types of allowance) are applied in the Commission, predominantly rates 2 and 
4, with the latter (continuous work) being used mainly in the security services. 

Council:  The  number  of  shift  work  allowances  in  the  Council  stands  at  106  for  2010.  This 
allowance is used exclusively in the areas of security and prevention and CFSP/ESDP. Shift 
work consists of either a two-shift arrangement (rate 1) or a continuous 24-hour service (rate 
4). 

European  Parliament:  The  European  Parliament  has  been  using  the  continuous  service  or 
shift work since 2008. Twenty-three allowances were granted for shift work at the Parliament 
for 2010. This allowance is used exclusively in the telephone service/reception domain. The 
shift work used is a two-shift system (rate 1). 

5.2. 

Reasons for standby duty 

Commission:  In  2010,  the  Commission  paid  standby  allowance  to  some  373  members  of 
staff, approximately 60% (224) of whom were employed in one of the research centres. 

The reasons for standby duty are, as in previous years, generally security- and safety-related, 
from  the  fire-fighting  service,  including  radiation  protection,  to  radiation  monitoring,  plus 
some technical services. In most cases at the JRC, standby duty is carried out at home, with 
the  exception  of  Ispra  and  Karlsruhe,  where  duty  is  undertaken  at  the  place  of  work  or  at 
home and at the place of work. 

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In  the  other  Commission  directorates-general,  the  standby  services  are  mainly  used  for 
security and safety, technical installations and IT services, plus assistance for Member States. 
Compared with 2009 there has been a significant increase in standby services in the field of 
information and communication technologies (ICT) and a fall in the field of security and at 
the JRC. Generally speaking, standby services as a whole have remained stable. 

Council: The Council paid allowances for standby services to 76 members of its staff in 2010. 
These  staff  were  assigned  to  the  running  and  supervision  of  technical  installations,  security 
services and support for CFSP/ESDP. Standby duty was performed exclusively at home. 

Court of Auditors: In 2010 the Court of Auditors set up a standby service for information and 
communication technologies (ICT). 

5.3. 

Reasons for using the allowance for particularly arduous working conditions 

Commission:  The  Commission  is  the  only  institution  to  have  used  this  possibility  in  2010. 
The Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) introduced this possibility in one 
of its services (reproduction service) in 2008; the Joint Research Centre was already using it. 

With respect to the criteria for arduous working conditions, all three categories listed in the 
Regulation for which the allowance can be granted were applicable, i.e.: 

(a)  individual  protection  (e.g.  the  wearing  of  particularly  uncomfortable  protective 
clothing); 
(b) the place of work (e.g. high noise levels, dangerous sites), and 
(c) the nature of the work (e.g. handling of corrosive substances). 

In  2010,  the  total  number  of  hours  worked  under  such  conditions  were  broken  down  as 
follows: 

63 129 hours relating to individual protection, 
128 204 hours relating to the place of work, and 
19 724 hours relating to the nature of the work. 

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6. 

Budget expenditure, per institution and per allowance (in EUR) 

Institution 

Shift work 

Standby duty 

Commission 

738 206.78 

1 727 377.36 

Arduous working 
conditions 
586 841.02 

- of which: JRC 

295 513.01 

676 593.16 

555 738.93 

Total 

3 052 425.16 

1 527 845.10 
868 953.06 
97 242.76 

694 513.03 
97 242.76 

174 440.03 

497.75 

Council 
Parliament 
Court of Justice 
Court of Auditors 
EESC 
CoR 
EDPS: 
Ombudsman 
Total 

1 529 962.57 

1 902 315.14 

586 841.02 

4 019 118.73 

Total  expenditure,  that  is  the  amount  spent  for  all  three  allowances  in  all  the  European 
institutions, was just over €4 million in 2010. 

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