CELEX: 62005TJ0185
Language: en
Date: 2008-11-20
Title: Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Fifth Chamber) of 20 November 2008. # Italian Republic v Commission of the European Communities. # Rules on languages - Implementing rules for recruitment to the European Union Civil Service - Action for annulment under Article 230 EC - Action brought by a Member State against, first, a Commission decision to publish vacancy notices for senior management posts in English, French and German and, second, a Commission vacancy notice published in those three languages for the post of Director-General of OLAF - Admissibility - Time-limit for bringing an action - Measures against which an action may be brought - Statement of reasons - Articles 12 EC, 230 EC and 290 EC - Regulation No 1 - Articles 1d and 27 of the Staff Regulations - Principle of non-discrimination. # Case T-185/05.

Case T-185/05
      Italian Republic
      v
      Commission of the European Communities
      (Rules on languages – Implementing rules for recruitment to the European Union Civil Service − Action for annulment under Article 230 EC – Action brought by a Member State against, first, a Commission decision to publish vacancy notices for senior management posts
         in English, French and German and, second, a Commission vacancy notice published in those three languages for the post of
         Director-General of OLAF – Admissibility – Time-limit for bringing an action − Measures against which an action may be brought − Statement of reasons – Articles 12 EC, 230 EC and 290 EC – Regulation No 1 – Articles 1d and 27 of the Staff Regulations – Principle of non-discrimination)
      
      Summary of the Judgment
      1.      Actions for annulment – Right of action of the Member States – Action brought by a Member State against acts of an institution
            concerning its relations with its officials and agents
      (Art. 230 EC; Staff Regulations, Art. 91)
      2.      Actions for annulment – Actionable measures – Measures producing binding legal effects
      (Art. 230, first para., EC; Staff Regulations, Art. 29(2))
      3.      Actions for annulment – Time-limits – Point from which time starts to run
      (Art. 230, fifth para., EC)
      4.      European Communities – Rules on  languages – No general principle establishing the right of each citizen to have every act
            capable of affecting his interests drafted in his own language 
      (Arts 290 EC and 314 EC; Council Regulation No 1)
      5.      Officials – Recruitment – Vacancy notice – Publication in the Official Journal only in certain official languages
      1.      If the conditions for Article 230 EC to apply are met it is possible for applicants not covered by Article 91 of the Staff
         Regulations of Officials, that is to say applicants who are neither Community officials or other servants nor candidates for
         a post in the European Civil Service, to bring an action under that provision for annulment of Commission acts concerning
         the European Civil Service. The right of a Member State to bring an action for annulment under Article 230 EC against a decision
         of the Commission producing legal effects therefore cannot be called in question on the ground that those acts concern issues
         relating to the European Civil Service.
      
      (see paras 27-28)
      2.      Neither Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations, which allows each institution to adopt a recruitment procedure other than
         the competition procedure for the recruitment of senior officials, nor any other provision preclude an institution adopting,
         prior to carrying out a specific procedure for filling a senior management post, general implementing rules making definitive
         provision for at least some aspects of the procedure to be followed when recruiting senior management staff within that institution.
         Such rules produce binding legal effects inasmuch as the institution concerned cannot, unless those rules are amended or repealed,
         depart from them during the process of recruitment to a specific post in that category. In such a case, a privileged applicant
         such as a Member State can immediately challenge the legality of those rules by an action for annulment under Article 230
         EC without having to wait for them to be applied in a particular case.
      
      Vacancy notices, in that they determine, by defining the conditions relating to eligibility for the post, which persons’ applications
         are likely to be accepted, are acts which adversely affect the potential candidates whose applications are excluded under
         those conditions.
      
      (see paras 46, 55)
      3.      Failing publication or notification, it is for a party who has knowledge of a decision concerning it to request the whole
         text thereof within a reasonable period. Subject thereto, the period for bringing an action can begin to run only from the
         moment when the third party concerned acquires precise knowledge of the content of the decision in question and of the reasons
         on which it is based in such a way as to enable it to exercise its right to bring an action. Where it is not possible to ascertain
         with any certainty the date on which the plaintiff first knew exactly what was in the measure that it is contesting and what
         were the reasons on which it was based, the period prescribed for initiating proceedings must be considered to have begun
         to run, at the latest, from the date on which it can be established that the plaintiff had such knowledge.
      
      (see paras 68, 70)
      4.      The numerous references in the EC Treaty to the use of languages in the European Union, including in particular Articles 290 EC
         and 314 EC, cannot be regarded as evidencing a general principle of Community law that confers a right on every citizen to
         have a version of anything that might affect his interests drawn up in his language in all circumstances. Nor can such a principle
         be inferred from Regulation No 1 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic Community.
      
      (see paras 116-117)
      5.      If an institution decides to publish the full text of a vacancy notice for a senior management post in the Official Journal
         only in certain languages it must, in order to avoid discriminating on grounds of language between candidates potentially
         interested in the notice, adopt appropriate measures to inform all the candidates of the existence of the vacancy notice concerned
         and the editions in which it has been published in full. Provided that condition is met, publication in the Official Journal
         of a vacancy notice in the category covered by the decision in a limited number of languages is not likely to lead to discrimination
         between the various candidates if it is agreed that the latter have an adequate knowledge of at least one of those languages
         and are thus able duly to acquaint themselves with the content of that notice. However, publication of the text of the vacancy
         notice in the Official Journal in only some Community languages, when persons who have a knowledge only of other Community
         languages are entitled to submit an application, is likely, in the absence of other measures to enable that category of potential
         candidates duly to acquaint themselves with the content of that notice, to result in discrimination against them. In that
         situation, the candidates in question would be in a less advantageous position in relation to the other candidates, since
         they would not be in a position duly to acquaint themselves with the qualifications required by the vacancy notice and the
         conditions and procedural rules for recruitment. That is a prerequisite for submitting an application in the best way, to
         maximise their chances of being accepted for the post concerned.
      
      (see paras 130-131, 135-136)
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber)
      20 November 2008 (*)
      
      (Rules on languages – Implementing rules for recruitment to the European Union Civil Service − Action for annulment under Article 230 EC – Action brought by a Member State against, first, a Commission decision to publish vacancy notices for senior management posts
         in English, French and German and, second, a Commission vacancy notice published in those three languages for the post of
         Director-General of OLAF – Admissibility – Time-limit for bringing an action − Measures against which an action may be brought − Statement of reasons – Articles 12 EC, 230 EC and 290 EC – Regulation No 1 – Articles 1d and 27 of the Staff Regulations – Principle of non-discrimination)
      
      In Case T‑185/05,
      Italian Republic, represented by I. Braguglia and M. Fiorilli, avvocati dello Stato,
      
      applicant,
      supported by
      Kingdom of Spain, represented by F. Díez Moreno, abogado del Estado,
      
      and by
      Republic of Latvia, represented initially by E. Balode‑Buraka, and subsequently by L. Ostrovska, acting as Agents,
      
      interveners,
      v
      Commission of the European Communities, represented by L. Cimaglia and P. Aalto, acting as Agents,
      
      defendant,
      APPLICATION for annulment, first, of the decision adopted by the Commission at its 1 678th meeting on 10 November 2004, whereby
         external publications of the vacancy notices for senior management posts in the Official Journal of the European Union would be in English, French and German for a period that would in principle end on 1 January 2007 and, second, of vacancy
         notice COM/2005/335 for the post of Director-General (grade A*15/A*16) of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), published
         by the Commission on 9 February 2005 (OJ 2005 C 34 A, p. 3),
      
      THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (Fifth Chamber),
      composed of M. Vilaras (Rapporteur), President, M. Prek and V. Ciucă, Judges,
      Registrar: J. Palacio González, Principal Administrator,
      having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 3 July 2008,
      gives the following
      Judgment
       Legal context 
      1        Articles 12 EC, 230 EC, 236 EC, 290 EC and 314 EC, in the versions applying in this case, read: 
      
      ‘Article 12
      Within the scope of application of this Treaty, and without prejudice to any special provisions contained therein, any discrimination
         on grounds of nationality shall be prohibited.
      
      The Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, may adopt rules designed to prohibit such
         discrimination. 
      
      …
      Article 230
      The Court of Justice shall review the legality of acts adopted jointly by the European Parliament and the Council, of acts
         of the Council, of the Commission and of the ECB, other than recommendations and opinions, and of acts of the European Parliament
         intended to produce legal effects vis-à-vis third parties.
      
      It shall for this purpose have jurisdiction in actions brought by a Member State, the European Parliament, the Council or
         the Commission on grounds of lack of competence, infringement of an essential procedural requirement, infringement of this
         Treaty or of any rule of law relating to its application, or misuse of powers.
      
      The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction under the same conditions in actions brought by the Court of Auditors and by
         the ECB for the purpose of protecting their prerogatives.
      
      Any natural or legal person may, under the same conditions, institute proceedings against a decision addressed to that person
         or against a decision which, although in the form of a regulation or a decision addressed to another person, is of direct
         and individual concern to the former.
      
      The proceedings provided for in this article shall be instituted within two months of the publication of the measure, or of
         its notification to the plaintiff, or, in the absence thereof, of the day on which it came to the knowledge of the latter,
         as the case may be. 
      
      …
      Article 236
      The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction in any dispute between the Community and its servants within the limits and under
         the conditions laid down in the Staff Regulations or the Conditions of Employment.
      
      …
      Article 290
      The rules governing the languages of the institutions of the Community shall, without prejudice to the provisions contained
         in the Statute of the Court of Justice, be determined by the Council, acting unanimously. 
      
      …
      Article 314
      This Treaty, drawn up in a single original in the Dutch, French, German, and Italian languages, all four texts being equally
         authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the Italian Republic, which shall transmit a certified
         copy to each of the Governments of the other signatory States.
      
      Pursuant to the Accession Treaties, the Czech, Danish, English, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian,
         Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish versions of this Treaty shall also be authentic.’ 
      
      2        Articles 1 to 6 of Council Regulation No 1 of 15 April 1958 determining the languages to be used by the European Economic
         Community (OJ, English Special Edition 1952-1958, p. 59), in the version applying in this case read: 
      
      ‘Article 1
      The official languages and the working languages of the institutions of the Union shall be Czech, Danish, Dutch, English,
         Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Slovenian,
         Spanish and Swedish.
      
      Article 2
      Documents which a Member State or a person subject to the jurisdiction of a Member State sends to institutions of the Community
         may be drafted in any one of the official languages selected by the sender. The reply shall be drafted in the same language.
         
      
      Article 3
      Documents which an institution of the Community sends to a Member State or to a person subject to the jurisdiction of a Member
         State shall be drafted in the language of such State.
      
      Article 4
      Regulations and other documents of general application shall be drafted in the 20 official languages.
      Article 5
      The Official Journal of the European Union shall be published in the 20 official languages.
      
      Article 6
      The institutions of the Community may stipulate in their rules of procedure which of the languages are to be used in specific
         cases.’ 
      
      3        Article 1d(1) and (6), Article 27, Article 28 and Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities,
         in the version applying in the present case (‘the Staff Regulations’) read: 
      
      ‘Article 1d
      1. In the application of these Staff Regulations, any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic
         or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national
         minority, property, birth, disability, age, or sexual orientation shall be prohibited. …
      
      6. While respecting the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of proportionality, any limitation of their application
         must be justified on objective and reasonable grounds and must be aimed at legitimate objectives in the general interest in
         the framework of staff policy. Such objectives may in particular justify stipulating a mandatory retirement age and a minimum
         age for drawing a retirement pension. 
      
      …
      Article 27
      Recruitment shall be directed to securing for the institution the services of officials of the highest standard of ability,
         efficiency and integrity, recruited on the broadest possible geographical basis from among nationals of Member States of the
         Communities. 
      
      No posts shall be reserved for nationals of any specific Member State. 
      Article 28
      An official may be appointed only on condition that:
      …
      (f) he produces evidence of a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Communities and of a satisfactory knowledge
         of another language of the Communities to the extent necessary for the performance of his duties. 
      
      Article 29
      … 
      2. A procedure other than the competition procedure may be adopted by the Appointing Authority for the recruitment of senior
         officials (Directors-General or their equivalent in grade AD 16 or AD 15 and Directors or their equivalent in grade AD 15
         or AD 14) and, in exceptional cases, also for recruitment to posts which require special qualifications.’
      
      4        Article 18 of the Commission Rules of Procedure (C(2000) 3614, OJ 2000, L 308, p. 26), reads: 
      
      ‘Article 18
      Instruments adopted by the Commission in the course of a meeting shall be attached, in the authentic language or languages,
         in such a way that they cannot be separated, to a summary note prepared at the end of the meeting at which they were adopted.
         They shall be authenticated by the signatures of the President and the Secretary-General on the last page of the summary note.
      
      Instruments adopted by written procedure shall be attached in the authentic language or languages, in such a way that they
         cannot be separated, to the day note referred to in Article 12. These instruments shall be authenticated by the signature
         of the Secretary-General on the last page of the day note.
      
      Instruments adopted by empowerment procedure shall be attached in the authentic language or languages, in such a way that
         they cannot be separated, to the day note referred to in Article 15. They shall be authenticated by the signature of the Secretary-General
         on the last page of the day note.
      
      Instruments adopted by delegation procedure, or by subdelegation in accordance with the third paragraph of Article 13, shall
         be attached in the authentic language or languages, in such a way that they cannot be separated, to the day note referred
         to in Article 15. They shall be authenticated by a certifying statement signed by the Director-General or Head of Service.
         
      
      For the purposes of these Rules, “instruments” means any instrument as referred to in Article 14 of the ECSC Treaty, Article
         249 of the EC Treaty and Article 161 of the Euratom Treaty.
      
      For the purposes of these Rules, “authentic language or languages” means the official languages of the Communities in the
         case of instruments of general application and the language or languages of those to whom they are addressed in other cases.’
      
       Background to the case
      5        At its 1 678th meeting on 10 November 2004, the Commission adopted a decision (‘the Decision’), the wording of which, as contained
         in the document which the Italian Republic annexed to its application, was as follows:
      
      ‘The Commission has decided that external publications of the vacancy notices for senior management posts in the Official Journal of the European Union shall henceforth be in English, French and German for a period which shall in principle end on 1 January 2007. This decision
         has been taken in the light of available translation capacity within the Directorate-General for Translation, takes into account
         the procedural rules adopted for the recruitment of senior managers [SEC(2004) 252] and contributes to implementing the Commission
         Communication of 26 May 2004 entitled “Matching supply and demand for translation” [SEC(2004) 638/6].’ 
      
      6        Document SEC (2004) 252 of 27 February 2004, entitled ‘Communication from Vice-President Kinnock in agreement with the President.
         The Recruitment of Senior Managers from the New Member States’, which was placed on the agenda for the 1 648th meeting of
         the Commission of 3 March 2004, adopts procedural rules for the recruitment of senior managers to the Commission from the
         10 Member States which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. Those rules include the rule contained in the last sentence
         of the second subparagraph of paragraph 5 of that document, which states: 
      
      ‘The selection procedures will be run in English, French and German.’ 
      7        Document SEC (2004) 638/6 of 26 May 2004, entitled ‘Matching supply and demand for translation. Communication from Mr Kinnock
         in agreement with the President’, which was placed on the agenda for the 1 659th meeting of the Commission on 26 May 2004,
         sets out the foreseeable trends in translation capacity and demand for translation within the Commission following enlargement
         in 2004, explains the limitations imposed as regards available resources by supply-orientated translation measures already
         adopted, and draws up an action plan of measures to ensure the limitation and management of demand for translations during
         a transition phase that will last until end 2006. As a result of those measures, as described in paragraph 4 of the document
         under the heading ‘Action Plan’, during the transition phase certain Commission documents will be translated only into particular
         official languages, and other documents described as ‘non‑core documents’ may not be translated at all (see last indent of
         paragraph 4.2 of the document). The document makes no specific mention either of vacancy notices or of any other documents
         relating to staff selection procedures.
      
      8        On 9 February 2005, the Commission published, in English, French and German only, vacancy notice COM/2005/335 (OJ 2005 C 34 A,
         p. 3, ‘the vacancy notice’) for the grade grade A*15/A*16 post of Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
         Under the heading ‘Job requirements’, the vacancy notice stipulated inter alia that ‘[a]pplicants must … have a thorough knowledge
         of one of the official languages of the European Union and an adequate knowledge of another of these official languages’.
         Under the heading ‘Application procedure’ the vacancy notice states inter alia:
      
      ‘[y]ou will be required to attach a curriculum vitae … to your application and to enter, online, a letter of motivation …
         Both the CV and letter must be written in either English, French or German.’ 
      
      9        Also, between 15 and 23 February 2005, the Commission published in the main daily papers in all Member States, including the
         Italian dailies La Repubblica of 17 February 2005, and Corriere della Sera of 18 February 2005, and in some international newspapers, short advertisements, in the language of each of the publications
         concerned, informing interested persons of the publication of the vacancy notice and referring readers to that notice for
         further details. 
      
       Procedure and forms of order sought 
      10      By application lodged at the Court Registry on 3 May 2005, the Italian Republic brought this action.
      
      11      By documents lodged at the Court Registry on 28 July and 3 August 2005, respectively, the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic
         of Latvia sought leave to intervene in support of the forms of order sought by the Italian Republic. By order of 29 September
         2005, the President of the Fifth Chamber of the Court of First Instance granted them leave to intervene. The Kingdom of Spain
         and the Republic of Latvia lodged their statements in intervention on 17 November 2005. 
      
      12      Upon hearing the report of the Judge-Rapporteur, the Court of First Instance (Fifth Chamber) decided to open the oral procedure
         and, by way of measures of organisation of procedure provided for by Article 64 of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of
         First Instance, requested the Italian Republic to answer a question in writing. The Italian Republic complied with that request.
         
      
      13      The parties presented oral argument and answered the questions put by the Court at the hearing on 3 July 2008. 
      
      14      At the hearing the Commission produced a copy of the minutes of its 1 678th meeting of 10 November 2004, containing, in paragraph
         8.1, the Decision, worded as follows: 
      
      ‘[T]he Commission hereby decides that external publications of the vacancy notices for senior management posts in the Official
         Journal shall henceforth be in English, French and German, as recommended in PERS (2004) 203. This decision shall take effect
         immediately and apply only until 31 December 2006.’ 
      
      15      The Commission also produced at the hearing a copy of Commission document PERS (2004) 203 of 5 November 2004, referred to
         in the abovementioned minutes. Paragraph 2 of that document contains the Commission’s proposal, worded as follows: 
      
      ‘[I]n the light of: 
      –        the Commission Communication of 26 May 2004 entitled “Matching supply and demand for translation” (SEC (2004) 638/6), which
         puts in place measures to improve the focus of translation capacity and reduce the overall volume of demand during a transitional
         period lasting until 1 January 2007; 
      
      –        the difficulty referred to by the [Directorate-General for Translation] in arranging for translations into the languages of
         the new countries of the Union within the deadlines requested by operational departments; 
      
      –        the current overload of work in the [Directorate-General for Translation], which entails time-lags that are incompatible with
         the desire of departments to fill their posts as soon as possible; 
      
      –        the fact that the Commission Decision of 3 March 2004 [SEC (2004) 252] concerning “The recruitment of Senior Managers from
         the New Member States” states that selection procedures must be run in English, French and German; 
      
      it is proposed that the Commission in agreement with the President should decide that external publications of the vacancy
         notices for senior management posts in the OJ will henceforth be in English, French and German.’ 
      
      16      The Court decided to place those documents in the case file and invited the parties to submit any relevant observations they
         might have relating to them. All the parties stated that, although the wording used in the two documents produced by the Commission
         differs slightly from that used in the document which the Italian Republic annexed to its application, the tenor of the Decision
         is exactly the same in the documents produced by the Commission and in the document annexed to the application. Formal note
         was taken of those statements in the minutes of the hearing. Apart from this, none of the parties put forward any other observations
         concerning the documents produced by the Commission. 
      
      17      The Italian Republic, supported by the Kingdom of Spain and the Republic of Latvia claim that the Court should annul the Decision
         and the vacancy notice. 
      
      18      The Commission contends that the Court should: 
      
      –        dismiss the action as inadmissible or, in the alternative, as being without foundation;
      –        order the Italian Republic to pay the costs. 
       Law
       Admissibility 
      19      The Commission expresses doubts as to the admissibility of the action but does not raise an objection of inadmissibility by
         a separate document pursuant to Article 114(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court. Those doubts concern, first, the right
         of Member States to bring proceedings under Article 230 EC against a vacancy notice for the recruitment of staff to the institutions,
         secondly, the classification of the Decision as an act open to challenge for the purposes of the first paragraph of Article
         230 EC, thirdly, the issue of whether the vacancy notice is an act open to challenge, on the ground that it is an act that
         implements or applies the Decision, were the Decision itself to be regarded as an act against which proceedings may be brought
         and, fourthly, compliance with the time-limits, for bringing proceedings laid down in the fifth paragraph of Article 230 EC,
         in so far as annulment of the Decision is sought.
      
       The right of Member States to bring proceedings under Article 230 EC against acts of the institutions concerning their relations
         with their officials and other servants 
      
      –       Arguments of the parties 
      20      The Commission points out that in Case C‑160/03 Spain v Eurojust [2005] ECR I‑2077, paragraphs 37 to 44, the Court declared inadmissible an action brought by a Member State against certain
         calls for applications in connection with the recruitment of temporary staff, issued by Eurojust, on the grounds that the
         contested calls for applications were not included in the list of acts of which the Court may review the legality, that the
         candidates for the various posts named in those calls for applications had access to the Community judicature under the conditions
         laid down in Article 91 of the Staff Regulations and that in the event of such proceedings Member States would be entitled
         to intervene and could, where appropriate, appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance. The Commission submits
         that despite the specific nature of that case the present action should, by analogy, be held to be inadmissible in so far
         as the form of order relating to the vacancy notice is concerned.
      
      21      The Italian Republic considers that the legal interest justifying a Member State intervening in a case in which a candidate
         challenges the legality of a vacancy notice is no different from the legal interest justifying a direct action by that State.
         It adds that Member States may challenge, by means of an action for annulment, any Commission decision producing legal effects,
         in the form of legislation or an individual decision, and when doing so, rely on infringement of any provision of the EC Treaty.
         Therefore, in the present case the Italian Republic is entitled to challenge both the Decision and the vacancy notice, and
         to rely on infringement of Articles 12 EC and 290 EC in support of its application.
      
      22      The Kingdom of Spain supports the arguments put forward by the Italian Republic and adds that Spain v Eurojust, cited in paragraph 20 above, is not relevant. According to the Kingdom of Spain, in that case the Court held that an action
         for annulment of an act adopted by Eurojust could not be brought under Article 230 EC since Eurojust is a body coming under
         the third pillar of the European Union. In the present case the action does concern Commission acts covered by Article 230
         EC. 
      
      –       Findings of the Court
      23      Article 230 EC allows Member States to challenge any Commission decision producing legal effects by means of an action for
         annulment, and does not exclude those concerning its relations with its officials and other servants. 
      
      24      The Court has, it is true, held that Article 236 EC, which confers on the Community judicature jurisdiction in any dispute
         between the Community and its servants within the limits and under the conditions laid down in the Staff Regulations or the
         Conditions of Employment, must be construed as applying exclusively to persons who have the status of official or servant
         other than local staff and to persons claiming that status. Such persons must therefore bring their actions for annulment
         of an act adversely affecting them not on the basis of Article 230 EC, but on that of Article 91 of the Staff Regulations
         (see order of the Court of First Instance of 2 May 2001 in Case T‑208/00 Barleycorn Mongolue and Boixader Rivas v European Parliament and Council ECR-SC [2001] I‑A‑103 and II‑479, paragraphs 26 to 28, and case-law cited therein). 
      
      25      Article 236 EC, however, only covers disputes ‘between the Community and its servants’. An action brought by a Member State
         under Article 230 EC does not give rise to a dispute of that nature. 
      
      26      The Court has also held that although the remedy provided for in Article 91 of the Staff Regulations is available only to
         Community officials and other servants and not to a staff association, such an association which fulfils these conditions
         is entitled, by virtue of the fourth paragraph of Article 230 EC, to institute proceedings for annulment against a decision
         addressed to it within the meaning of that provision (Case 175/73 Union Syndicale and Others v Council [1974] ECR 917, paragraphs 17 to 20).
      
      27      It follows that if the conditions for Article 230 EC to apply are met it is possible for applicants not covered by Article
         91 of the Staff Regulations, that is to say applicants who are neither Community officials or other servants nor candidates
         for a post in the European Civil Service, to bring an action under that provision for annulment of Commission acts concerning
         the European Civil Service. 
      
      28      In the present case, without prejudice to the considerations set out below regarding the status of the Decision and the vacancy
         notice as acts that are open to challenge, the right of a Member State to bring an action for annulment under Article 230
         EC against a decision of the Commission producing legal effects cannot be called in question because those acts concern issues
         relating to the European Civil Service. 
      
      29      Spain v Eurojust, cited in paragraph 20 above and relied upon by the Commission, does not lead to a different conclusion. In that case the
         Court dismissed as inadmissible an action brought by the Kingdom of Spain under Article 230 EC, on the ground that the acts
         contested in that action were not included in the list of acts the legality of which the Court may review under that article
         and, moreover, Article 41 EU does not provide that Article 230 EC is to apply to the provisions on police and judicial cooperation
         in criminal matters in Title VI of the EU Treaty, under which Eurojust falls, the jurisdiction of the Court in such matters
         being defined in Article 35 EU, to which Article 46(b) EU refers (Spain v Eurojust, cited in paragraph 20 above, paragraphs 36 to 40). 
      
      30      The paragraphs of that judgment to which the Commission refers concern the Kingdom of Spain’s argument regarding the right
         to effective judicial protection in a community based on the rule of law. It was in response to that argument that the Court
         noted that the acts contested in that case were not exempt from judicial review, since the main parties concerned, namely
         the candidates for the various posts in the contested calls for applications, had access to the Community judicature under
         the conditions laid down in Article 91 of the Staff Regulations and, in the event of such an action, Member States would be
         entitled to intervene in the proceedings and could, where appropriate, appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance
         (Spain v Eurojust, cited in paragraph 20 above, paragraphs 41 to 43). 
      
      31      The conclusion cannot be drawn from these considerations alone that as regards acts adopted by the Commission, which unlike
         acts adopted by Eurojust are covered by Article 230 EC, the Member States are not entitled to bring an action for annulment
         under that article but must restrict themselves to intervening in proceedings between the Commission and its officials and
         other servants. 
      
      32      In the light of the above considerations, there can be no doubt as to the applicability of Article 230 EC in the present case.
         
      
       Status of the Decision and the vacancy notice as acts that are open to challenge, for the purposes of the first paragraph
         of Article 230 EC 
      
      –       Arguments of the parties 
      33      The Commission has serious doubts as to whether the Decision is an act that is open to challenge for the purposes of Article
         230 EC. The Decision is not intended essentially to produce binding legal effects vis-à-vis third parties that are likely
         to affect their interests directly by significantly altering their legal position. On the contrary, it is merely a declaration
         of the Commission’s intention to follow a particular line of conduct in the event of specific future events, namely the publication
         of vacancy notices. According to case-law, such acts, which merely provide information, are not per se likely to produce legal
         effects vis-à-vis third parties, nor are they intended to do so. The interests of third parties cannot be specifically harmed
         except by measures actually adopted according to the guideline set out in the Decision. The applicant’s statement that publication
         of the vacancy notice puts into concrete form the harm done by the Decision to the applicants’ legally protected interests
         confirms this view. 
      
      34      The Commission adds that if the Decision was to be regarded as a measure intended to produce binding legal effects and, hence,
         open to an independent action for annulment under Article 230 EC, the individual vacancy notices published subsequently under
         the Decision would be purely implementing measures, lacking any autonomy vis-à-vis the Decision itself, and therefore not
         open to challenge. The Italian Republic in its application describes the vacancy notice as an act implementing or applying
         the Decision. The Commission therefore submits that if that is so the action should be dismissed as inadmissible in so far
         as it relates to the vacancy notice.
      
      35      The Italian Republic accepts that it is not certain that the Decision has binding legal effects vis-à-vis third parties, since
         it could be argued that it is not directed to the outside world but refers solely to the Commission itself and that only the
         publication of a specific vacancy notice could affect the interests of persons outside the Commission.
      
      36      None the less, the Italian Republic considers that there are arguments to support the view that the Decision is an act that
         is open to challenge. On one hand, the Decision lays down the language rules applying in future to all vacancy notices for
         senior management posts and already affects the interests of persons outside the Commission, in particular the interests of
         those Member States whose official languages have not been selected for use. The Member States concerned could therefore refer
         the matter to the Court of First Instance immediately without waiting for a vacancy notice to be published only in the three
         languages specified in the Decision. On the other hand, the fact that the Decision does not have the appearance of an act
         preparatory to a final decision, but gives the appearance of being a final decision, supports the view that the Decision is
         an act that is open to challenge.
      
      37      The Italian Republic adds that if it had not become aware of the Decision by chance it could only have challenged vacancy
         notices that were published and such a challenge would have been sufficient, in that case, to restore legality. However, the
         interest of a Member State, which is different from that of an individual candidate for a post in the Community administration,
         is best protected by annulment of the Decision itself, since annulment would avoid the need for the Member State concerned
         to challenge individually all vacancy notices not published in its official language.
      
      38      The Kingdom of Spain supports the Italian Republic’s arguments, adding that the Decision and the vacancy notice cannot be
         separated but form a legal entity. The Decision has exceptionally significant and serious legal effects, since it undermines
         in particular the principle of respect for linguistic plurality, which is one of the basic principles on which the European
         Union is founded, and the principles relating to the powers of the institutions, non‑discrimination on grounds of language
         and national identity. The vacancy notice is simply an act that implements and applies the Decision, so that if the Court
         were to annul the Decision the vacancy notice would be annulled as a consequence.
      
      –       Findings of the Court
      39      The Court has consistently held that an action for annulment, for the purposes of Article 230 EC, must be available in the
         case of all measures adopted by the institutions, whatever their nature or form, which are intended to have legal effects
         (Case 22/70 Commission v Council [1971] ECR 263, paragraph 42; Case C‑325/91 France v Commission [1993] ECR I‑3283, paragraph 9; Case C‑57/95 France v Commission [1997] ECR I‑1627, paragraph 7; and Case C‑301/03 Italy v Commission [2005] ECR I‑10217, paragraph 19). 
      
      40      To determine whether an act or decision produces such effects, it is necessary to look to its substance (Case 60/81 IBM v Commission [1981] ECR 2639, paragraph 9; see Joined Cases T‑125/97 and T‑127/97 Coca-Cola v Commission [2000] ECR II‑1733, paragraph 78, and case-law cited therein).
      
      41      A measure adopted by an institution which reflects only its intention, or that of one of its departments, to follow a particular
         line of conduct in a particular field is not an act open to challenge, for the purposes of Article 230 EC (Case 114/86 United Kingdom v Commission [1988] ECR 5289, paragraph 13, and Case C‑180/96 United Kingdom v Commission [1998] ECR I‑2265, paragraph 28). Such internal guidelines indicating the general lines along which, pursuant to the relevant
         provisions, the institution envisages subsequently adopting individual decisions whose legality may be challenged in accordance
         with the procedure laid down by Article 230 EC cannot be regarded as intended to produce legal effects (Case C‑443/97 Spain v Commission [2000] ECR I‑2415, paragraphs 33 and 34). 
      
      42      It should also be noted that Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations allows each institution to adopt a recruitment procedure
         other than the competition procedure for the recruitment of senior officials.
      
      43      According to case-law, an institution must exercise its discretion in assessing the merits of the various candidates for a
         particular post in full compliance with all the relevant rules, that is to say, not only with the vacancy notice but also
         with any procedural rules the institution may have (Case T‑73/01 Pappas v Committee of the Regions [2003] ECR‑SC I‑A‑207 and II‑1011, paragraph 53). Those rules form part of the legal framework which that institution must
         strictly observe in the exercise of its broad discretion (Case T‑88/04 Tzirani v Commission [2006] ECR‑SC II-A-2-703, paragraph 78). The institution concerned cannot refrain from applying internal rules governing
         recruitment which it has laid down for itself without formally amending those rules (Case T‑113/05 Angelidis v European Parliament [2007] ECR II‑0000, paragraph 75). 
      
      44      It follows that procedural rules which an institution adopts, under Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations, for recruitment
         of its senior management staff are binding on that institution and thereby produce legal effects within the meaning of the
         case-law relating to the application of Article 230 EC. 
      
      45      It is true that such rules may, under that provision of the Staff Regulations, be adopted on a case-by-case basis for each
         post that becomes vacant within an institution to which it applies. If an institution decides to adopt that approach there
         is nothing to prevent it from adopting internal guidelines indicating the general lines under which it will lay down, whenever
         necessary, the procedural rules to be followed for recruitment to a post to which Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations applies.
         According to the case-law cited in paragraph 41 above, it must be concluded that in such cases those internal guidelines do
         not in themselves produce binding legal effects and cannot therefore be the subject of an action for annulment. Such an action
         in that situation could only be brought against the vacancy notice or any other act which lays down definitively the procedural
         rules to be followed when filling a specific post. 
      
      46      However, neither Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations nor any other provision preclude an institution adopting, prior to
         carrying out a specific procedure for filling a senior management post, general implementing rules making definitive provision
         for at least some aspects of the procedure to be followed when recruiting senior management staff within that institution.
         Such rules produce binding legal effects inasmuch as the institution concerned cannot, unless those rules are amended or repealed,
         depart from them during the process of recruitment to a specific post in that category. In such a case, a privileged applicant
         such as a Member State can immediately challenge the legality of those rules by an action for annulment under Article 230
         EC without having to wait for them to be applied in a particular case. 
      
      47      In the present case it is therefore necessary to determine, first of all, whether the Decision merely indicates the Commission’s
         intention to follow a certain guideline or line of conduct during procedures for the recruitment of senior management staff
         or whether, instead, the Decision makes provision, in what is henceforth a definitive form, for one aspect of the procedure
         to be followed in future when filling all senior management posts falling within its scope. 
      
      48      In the light of the content of the Decision, both in the version contained in the document the Italian Republic annexed to
         its application and in the versions produced by the Commission at the hearing, it is the second of those options that should
         be taken to apply. Drafted in clear and unequivocal terms, the Decision does not merely contain guidelines, it actually makes
         provision, definitively and in a binding form, for one aspect of recruitment procedures, when filling senior management posts
         within the Commission, concerning the languages in which the relevant vacancy notices are to be published, up until at least
         1 January 2007, the date on which the transitional period for the application of the Decision was due to end. That is borne
         out in particular by the fact that, on the one hand, the contested act uses the words ‘the Commission decided’, ‘the Commission
         hereby decides’, and also the word ‘decision’, and, on the other hand, the vacancy notice was published only in English, French
         and German, that is to say, in full compliance with the relevant publication rules laid down in the Decision (conversely,
         see Italy v Commission, cited in paragraph 39 above, paragraphs 21 to 24, and United Kingdom v Commission, cited in paragraph 41 above, paragraph 14). 
      
      49      The Decision is thus binding on the Commission, which cannot depart from it without formally amending it. Moreover, as for
         its content, it must be regarded as producing binding legal effects and therefore as open to challenge in an action for annulment
         under Article 230 EC, brought by a privileged applicant such as a Member State. 
      
      50      Secondly, it is appropriate to consider the Commission’s argument that, in the event that the Decision were to be considered
         to be an act producing binding legal effects, the action should be declared inadmissible in so far as it is directed against
         the vacancy notice, since in such circumstances the latter is purely a measure implementing the Decision. 
      
      51      According to case-law, the category of acts not producing binding legal effects, that are capable of affecting the interests
         of the individual concerned includes purely implementing measures, which do not therefore constitute acts open to challenge
         for the purposes of Article 230 EC (Case C‑46/03 United Kingdom v Commission [2005] ECR I‑10167 paragraph 25; Case C‑131/03 P Reynolds Tobacco and Others v Commission [2006] ECR I‑7795, paragraph 55; and Case C‑516/06 P Commission v Ferriere Nord [2007] I‑0000, paragraph 29).
      
      52      Purely implementing measures are, in particular, measures which, without giving rise to any rights or obligations for third
         parties, are designed merely to put into practical effect an earlier measure, or measures adopted in order to implement earlier
         decisions which produce only internal legal effects within the administration and do not affect the interests of third parties
         (Case 190/84 Les Verts v European Parliament [1988] ECR 1017, paragraph 8, and United Kingdom v Commission, cited in paragraph 51 above, paragraphs 1 and 25; see also, to that effect, Case 20/58 Phoenix-Rheinrohr v High Authority [1959] ECR 75, at p. 82).
      
      53      The following in particular have been found to be purely implementing measures not open to challenge under Article 230 EC:
         the act of decommitting from the budget a sum which the Commission had previously decided to decommit (United Kingdom v Commission, cited in paragraph 51 above, paragraphs 1 and 25); measures entering into commitments of expenditure and validating, authorising
         and implementing the payment of expenditure, adopted following decisions concerning the allocation and use of appropriations
         (Les Verts v EuropeanParliament, cited in paragraph 52 above, paragraph 8); and implementation, through enforcement of a bank guarantee, of a previous Commission
         decision which imposed a fine on a company as the result of its involvement in a series of infringements covered by Article
         81(1) EC (Commission v Ferriere Nord, cited in paragraph 51 above, paragraphs 28 and 29). 
      
      54      In the present case, contrary to what the Commission maintains, there are no grounds for accepting that the vacancy notice
         is an act purely implementing the Decision, within the meaning of the case-law referred to in paragraphs 51 to 53 above. 
      
      55      As the Court has consistently held, by defining the conditions relating to eligibility for the post, vacancy notices determine
         which persons’ applications are likely to be accepted, and are therefore acts which adversely affect the potential candidates
         whose applications are excluded under those conditions (Case 79/74 Küster v European Parliament [1975] 725, paragraphs 5 to 8; Case 25/77 De Roubaix v Commission [1978] ECR 1081, paragraphs 7 to 9; and Case T‑60/92 Noonan v Commission [1993] II‑911, paragraph 21). 
      
      56      Furthermore, the fact that a vacancy notice is an act that can have an adverse effect and therefore be open to challenge for
         the purposes of Article 230 EC cannot be disputed on the grounds that it complies, in one particular aspect, with conditions
         already laid down in a legal rule or in a previous decision of an institution having general application, or that it repeats
         some of those conditions – which form the legal basis for that vacancy notice – since it is in fact the vacancy notice which
         specifies the overall legal position of all potential applicants and enables them to ascertain, in a certain and unequivocal
         manner, how and to what extent their particular interests are affected. 
      
      57      It follows that the Commission’s argument that, inasmuch as it was published only in the three languages stipulated in the
         Decision, the vacancy notice should be regarded as a purely implementing measure not open to challenge should be dismissed.
         
      
       Time-limit for bringing an action against the Decision
      –       Arguments of the parties 
      58      The Commission maintains that, since the Decision was neither notified nor published, the time-limit for bringing an action
         for its annulment did not, under the fifth paragraph of Article 230 EC, begin to run until the Italian Republic became fully
         aware of the content of the Decision and of the reasons on which it was based.
      
      59      The Italian Republic merely stated, in paragraph 11 of the application, that it became aware of the Decision ‘when the vacancy
         notice was published’, without, however, giving either the exact date or whether it complied with the requirement to request,
         within a reasonable period, the full text of the Decision after learning of its existence, in accordance with established
         case-law regarding time-limits for actions against acts that have not been published or notified. In its reply, the Italian
         Republic also merely stated that it did not become fully aware of the content of the Decision ‘until the end of March’ 2005,
         without giving further details.
      
      60      The Commission accepts that the date on which the Italian Republic became aware of the Decision and the date of publication
         of the vacancy notice did not coincide, in view of the need also to take into account the time required to examine the vacancy
         notice and carry out research to check the existence of a previous administrative decision and become fully aware of its content.
         However, taking into account, first, the Italian Republic’s conduct mentioned in paragraph 59 above, secondly, the fact that
         the Decision was not communicated under Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May
         2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43) and, lastly,
         the lack of explanation as to how the text of the Decision could be obtained by other means, it is pointless to object, as
         the Italian Republic does, that the Commission has not provided any evidence that the Italian authorities were fully aware
         of the Decision before or at the time of publication of the vacancy notice, since the burden of proof in the circumstances
         of the present case lies with the applicant.
      
      61      The conduct of the Italian Republic does not comply with the requirements laid down in case-law and raises reasonable doubt
         as regards compliance with the time-limit for bringing an action in so far as it is directed against the Decision. In such
         circumstances, the Commission considers that the date on which the Italian Republic became aware of the precise tenor of the
         Decision must have been shortly after the date on which the vacancy notice was published and so the time-limit for bringing
         the action against the Decision, which was not lodged until 3 May 2005, at the same time as the vacancy notice was challenged,
         should probably be regarded as having already expired, without any action having being brought, by that date.
      
      62      The Italian Republic notes in its application that it became aware of the Decision only ‘when the vacancy notice was published’.
         In its reply, the Italian Republic states that, since the vacancy notice did not refer to the Decision, the date from which
         the period prescribed for bringing an action against it began to run could not be the same as that on which the vacancy notice
         was published. It was necessary to take into account the time needed to examine the vacancy notice and conduct research to
         confirm the existence of the Decision and to become aware of its content. That research was, moreover, made more complicated
         as a result of the transitory nature of the preliminary internal organisational measure laid down in the Decision. The delays
         due to conducting that research did not allow the Italian Republic to become fully aware of the Decision until the end of
         March 2005. The Commission has not shown that the Italian Republic became fully aware of the Decision before the end of March
         2005 or before the publication of the vacancy notice. 
      
      63      Moreover, since it is reasonable in the present case to establish the starting point for the time needed to acquaint itself
         with the Decision as the date of publication of the vacancy notice, and in view of the extension of the time-limit for bringing
         an action against the Decision on account of distance by a single period of 10 days, under Article 102(2) of the Rules of
         Procedure, the Italian Republic’s action cannot be regarded as being brought out of time. Consequently, it considers that
         its action was brought within the time-limit. 
      
      64      The Kingdom of Spain supports the Italian Republic’s arguments and adds that the date on which the vacancy notice was published
         cannot be considered to be the point from which time begins to run for the Italian Republic to challenge the Decision, since
         the vacancy notice was not published in the Italian language version of the Official Journal and the Italian authorities cannot
         be required to read any other version of the Official Journal. So far as the short advertisements inserted, in particular,
         in two Italian dailies (see paragraph 9 above) are concerned, they cannot be regarded as being the same as publication in
         the Official Journal and so they cannot be taken into account for purposes of calculating the time-limit for bringing an action.
      
      –       Findings of the Court 
      65      The fifth paragraph of Article 230 EC provides that annulment proceedings must be instituted within two months. Time begins
         to run from the publication of the measure, its notification to the plaintiff or, in the absence thereof, the date on which
         it came to the knowledge of the latter, as the case may be. 
      
      66      It is clear simply from the wording of that provision that the criterion of the date on which a measure came to the knowledge
         of the plaintiff, as the starting point of the period prescribed for instituting proceedings, is subsidiary to the criteria
         of publication or notification of the measure (Case C‑122/95 Germany v Council [1998] ECR I‑973, paragraph 35; see also Case T‑190/00 Regione Siciliana v Commission [2003] ECR II‑5015, paragraph 30, and case-law cited therein). 
      
      67      According to settled case-law, it is for the party pleading that the action is out of time to provide evidence of the date
         on which the event causing time to begin to run occurred (see order of the Court of First Instance of 13 April 2000 in Case
         T‑263/97GAL Penisola Sorrentina v Commission [2000] ECR II‑2041, paragraph 47, and case-law cited therein). 
      
      68      It is also apparent from the case-law of the Court that, failing publication or notification, it is for a party who has knowledge
         of a decision concerning it to request the whole text thereof within a reasonable period but, subject thereto, the period
         for bringing an action can begin to run only from the moment when the third party concerned acquires precise knowledge of
         the content of the decision in question and of the reasons on which it is based in such a way as to enable it to exercise
         its right to bring an action (Case 236/86 Dillinger Hüttenwerke v Commission [1988] ECR 3761, paragraph 14; Case C‑309/95 Commission v Council [1998] ECR I‑655, paragraph 18; Case T‑17/02 Olsen v Commission [2005] ECR II‑2031, paragraph 73; and order of the Court of First Instance of 21 November 2005 in Case T‑426/04 Tramarin v Commission [2005] ECR II‑4765, paragraph 48).
      
      69      It is also settled case-law that the time-limit prescribed for bringing actions under Article 230 EC is a matter of public
         policy since it was established in order to ensure that legal positions are clear and certain and to avoid any discrimination
         or arbitrary treatment in the administration of justice, and the Community Court must ascertain, even of its own motion, whether
         that time-limit has been observed (Case C‑246/95 Coen [1997] ECR I‑403, paragraph 21, and Joined Cases T‑121/96 and T‑151/96 Mutual Aid Administration Services v Commission [1997] ECR II‑1355, paragraphs 38 and 39). 
      
      70      However, where it is not possible to ascertain with any certainty the date on which the plaintiff first knew exactly what
         was in the measure that it is contesting and what were the reasons on which it was based, the period prescribed for initiating
         proceedings must be considered to have begun to run, at the latest, from the date on which it can be established that the
         plaintiff had such knowledge (Case C‑480/99 P Plant and Others v Commission and South Wales Small Mines [2002] ECR I‑265, paragraph 49). 
      
      71      In the present case, it is not disputed that the Decision was neither published nor notified to the Italian Republic. Nor
         is there any doubt that the Italian Republic was fully aware of the content of the Decision in question and of the reasons
         on which it was based prior to the action being brought. Although the version of the Decision which the Italian Republic annexed
         to its application is worded slightly differently from the documents produced by the Commission at the hearing, it is not
         disputed that the tenor of both versions of the Decision before the Court is exactly the same. 
      
      72      The question is therefore on what precise date did the Italian Republic obtain the copy of the Decision annexed to its application,
         since it is from that date that the period prescribed for bringing an action against the Decision began to run for the Italian
         Republic. It should also be noted that a simple calculation shows that in order for the action against the Decision not to
         be out of time the Italian Republic must have become aware of the Decision no earlier than 23 February 2005. 
      
      73      Since the Italian Republic had not given any clear indication in its pleadings of the date on which it obtained the copy of
         the Decision annexed to its application, the Court requested it, by way of a measure of organisation of procedure, to indicate,
         with supporting evidence, the precise date, from what source and by what means it obtained the copy of the Decision which
         appears in the annex to its application. 
      
      74      In its initial reply, lodged at the Registry on 12 June 2008, the Italian Republic referred to a letter which its Permanent
         Representative to the European Union had sent to the Secretary-General of the Commission on 10 March 2005 protesting against
         the failure to publish the vacancy notice in Italian as well, and the replies to that letter from the Vice-President and the
         Secretary-General of the Commission, both dated 6 April 2005. The Italian Republic produced copies of those three letters
         and stated that it was following those letters that it became aware of Commission internal document SEC (2004) 638/6 of 26
         May 2004, a document which differed from the Decision although it was mentioned in it. 
      
      75      In a further reply, lodged at the Registry on 23 June 2008, the Italian Republic added that it had obtained the copy of the
         Decision annexed to its application ‘by chance’ through an association for the promotion of the Italian language, but did
         not specify the date on which the association concerned had passed the copy to it. 
      
      76      Although the imprecise nature of the replies from the Italian Republic are cause for regret, the Court finds that not only
         has the Commission not provided any proof that the Italian Republic was aware of the Decision before 23 February 2005, but
         there is some evidence on the file to suggest that on that date the Italian Republic was not yet aware of the existence and
         the content of the Decision. 
      
      77      Thus, first, in its letter of 10 March 2005, the Permanent Representative of the Italian Republic to the European Union protested
         strongly against the failure to publish the vacancy notice in Italian but made no mention of the Decision. It is logical to
         presume that that protest would also have referred to the Decision if the Italian Republic was already aware of its existence
         and content at the date of the abovementioned letter. 
      
      78      Second, the letter from the Secretary-General of 6 April 2005, sent in reply to the letter of 10 March 2005, merely mentioned
         a ‘practice’ of publishing vacancy notices for senior management posts in only three languages, which had been in existence
         ‘since last November’, without disclosing that that practice was based on the Decision. 
      
      79      Nor did the letter from the Vice-President of the Commission dated 6 April 2005 disclose the existence of the Decision, it
         merely stated, rather ambiguously, that the practice of publishing such notices in only three languages came from Commission
         document SEC (2004) 638/6, dating back to May 2004. 
      
      80      Lastly, the Italian Republic’s statement in its application that it became aware of the Decision ‘when the vacancy notice
         was published’ cannot be taken to mean that the Italian Republic became aware of the existence and content of the Decision
         on the day of that publication (9 February 2005), since, as the Italian Republic rightly states, the vacancy notice makes
         no reference to the Decision. 
      
      81      In those circumstances, the abovementioned statement must be interpreted as meaning that it was following publication of the
         vacancy notice that the Italian Republic carried out the research which led it to obtain the copy of the Decision which appeared
         in the annex to the application, at a later date which cannot be established for certain. However, there is no evidence on
         the file to show that that date was prior to 23 February 2005. 
      
      82      In view of all the foregoing, there are grounds for concluding that the action was brought within the time-limits, both in
         so far as it is directed against the Decision and in so far as it is directed against the vacancy notice, since it was indisputably
         brought within the time-limit so far as the vacancy notice is concerned. 
      
       Substance
      83      The Italian Republic relies on a single plea, alleging infringement of Article 12 EC, Article 22 of the Charter of Fundamental
         Rights of the European Union proclaimed on 7 December 2000 at Nice (OJ 2000 C 364, p. 1), Articles 1, 3, 4 and 5 of Regulation
         No 1, Article 1d(1) and Article 27 of the Staff Regulations, Article 18 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission, and the
         principles of non‑discrimination on grounds of nationality and respect for linguistic diversity. 
      
       Arguments of the parties 
      84      The Italian Republic maintains that by providing in the Decision that vacancy notices for senior management posts would not
         be drafted in Italian and by failing to publish the vacancy notice in Italian, the Commission infringed Articles 1, 3, 4 and
         5 of Regulation No 1 and Article 12 EC. The Commission also disregarded Article 22 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of
         the European Union, which states that the Union will respect cultural, religious and linguistic diversity. According to case-law,
         in the context of a Community based on the principle of free movement of persons, the protection of the linguistic rights
         and privileges of individuals is of particular importance, so that any indirect discrimination on grounds of linguistic knowledge
         should be prohibited (Case 137/84 Mutsch [1985] 2681, paragraph 11; Case C‑379/87 Groener [1989] ECR 3967, paragraph 13; and Case C‑274/96 Bickel and Franz [1998] ECR I‑7637, paragraphs 19 and 23). 
      
      85      The Italian Republic adds that the principle of protection of the Community’s linguistic diversity constitutes a fundamental
         requirement for all its institutions and bodies. The rules governing the use of languages within the institutions of the European
         Union cannot be applied in isolation from this principle. Those rules ensure recognition of the linguistic rights of individuals,
         who have direct access to the Community institutions. They stem from the special nature of the relations which bind the Community
         to its citizens and should therefore be regarded as being the direct expression of the European Union’s linguistic diversity.
      
      86      Naturally, respect for the principle of protection of linguistic diversity should be reconciled with the needs of institutional
         and administrative life, which may in practice justify certain restrictions on this principle. However, such restrictions
         should be limited and justified by overriding requirements of institutional and administrative life and must not undermine
         the substance of the principle requiring institutions to respect and use all the official languages of the Community. 
      
      87      In that regard, the Italian Republic notes three different situations covered by Regulation No 1. 
      
      88      First, the principle of respect for linguistic diversity requires greatest protection in the area of communications between
         the institutions and citizens of the Union. In that case, this principle is linked to a fundamental democratic principle,
         respect for which requires in particular that subjects of Community law, Member States and European citizens should be afforded
         easy access to Community legislation and the institutions which produce it. Technical difficulties which an efficient institution
         can and must overcome cannot stand in the way of linguistic diversity.
      
      89      Second, in the area of administrative procedures it is also essential that the persons concerned, Member States or citizens,
         should be able to understand the institution or body with which they are in contact. That is why Article 3 of Regulation No
         1 requires the language of the person concerned to be used as the language of communication. Admittedly, in this context,
         the linguistic rights of the persons concerned may be subject to restrictions justified by requirements of the administration
         (Case C‑361/01 P Kik v OHIM [2003] ECR I‑8283, paragraphs 92 to 94). However, under Article 290 EC, only the Council, and not the Commission, is entitled
         to treat the official languages differently, making an appropriate and proportionate choice which avoids unjustified discrimination
         between European citizens. 
      
      90      Third, in the context of the internal functioning of the institutions and bodies of the Community, Article 6 of Regulation
         No 1 authorises an institution to choose and impose on its own staff the use of a particular vehicular language. However,
         although elementary requirements for the efficiency of the work of the administration may justify the imposition of a limited
         number of working languages, the internal linguistic arrangements cannot be totally dissociated from the institutions’ external
         communication arrangements. Consequently, the choice of one or more working languages at internal level is admissible only
         if it is based on objective, functional considerations and so long as it does not create unjustified differences in treatment
         between citizens of the Community. Thus, the procedures for recruiting the staff of an institution should ensure the participation
         of all those who possess the necessary abilities for occupying the posts to be filled.
      
      91      In the present case, publication of vacancy notices for senior management posts in the Commission in only three languages
         conflicts not only with Regulation No 1 but also with the last paragraph of Article 18 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission,
         and Articles 1d(1) and 27 of the Staff Regulations. 
      
      92      The Commission justified that measure by reference to the difficulties in translating such notices into the nine official
         languages of the Member States which joined the Community on 1 May 2004. Such difficulties, of a purely administrative and
         organisational nature, cannot justify the absence of translations into the official languages of the other Member States,
         especially since the capacity for translation into their languages had not caused any problems in the past. 
      
      93      Failure to translate the vacancy notices in question into the languages of the new Member States could have been justified,
         on a provisional and transitional basis, if the potential candidates from those States had been in a position duly to acquaint
         themselves with those notices by other means. In that regard, the Italian Republic considers that those candidates should
         be regarded as being qualified persons with substantive knowledge-based resources which would enable them to be adequately
         informed. Therefore, publication in the national press of the new Member States of an advertisement concerning the publication
         of a vacancy notice not translated into the languages of those States, or a communication to that effect sent by the Commission
         to the national authorities of those States, would have compensated for the temporary breach of the European Union’s language
         rules.
      
      94      However, the Commission’s choice to discontinue translating the vacancy notices concerned into all but three of the official
         languages is an irrational measure since, in order to avoid discrimination against the languages of the new Member States,
         the Commission introduced another form of discrimination, to the detriment of most of the official languages of the old Member
         States. Thus, the initiative taken to remedy a case of discrimination by increasing the number of persons and languages which
         are discriminated against has the effect of aggravating the problem rather than resolving it.
      
      95      The same irrational choice also infringed the principle of proportionality, since it afforded an advantage and a privileged
         ranking to a limited group of languages, namely, English, French and German. Although Article 6 of Regulation No 1 allows
         the institutions to determine the procedure for applying the Community’s language rules in their rules of procedure, there
         is no written rule stating that the three languages mentioned above are the Commission’s internal working languages. Moreover,
         the vacancy notices referred to in Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations are not covered by the internal language rules of
         an institution. Consequently, if the Commission were to use a limited number of languages for its internal procedures this
         would not have any repercussions either on the Community’s language rules, as laid down by the Council pursuant to Article 290 EC,
         or on the procedure for recruitment of staff to the institutions. 
      
      96      In its reply, the Italian Republic adds that the situation created following enlargement of the Union on 1 May 2004 cannot
         justify a reduction in the level of legal treatment afforded to the languages of the Member States on the basis of a measure
         of internal organisation. Enlargement could have justified at most different treatment of the languages of the new Member
         States, on a purely transitional basis and by a Council decision, adopted unanimously in accordance with Article 290 EC. In
         the absence of such a prior decision by the Council, the Commission’s contested measure is vitiated by a complete lack of
         competence and should therefore be declared unlawful. The mere fact that the Decision was adopted by the College of Commissioners
         and not by a Directorate-General of the Commission does not make it lawful since, in the present case, it is not the competence
         of one or other Community body that is at issue but the competence conferred on the Commission itself. 
      
      97      The Kingdom of Spain argues, first of all, that the Commission lacks competence, since the Council has not adopted any measure
         that would permit the Commission to adopt the Decision and implement it. The serious consequences resulting from the Decision
         cannot be accepted without a prior decision by the Council, which would provide the legal basis for the measures adopted by
         the Commission. 
      
      98      Secondly, the Kingdom of Spain maintains that the statement of reasons given in the Decision is inadequate. Like the Italian
         Republic, the Kingdom of Spain considers that the problems of capacity for translation into the languages of the new Member
         States do not justify discontinuing translation of vacancy notices into all but three languages. It adds that if the vacancy
         notices had to be translated, albeit partially, into all the languages for the purposes of publishing advertisements in the
         press, there was nothing to prevent those notices being published in all languages in the Official Journal as well. Lastly,
         the Kingdom of Spain notes that in this case the vacancy notice was addressed to candidates from all Member States, not only
         those from the new Member States.
      
      99      Thirdly, the Kingdom of Spain supports the Italian Republic’s arguments that publication of the vacancy notices concerned
         by the Decision in only three languages affords those languages a privileged ranking, in breach of the principles of non-discrimination
         and proportionality. In the Kingdom of Spain’s view that is borne out by the fact that the Commission has put forward no justification
         for the choice of the three languages in question. 
      
      100    Lastly, the Kingdom of Spain submits that, contrary to what the Commission maintains, no parallels can be established between
         the present case and Spain v Eurojust, cited in paragraph 20 above. The Eurojust calls for applications at issue in the latter case were published in all languages.
         All interested persons were therefore on an equal footing, irrespective of their nationality. However, in the present case,
         a Spaniard who wished to apply for the post of Director-General of OLAF would have needed to read, on a particular day, one
         particular Spanish newspaper, since no-one can be required to look at editions of the Official Journal in languages other
         than their own. Thus, in the Kingdom of Spain’s view, publication of the vacancy notice only in the English, French and German
         editions of the Official Journal is, in itself, sufficient reason for it to be annulled. Moreover, Eurojust put forward no
         justification for the language differences in its calls for applications. In the present case, however, the justification
         given for the Commission’s decision to exclude certain languages was the lack of available capacity to translate vacancy notices
         into the languages of the new Member States. Nevertheless, that justification does not make the contested measure appropriate
         or proportionate. 
      
      101    The Republic of Latvia supports the arguments put forward by the Italian Republic and maintains that the Decision infringes
         the principles of legal certainty, non‑discrimination and proportionality.
      
      102    First, the Republic of Latvia maintains that, in the light of Articles 4 and 5 of Regulation No 1, persons wishing to apply
         for senior management posts at the Commission may legitimately expect that the relevant vacancy notices will be published
         in the Official Journal in all the official languages. The Decision itself was not published in the Official Journal in order to inform candidates whose mother tongue was not English,
         French or German that henceforth they could consult vacancy notices for senior management posts only in the editions of the
         Official Journal published in those three languages. That situation is a breach of the principle of legal certainty.
      
      103    Secondly, the Republic of Latvia submits that the publication of Commission vacancy notices for senior management posts only
         in English, French and German confers an unwarranted advantage on citizens of certain Member States in breach of the principle
         of non‑discrimination. In that regard, the Republic of Latvia maintains that, although neither basic Community law nor case-law
         refers directly to a principle of equality of languages, such a principle, as a particular aspect of the prohibition of discrimination
         on grounds of nationality, stems from Article 12 EC, since knowledge of a language is directly linked to nationality. Moreover,
         the existence of the principle of equality of languages was not disregarded in Kik v OHIM, cited in paragraph 89 above, and derives also from Article 1 of Regulation No 1 and from Article 314 EC. 
      
      104    Thirdly, the Republic of Latvia submits that financial considerations or possible issues of translation capacity cannot justify
         discrimination between languages. Moreover, the Commission’s arguments about costs are dubious, since the same amount of human
         and financial resources were necessary for the translation and publication of the advertisements in the national press of
         the Member States. In addition, the Commission could have avoided overloading its translation services by choosing not to
         translate into all languages other less important texts such as individual decisions which concern only one person. Finally,
         the Commission, in the light of experience acquired during previous enlargements of the Union, should have prepared itself
         in time in order to provide and build up the resources needed in order to deal with any issues of translation capacity following
         the 2004 enlargement.
      
      105    Lastly, the Republic of Latvia maintains that the principle of proportionality has also been infringed in this case. The Commission
         did not do everything possible to minimise the difficulties resulting from failure to publish the vacancy notices in question
         in all the official languages. In that regard, neither the choice of the three languages most used in the Union, for purposes
         of publishing those notices in the Official Journal, nor the publication, in the other languages, of advertisements in the
         national press, were sufficient. The national press cannot be regarded as being the same as the Official Journal. It would
         have been possible, at the very least, at the same time as publication of the advertisements in the newspapers of the Member
         States, to publish in the other editions of the Official Journal a general description of each post to be filled, with a note
         that all the information relating to it was to be found in the English, French and German editions.
      
      106    The Commission points out that the arguments put forward by the Italian Republic repeat almost word for word some of the considerations
         set out in the Opinion of Advocate General Poiares Maduro in Spain v Eurojust, cited in paragraph 20 above. The Commission notes the difference in substance between that case and the present case, since,
         unlike the situation which Advocate General Poiares Maduro was dealing with in his Opinion in Spain v Eurojust, the contested Decision and vacancy notice do not contain any indication as to the required knowledge of specific Community
         languages. The fact remains, in the Commission’s view, that a thorough and complete reading of the Advocate General’s Opinion
         in Spain v Eurojust shows that the approach taken by the Commission in the present case, which is sufficiently limited in time and fully consistent
         with the language rules applying to the Commission, must be regarded as being in accordance with the principle of linguistic
         diversity and hence justified, adequate and proportionate.
      
      107    The Commission maintains that the purpose of publishing a vacancy notice for a senior management post is essentially to inform
         a limited number of specially qualified candidates of the existence of such a vacancy requiring certain specific abilities
         and considerable professional experience. The notice is certainly addressed to persons outside the Commission and may be contested
         by external candidates. However, it should at the same time be regarded as a provision adopted in the interest of the service
         and relating more directly to the internal organisation of the Commission. In that sense it is the external manifestation
         of internal administrative measures adopted by the Commission to ensure its proper functioning. Consequently, notices of this
         type do not fall within the scope of the Commission’s relations with the outside world.
      
      108    In the Commission’s view, it follows that neither the Decision nor the vacancy notice are acts which Article 4 of Regulation
         No 1 requires to be published in all the official languages. More generally, it is clear from case-law that Regulation No
         1 does not apply to relations between the institutions and their staff. The Commission considers that that conclusion also
         applies in respect of candidates in competitions organised by an institution, since such candidates have always been treated
         in case-law in the same way as officials and servants of the institutions. 
      
      109    According to the Commission, the internal language rules of the institutions, of which the vacancy notices are an external
         extension, do not, in the context of professional relations with the institution concerned, provide for the right to use the
         language chosen by the official or by the candidate in a selection procedure. What is, however, of particular importance in
         terms of communication with the institution and its staff or with outside candidates is the possibility for those officials
         or candidates to be able to acquaint themselves effectively with the provisions that relate to them.
      
      110    In the Commission’s view, the special situation of candidates to which a competition notice or a vacancy notice of the contested
         type relates justifies the use, during the selection procedures, of vehicular languages determined by the institution concerned.
         In that regard, it is the necessary existence of a link between the languages used and the abilities needed in order to carry
         out the duties concerned, together with the fact that no excessive harm is thereby done to the legal interests of potential
         candidates, that constitute the boundary of the institution’s discretion.
      
      111    The Commission states that, in the exercise of its discretion, an institution may also require candidates for a post to have
         a knowledge of specific official languages, on the basis of the objective requirements of the service. However, that was not
         so in the present case since the vacancy notice did not include any specific condition regarding knowledge of one of the three
         vehicular languages of the Commission in which it was published. The notice merely required that the application documents
         should be drafted in one of those languages. The vacancy notice is not therefore per se likely to harm in any way the interests
         of potential candidates as regards their knowledge of languages. The Commission submits that, in view of the nature of the
         duties and tasks of the Director-General of OLAF, which require the ability to work in a complex multicultural environment,
         it was fully entitled to stipulate that candidates for the post should know one of the three languages used to communicate
         within the institution. There is a clearly identifiable link between the use of those three languages and the specific abilities
         required in order to carry out the duties in question, as described in the vacancy notice.
      
      112    In any event, the Commission considers that there is no evidence of actual harm suffered by the candidates concerned by the
         vacancy notice due to its publication in only three languages. Publication took place throughout the European Union, including
         Italy, and therefore any Italian citizen meeting the conditions set out in the vacancy notice could have submitted an application.
         In fact, Italian nationals are very well represented in numerical terms among the applications received, since they make up
         around 14 % of the total number of candidates, and only one other country of the Union had a slightly larger number of candidates.
         Moreover, the number of Italian candidates is not only much greater than the number of German-speaking candidates but they
         in fact make up more than three times the number of English-speaking candidates. The Commission infers from these figures
         that the language factor had no effect on the submission of applications and could not have been a deterrent to European citizens
         whose own language was not one of those in which the vacancy notice was published. Moreover, the Commission did not receive
         any complaints concerning the language rules chosen, which leads to the conclusion that the candidates to whom the vacancy
         notice was of concern did not suffer any discrimination on grounds of their language or nationality.
      
      113    Lastly, the Commission considers that, in view of the well-known difficulties as regards translation, the pragmatic approach
         taken in the present case is largely based on considerations linked to the efficiency and proper functioning of the institution,
         and does not appear to depart too far from the approach described in paragraphs 92 to 94 of Kik v OHIM, cited in paragraph 89 above. 
      
       Findings of the Court 
      114    First, the Court notes that the Decision applies only to external publication in the Official Journal of vacancy notices for
         senior management posts at the Commission. 
      
      115    Secondly, it should be noted that there is no provision or principle of Community law requiring that such publications should
         routinely be made in all the official languages. 
      
      116    It is indeed correct that such posts are likely to be of potential interest to candidates from any Member State. However,
         as the Court has already held, the numerous references in the EC Treaty to the use of languages in the European Union, including
         in particular Articles 290 EC and 314 EC, relied on by the Italian Republic and the interveners, cannot be regarded as evidencing
         a general principle of Community law that confers a right on every citizen to have a version of anything that might affect
         his interests drawn up in his language in all circumstances (Kik v OHIM, cited in paragraph 89 above, paragraph 82). 
      
      117    Nor can the principle that the institutions are required routinely to publish the vacancy notices at issue in the Official
         Journal in all the official languages be inferred from Regulation No 1. It has thus been held that that regulation does not
         apply to relations between the institutions and their officials and other servants since it only lays down the language rules
         applying between the institutions of the European Community and a Member State or a person coming under the jurisdiction of
         one of the Member States (Case T‑203/03 Rasmussen v Commission [2005] ECR-SC I‑A‑279 and II‑1287, paragraph 60). 
      
      118    Officials and other servants of the Communities, and candidates for such posts, fall solely within the jurisdiction of the
         Communities, as regards application of the provisions of the Staff Regulations, including those relating to recruitment within
         an institution. Moreover, Article 6 of Regulation No 1 expressly allows institutions to stipulate in their rules of procedure
         which of the languages are to be used in specific cases (see, to that effect, Case T‑118/99 Bonaiti Brighina v Commission [2001] ECR-SC I‑A‑25 and II‑97, paragraph 13). 
      
      119    Applying the same language rules to candidates for posts of officials and other servants of the Communities as to officials
         and other servants themselves is justified by the fact that such candidates enter into a relationship with a Community institution
         solely in order to obtain a post of official or other servant for which, as will be explained below, certain knowledge of
         languages is necessary and may be required by the Community provisions applying in respect of appointment to the post concerned.
      
      120    Nor does Article 18 of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure, also relied on by the Italian Republic, impose a requirement to
         publish routinely in all languages notices relating to vacant posts within the Commission. That article is irrelevant in the
         present case, since, according to its own wording, it applies only to instruments as referred to in Articles 249 EC and 161
         EA and not to acts such as vacancy notices which the Commission adopts as the Appointing Authority, within the meaning of
         the relevant provisions of the Staff Regulations. 
      
      121    Lastly, the Staff Regulations do not contain any provisions requiring the publication of vacancy notices in all the official
         languages; however, under Article 29(2), they authorise the Appointing Authority to adopt the procedure which appears to it
         to be appropriate for the recruitment of senior management staff. 
      
      122    Therefore, the Commission was entitled, in the circumstances, to adopt the Decision in order to regulate, under the power
         conferred on it under Article 6 of Regulation No 1 and Article 29(2) of the Staff Regulations, the question of languages for
         the external publication of vacancy notices for senior management staff, a question which, as was stated above, constitutes
         a particular aspect of the procedures for the recruitment of staff in that category. The Italian Republic and the interveners
         are therefore wrong in pleading that the Commission lacks the necessary competence to adopt the Decision. 
      
      123    Thirdly, as regards the allegedly inadequate nature of the statement of reasons for the Decision, an issue raised by the Kingdom
         of Spain but one which in any event the Court is required to consider, even of its own motion, it should be noted that the
         extent of the requirement to state reasons depends on the nature of the measure in question, and that in the case of measures
         intended to have general application the preamble may be limited to indicating the general situation which led to the adoption
         of the measure in question, on the one hand, and the general objectives which it is intended to achieve, on the other (Case
         5/67 Beus [1968] ECR 83, at p. 95, and Case C‑284/94 Spain v Council [1998] I‑7309, paragraph 28). 
      
      124    It must be stated that in the present case the Decision complies with the requirements with regard to the statement of reasons
         mentioned above since it indicates the general situation which led to its adoption and the general objectives which it is
         intended to achieve, making reference to the translation capacity available within the Commission Directorate-General for
         Translation. From a reading of the Decision and the documents to which it refers (see paragraphs 5 to 7, 14 and 15 above),
         it is clear that, in view of the shortage of translation resources, it seeks to reduce requests for translation in order not
         to exceed available capacity. 
      
      125    The Italian Republic and the interveners are wrong in pleading in that regard an alleged inconsistency between the shortage
         of capacity for translation into the languages of the new Member States and the fact that vacancy notices for senior management
         staff were not translated into all the languages of the old Member States. 
      
      126    The version of the Decision annexed to the application and Commission document PERS (2004) 203, referred to in the version
         of the Decision which appears in the minutes of the 1 678th meeting of the Commission, make general references to ‘available
         translation capacity within the Directorate-General for Translation’ or ‘the current overload of work’ in that Directorate-General
         and not merely to the capacity to translate into the new languages. The reference in both the abovementioned documents to
         document SEC (2004) 638/6 of 26 May 2004, which concerns capacity for translating into the new official languages, cannot
         lead to a different conclusion since that is not the only factor justifying the measure adopted in the Decision. 
      
      127    Fourthly, it should be noted that, although the Commission is entitled to adopt measures which appear to it to be appropriate
         in order to regulate aspects of the procedure for recruiting its senior management staff, the fact remains that those measures
         must not result in discrimination on grounds of language between the candidates for a specific post. 
      
      128    On the one hand, such discrimination is expressly prohibited by Article 1d(1) of the Staff Regulations, since Article 1d(6)
         states that, while respecting the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of proportionality, any limitation of
         their application must be justified on objective and reasonable grounds and must be aimed at legitimate objectives in the
         general interest in the framework of staff policy. 
      
      129    On the other hand, Article 27 of the Staff Regulations also precludes the Appointing Authority requiring candidates for a
         post to have a thorough knowledge of a particular official language, where the effect of that language condition is to reserve
         that post for a specific nationality without such action being justified on grounds connected with the proper functioning
         of the service (Case 15/63 Lassalle v European Parliament [1964] ECR 31, at p. 38). 
      
      130    Therefore, if the Commission decides to publish the full text of a vacancy notice for a senior management post in the Official
         Journal only in certain languages it must, in order to avoid discriminating on grounds of language between candidates potentially
         interested in the notice, adopt appropriate measures to inform all the candidates of the existence of the vacancy notice concerned
         and the editions in which it has been published in full. 
      
      131    Provided that condition is met, publication in the Official Journal of a vacancy notice in the category covered by the Decision
         in a limited number of languages is not likely to lead to discrimination between the various candidates if it is agreed that
         the latter have an adequate knowledge of at least one of those languages and are thus able duly to acquaint themselves with
         the content of that notice. 
      
      132    In that regard, it is appropriate to note the case-law according to which the fact that documents sent by the administration
         to one of its officials are written in a language other than that official’s mother tongue, or the first foreign language
         he has chosen, does not constitute an infringement of the rights of that official if he has an understanding of the language
         used by the administration which enables him effectively and easily to acquaint himself with the content of the documents
         in question (see, to that effect, Rasmussen v Commission, cited in paragraph 117 above, paragraphs 62 to 64). That conclusion also holds good in the case of an act addressed to all
         officials or to candidates in a selection procedure such as a vacancy notice. 
      
      133    It should also be noted that, in the light of Article 28(f) of the Staff Regulations, any candidate in a recruitment procedure
         must have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the Communities and a satisfactory knowledge of another language
         of the Communities to the extent necessary for the performance of his duties. That is the minimum linguistic knowledge needed
         for the recruitment of Community officials, and institutions may, where appropriate, lay down stricter language conditions
         for recruitment to a specific post (see, to that effect, Pappas v Committee of the Regions, cited in paragraph 43 above, paragraph 85). 
      
      134    Thus, where the requirements of the service or those of the post so require, the institution concerned may legitimately specify
         the languages where a thorough or satisfactory knowledge is required (conversely, see Lassalle v European Parliament, cited in paragraph 129 above, at pages 37 and 38; see also Opinion of Advocate General Lagrange in that judgment, at page
         49). In the latter case, the fact that the text of the vacancy notice concerned is only available in those languages does
         not result in discrimination between candidates, since they must all have an understanding of at least one of those languages.
         
      
      135    However, publication of the text of the vacancy notice in the Official Journal in only some Community languages, when persons
         who have a knowledge only of other Community languages are entitled to submit an application, is likely, in the absence of
         other measures to enable that category of potential candidates duly to acquaint themselves with the content of that notice,
         to result in discrimination against them. 
      
      136    In that situation, the candidates in question would be in a less advantageous position in relation to the other candidates,
         since they would not be in a position duly to acquaint themselves with the qualifications required by the vacancy notice and
         the conditions and procedural rules for recruitment. That is a prerequisite for submitting an application in the best way,
         to maximise their chances of being accepted for the post concerned. 
      
      137    In the present case, the Decision states that external publications of the vacancy notices for senior management posts in
         the Official Journal will henceforth be in English, French and German only. It therefore excludes publication of the full
         text of the vacancy notices concerned in editions of the Official Journal published in the other Community languages and does
         not provide either for publication in those other editions of an advertisement indicating the existence of such a notice with
         a reference to the English, French and German editions for the full text of it, or the adoption of other equivalent measures.
         
      
      138    In view also of the fact that the Decision itself was not published in the Official Journal in order to alert readers of editions
         in languages other than English, French and German to the major change in practice introduced by the Decision there is a significant
         risk that potential candidates whose mother tongue is not one of the three languages listed in the Decision would not even
         be informed of the existence of a vacancy notice likely to be of interest to them. Even if those candidates have an understanding
         of at least one of the languages English, French and German it cannot be presumed that they will look at an edition of the
         Official Journal other than that published in their mother tongue. 
      
      139    Moreover, it should be noted that the Decision refers, in general terms, to all recruitment procedures for senior management
         posts in the Commission. In the absence of any indication to that effect in the Decision or in the vacancy notice, it cannot
         be presumed that a knowledge of English, French or German is always a requirement for such posts. Proof of this is that the
         vacancy notice, which relates specifically to a post in that category, requires only ‘a thorough knowledge of one of the official
         languages of the European Union and an adequate knowledge of another of these official languages’. 
      
      140    The fact relied upon by the Commission that document SEC (2004) 638/6 and the vacancy notice provide that selection procedures
         for senior management posts will be run exclusively in English, French or German does not lead to a different conclusion.
         If the Commission considers that, for legitimate reasons linked to the proper functioning of the service, a knowledge of at
         least one of the languages mentioned above is necessary, it should include an indication to that effect in vacancy notices
         for such posts. As this was not done in the present case, that argument must be rejected without there being any need to rule
         on the consequences of restricting the languages to be used during selection procedures as regards the legality of those procedures.
         
      
      141    In respect of vacancy notices for senior management posts not requiring a knowledge of at least one of the three languages
         mentioned above, the Decision does not provide for any measure enabling potential candidates without a knowledge of at least
         one of those languages duly to acquaint themselves with the content of those notices, which are available only in the three
         languages in question. No provision is even made for such candidates to be able to apply to the Commission in order to obtain
         a translation of the vacancy notice in question. 
      
      142    It follows from all the foregoing that application of the Decision is likely to lead to discrimination on grounds of language
         between candidates for a selection procedure. 
      
      143    The Commission, however, maintains in essence that the likelihood of such discrimination is somewhat hypothetical. The three
         languages chosen in the Decision are the internal working languages of the Commission and persons applying for the posts concerned
         will doubtless know at least one of them since they are necessarily highly-qualified. Moreover, in view of the shortage of
         translation capacity, the Decision is based on considerations linked to the effectiveness and proper functioning of the Commission.
         
      
      144    These arguments cannot be accepted. As regards, first of all, the fact that the three languages chosen in the Decision are
         the internal working languages of the Commission, it is clear from case-law that an institution cannot merely address an individual
         decision to an official drafted in one of those working languages, it must also ensure that the official concerned has an
         adequate knowledge of the language used, otherwise it must provide him with a translation (see, to that effect, Case T‑197/98
         Rudolph v Commission [2000] ECR-SC I‑A‑55 and II‑241, paragraphs 45 to 47, and Bonaiti Brighina v Commission, cited in paragraph 118 above, paragraphs 20 and 21). 
      
      145    In the light of that case-law, which can be transposed by analogy to candidates for a recruitment procedure, an institution
         must not simply use the internal working languages in notices for its vacant posts, it must ensure that all potential candidates
         are in a position to become effectively aware of the existence and content of the vacancy notices in question. 
      
      146    In any event, it should be noted that the Decision concerns only the external publication in the Official Journal which, by
         its very nature, is also addressed to persons outside the Commission, for whom the fact that the languages chosen for publication
         are the internal working languages of the Commission is irrelevant. 
      
      147    Next, it is true that senior management posts necessarily attract particularly well-qualified candidates and it is therefore
         likely that a number of candidates whose mother tongue is not English, French or German will have a satisfactory knowledge
         of one or other of those three languages, given that they are fairly widely spoken in Europe. However, that fact is not sufficient
         to justify the measure adopted in the Decision. 
      
      148    Even supposing that to be the case, it does not mean that those candidates will look at the editions of the Official Journal
         in those three languages and not in their own language. In any event, it cannot be presumed that everyone with the necessary
         qualifications for senior management posts has a knowledge of English, French or German. 
      
      149    Lastly, the argument concerning effectiveness and proper functioning of the Commission must also be rejected. Such considerations
         cannot justify discrimination prohibited by the Staff Regulations. As Article 1d(6) of the Staff Regulations provides, only
         ‘legitimate objectives in the general interest in the framework of staff policy’, such as measures relating to a mandatory
         retirement age or a minimum age for drawing a retirement pension, as referred to in the second sentence of that provision,
         may justify infringement of the principles of non-discrimination and proportionality. Proper management of translation capacity
         does not come under staff policy within the meaning of the Staff Regulations. 
      
      150    It follows from all the above considerations that, in adopting the Decision, the Commission infringed Article 1d of the Staff
         Regulations. Moreover, it also infringed, indirectly, Article 27 of the Staff Regulations, since the measure adopted is likely
         to favour, in the context of procedures for the recruitment of senior management staff, candidates of particular nationalities,
         namely those from countries in which English, French or German are spoken as the mother tongue, and to adversely affect at
         least some of the candidates who are nationals of the other Member States. 
      
      151    In those circumstances, the Decision must be annulled. The vacancy notice that was published according to the rules laid down
         in the Decision must also be annulled. The Commission did, however, publish in the national press of the Member States advertisements
         drafted in all the other languages in order to inform interested persons of the publication in the Official Journal of the
         vacancy notice, to which reference was made for further information. 
      
      152    Even if the publication of the abovementioned advertisements were sufficient to inform candidates whose mother tongue was
         not English, French or German of the existence of the vacancy notice, the fact remains that the Commission failed to take
         any measures to enable those candidates who did not know any of those three languages to acquaint themselves with the precise
         content of that notice. The mere factual circumstances relied on by the Commission, that it did not receive any complaints
         from candidates in that regard or that Italian nationals are numerically very well represented among the applications received,
         are not in themselves sufficient to show that the abovementioned omission on the part of the Commission was not likely to
         infringe the rights of some candidates. 
      
      153    In view of all the above considerations, the action must be upheld and the Decision and the vacancy notice must be annulled.
         
      
       Costs
      154    Under Article 87(2) of the Rules of Procedure, the unsuccessful party is to be ordered to pay the costs if they have been
         applied for in the successful party’s pleadings. Under Article 87(4) of those rules, the Member States and institutions which
         intervened in the proceedings are to bear their own costs.
      
      155    In the present case, the Commission has been unsuccessful. However, the Italian Republic did not apply for costs. In those
         circumstances, each party must be ordered to bear its own costs.
      
      On those grounds,
      THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE (Fifth Chamber)
      hereby:
      1.      Annuls the decision adopted by the Commission at its 1 678th meeting on 10 November 2004, whereby external publications of
            the vacancy notices for senior management posts in the Official Journal of the European Union would henceforth be in English, French and German for a period ending 1 January 2007; 
      2.      Annuls vacancy notice COM/2005/335 for the post of Director-General (grade A*15/A*16) of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF),
            published by the Commission on 9 February 2005 (OJ 2005 C 34 A, p. 3);
      3.      Orders each party to bear its own costs.
      
      
               Vilaras
            
            
               Prek
            
            
               Ciucă
            
         Delivered in open court in Luxembourg on 20 November 2008.
      
      [Signatures]
      
      Table of contents
      
      Legal context
      Background to the case
      Procedure and forms of order sought
      Law
      Admissibility
      The right of Member States to bring proceedings under Article 230 EC against acts of the institutions concerning their relations
         with their officials and other servants
      
      – Arguments of the parties
      – Findings of the Court
      Status of the Decision and the vacancy notice as acts that are open to challenge, for the purposes of the first paragraph
         of Article 230 EC
      
      – Arguments of the parties
      – Findings of the Court
      Time-limit for bringing an action against the Decision
      – Arguments of the parties
      – Findings of the Court
      Substance
      Arguments of the parties
      Findings of the Court
      Costs
      * Language of the case: Italian.