Keywords
Summary

Keywords

++++

Officials ° Organization of departments ° Determination of the level at which a post is to be filled ° Heads of units ° Discretion of the administration ° Publication of an A 3/A 4/A /5 vacancy notice and setting of the level at which the post was to be filled after the candidatures had been received ° Unlawful

(Staff Regulations, Arts 29(1)(a) and 45(1))

Summary

Since Article 7 of the Staff Regulations and Annex I thereto do not require posts of head of unit necessarily to be filled at Grade A 3 and since the requirement that the post must correspond to the grade does not mean that the institutions are obliged to define the duties attaching to each basic post in the same terms, there is nothing to prevent posts of head of unit from being filled at Grade A 3, A 4 or A 5, depending on the importance of the tasks entrusted to the unit concerned.

However, a procedure for filling head of unit posts which consists of publishing an A 3/A 4/A /5 vacancy notice and deciding the level at which the post in question is to be filled after the candidatures have been received and once the authority which is to take that decision is thus already acquainted with both the identities and files of the various candidates is illegal. Such a procedure runs counter to the requirement that the level at which a post is to be filled should be set objectively, having regard solely to the interests of the service, by reference to its importance, irrespective of the qualifications of the candidate or candidates. It may also lead to the rejection of a candidate, once the level of the post has been fixed, without any examination of his merits, simply because in the light of his grade he cannot seek to be appointed, whereas the notice of vacancy gave him that opportunity. By virtue of Articles 29(1)(a) and 45(1) of the Staff Regulations, the appointing authority is obliged to consider the comparative merits of the candidates within the self-imposed limits of legality set by the vacancy notice.