Deadline for application: 17 October 2023 at 12:00 (midday), Luxembourg time

CONTENTS

1.   GENERAL PROVISIONS

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising open competitions, based on qualifications and tests, to draw up lists from which the Court of Justice of the EU, based in Luxembourg, may recruit new members of the civil service as ‘lawyer-linguists’ (grade AD 7).

This notice of competitions and its annexes, including Annex I ‘General Rules’ , form the legally binding framework for these competitions.

Numbers of successful candidates sought:

This notice covers six competitions. A candidate may only apply to one of them. Candidates must make their choice when they apply and will not be able to change it after they have validated their application form.

EPSO endeavours to use gender-neutral and inclusive language to the extent possible. Any reference to a person of a specific gender must be deemed also to constitute a reference to a person of any other gender.

2.   WHAT DUTIES CAN I EXPECT TO PERFORM?

The Court of Justice of the EU recruits highly qualified lawyers, who must be able to translate often complex legal texts into the language of the competition from at least two other languages. The work of a lawyer-linguist involves the use of standard IT and other office-technology tools.

The duties involve translating legal texts (judgments of the Court of Justice and the General Court, Opinions of the Advocates General, written pleadings of the parties, etc.) into the language of the competition from at least two of the other official languages of the European Union, reviewing such translations, and providing legal analysis in cooperation with the Registries and the other departments of the Court of Justice.

3.   AM I ELIGIBLE?

Candidates must meet all the general and specific eligibility conditions listed below, on the closing date for applications.

3.1.   General conditions

A candidate must:

3.2.   Specific conditions — languages

A candidate must have knowledge of at least three official EU languages as provided for in Section 4.2.1 below.

3.3.   Specific conditions — qualifications and work experience

The specific educational qualifications that are in principle required for each particular competition covered by this notice are listed in Sections 3.3.1–3.3.6. Equivalence with these qualifications may also be accepted by the Selection Board, in the light of the principles laid down in the judgment of 7 September 2022, OQ v European Commission, T-713/20.

Please see Annex II for examples of minimum qualifications. To determine whether a candidate has attained a level corresponding to completed university studies, the Selection Board will take into account the rules in force at the time when the qualification was awarded.

In principle, no working experience is required. However, in cases where a candidate’s required educational qualifications correspond to completed university studies of three years only (i.e. where a candidate has followed a three-year degree course), they should also have subsequently obtained relevant professional experience of at least one year.

Experience will be considered relevant if it is acquired in one or more of the following areas:

3.3.1.    EPSO/AD/404/23 — English-language lawyer-linguists

To be eligible for competition EPSO/AD/404/23, a candidate must have a level of education corresponding to completed university studies attested by one of the following qualifications: a degree in law or its equivalent awarded in the Republic of Ireland or a qualification as a barrister or solicitor in the Republic of Ireland.

3.3.2.    EPSO/AD/405/23 — Spanish-language lawyer-linguists

To be eligible for competition EPSO/AD/405/23, a candidate must have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by one of the following diplomas in Spanish law: Licenciatura en Derecho or Grado en Derecho.

3.3.3.    EPSO/AD/406/23 — Lithuanian-language lawyer-linguists

To be eligible for competition EPSO/AD/406/23, a candidate must have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by one of the following qualifications in Lithuanian law: aukštasis universitetinis teisinis išsilavinimas — teisės bakalauro kvalifikacinis laipsnis arba teisės magistro kvalifikacinis laipsnis, įgytas turint teisės bakalauro kvalifikacinį laipsnį, arba teisininko profesinis kvalifikacinis laipsnis (vienpakopis teisinis universitetinis išsilavinimas).

3.3.4.    EPSO/AD/407/23 — Dutch-language lawyer-linguists

To be eligible for competition EPSO/AD/407/23, a candidate must have a level of education corresponding to completed university studies attested by one of the following qualifications in Belgian or Dutch law and in the Dutch language: Voltooide juridische studie, afgesloten met een diploma Nederlands recht (doctorandus of master) of Belgisch recht (licentiaat of master, afgegeven door een Nederlandstalige rechtenfaculteit). Ook een bachelor Nederlands of Belgisch recht, gevolgd door een master internationaal of Europees recht, zal worden aanvaard.

3.3.5.    EPSO/AD/408/23 — Portuguese-language lawyer-linguists

To be eligible for competition EPSO/AD/408/23, a candidate must have a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a degree in Portuguese law: um curso superior sancionado por um diploma de ‘Licenciatura em Direito’ atribuído por uma universidade portuguesa.

3.3.6.    EPSO/AD/409/23 — Slovak-language lawyer-linguists

To be eligible for competition EPSO/AD/409/23, a candidate must have a level of education corresponding to completed university studies attested by the following qualification in Slovak law: Vysokoškolské štúdium v oblasti slovenského práva ukončené diplomom z odboru právo (magister, mgr.), ktorý umožňuje pokračovať v doktorandskom študijnom programe.

4.   HOW WILL THE COMPETITIONS BE ORGANISED?

4.1.   Overview of the competition procedures

These competitions will be organised in the following phases:

4.2.   Languages used in these competitions

4.2.1.    Language requirements

A candidate in one of these competitions must have knowledge of the following languages:

The levels and linguistic abilities reflect those of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (1).

The Court of Justice of the EU is a multilingual institution and the language rules under which it operates are defined in its Rules of Procedure.

Language 1 of each competition corresponds to the target language of the translation unit concerned. A perfect command of language 1 is required for lawyer-linguists who will have to translate complex legal texts into this language. Also, on the basis of a perfect, active command of language 1, candidates need to demonstrate, for example, that they will be able to carry out the legal and terminological analysis of references for a preliminary ruling submitted by national courts in that language.

The choice of French as language 2 reflects the fact that the majority of texts are to be translated from French, particularly judgments and orders of the Court of Justice and the General Court. In order to ensure that the case-law can be published in all the official languages of the European Union, it is essential that each lawyer-linguist in each of the translation units concerned can work from French.

Language 3 is required for these competitions because — for organisational reasons — the lawyer-linguists at the Court of Justice need to be able to translate legal texts into language 1 from at least two source languages.

The language requirements specified above also determine the languages of tests (see Section 4.2.2 below).

4.2.2.    Application and test languages

Languages will be used in different phases of the competitions as follows:

Owing to the specific constraints on lawyer-linguists’ work at the Court of Justice as outlined in the previous section, it is appropriate to require candidates to take the reasoning tests in their language 1. Moreover, in order to facilitate swift processing, candidates are strongly encouraged to fill in their application form in language 1.

The field-related (translation) tests will require candidates to demonstrate ability to use languages 1, 2, and 3, corresponding to the languages they will use in their day-to-day work. This offers the best guarantee that the candidates recruited will be of the highest standard in terms of ability and efficiency and will be immediately operational upon recruitment.

4.3.   Competition phases

4.3.1.    Application

To apply, a candidate needs to have an EPSO account. Candidates who do not yet have an EPSO account will need to create one. Only one account may be created for all of a candidate’s EPSO applications.

The candidates must apply online on the EPSO website  (2) by

17 October 2023 at 12:00 (midday), Luxembourg time.

By validating their application form, candidates declare on their honour that they meet all the conditions mentioned under Section ‘Am I eligible?’. Once the candidates have validated their application form, they will no longer be able to make any changes. It is the candidates’ responsibility to ensure that they complete and validate their application within the deadline.

By 14 December 2023 at 12:00 (midday), Luxembourg time, candidates will have to upload — to their EPSO account — scanned copies of the documents supporting the declarations made in their application form.

4.3.2.    Testing

Candidates are invited to consult Section 5 of the General Rules (Annex I) which contains important information on testing.

All candidates who have validated their application form by the deadline indicated in this notice will be invited to sit a series of tests.

(a)   Reasoning tests

The tests of the candidates’ reasoning abilities will be organised as follows:

Each question is worth one point. There is no pass score per test. However, a candidate must at least reach a pass score of 20/40 in total for all tests combined. The score obtained in the reasoning tests will not count towards the final overall score (see Section 4.3.4).

Candidates who do not reach the required pass score in the reasoning tests will not have their eligibility checked (see Section 4.3.3).

(b)   Translation tests

Translation tests will be organised as follows:

In each test, a candidate needs to reach at least a pass score of 40/80.

4.3.3.    Eligibility check

Candidates who reached the required pass score in the reasoning tests will have their eligibility checked.

The eligibility check involves verifying compliance with the eligibility conditions set out in Section 3 (‘Am I eligible?’) of this notice. This will be done on the basis of candidates’ declarations made in their application form, subject to subsequent verification of supporting documents (see Section 4.3.5).

4.3.4.    Establishment of the ranking according to final overall scores

Candidates deemed eligible will have their translation test 1 scored.

Candidates who reach the pass score in translation test 1 will have their translation test 2 scored.

Candidates who reach the pass scores in both translation tests will have both scores added together to constitute the final overall score, out of 160. Here, ‘160’ represents the sum of the highest possible scores in translation test 1 (80) and in translation test 2 (80).

The Selection Board will then draw up a list of candidates in the descending order of the final overall scores.

4.3.5.    Check of supporting documents and establishment of reserve lists

The check of supporting documents involves comparing (a) the declarations that candidates made in their application form (including in Sections ‘Education and Training’ and ‘Professional Experience’) with (b) the documents the candidates have uploaded to their EPSO account to support those declarations. As a result of this comparison, the Selection Board will complete the eligibility assessment.

The Selection Board will check the document files of the candidates in the descending order of their overall scores calculated according to Section 4.3.4, until the number of candidates found to be eligible reaches the number of successful candidates sought for each competition.

The names of these candidates will be included in the reserve lists. Candidates who tie for the last available place in the reserve list will also be added to that reserve list.

The document files of the remaining candidates will not be checked.

Names in the reserve lists will be listed alphabetically. The reserve lists will be made available to the recruiting services. The candidates will be notified of their results (test results, eligibility and/or document-check results) unless those results have not been processed for the reasons provided for in this notice.

Inclusion on a reserve list does not confer any right to or guarantee of recruitment.

5.   EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES AND REASONABLE ACCOMMODATIONS

EPSO endeavours to apply an equal opportunities policy to all candidates.

Candidates who have a disability or a medical condition that may affect their ability to take the tests, should indicate this in their application form and follow the procedure to request reasonable accommodations as described on the EPSO website (3). Having examined the candidates’ request as well as the relevant supporting documents, EPSO may grant reasonable accommodations where deemed necessary.

(1)  https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168045bb52.

(2)  https://epso.europa.eu/en/job-opportunities/open-for-application.

(3)  https://epso.europa.eu/en/selection-procedure/equal-opportunities-diversity-inclusion/how-to-request-special-adjustment.