23.1.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

CA 16/16

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NOTICE OF OPEN COMPETITION

EPSO/AST/45/08

(2008/C 16 A/02)

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising the following admission tests and open competition, based on tests, to constitute a reserve from which to recruit

ASSISTANTS  (1) (AST4)

IN THE FIELD OF FRAUD PREVENTION

CONTENTS

I.	DUTIES AND ELIGIBILITY

A.

DUTIES

B.	ELIGIBILITY

II.	ADMISSION TESTS

TEST PROCEDURES

III.	OPEN COMPETITION

TEST PROCEDURES

IV.	HOW TO APPLY

V.	GENERAL INFORMATION

ANNEX:

Requests for review — Appeal procedures — Complaints to the European Ombudsman

I.   DUTIES AND ELIGIBILITY

Open competition EPSO/AST/45/08 is being held to recruit assistants (AST4) in the field of fraud prevention.

The purpose of this competition is to draw up a reserve list from which to fill vacant posts in the European Anti-Fraud Office, (OLAF) in Brussels.

Number of successful candidates: 30

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is organising the following parallel open competitions: EPSO/AD/116/08 — Administrators (AD8) and EPSO/AD/117/08 — Principal administrators (AD11) in the field of fraud prevention.

Please note that the tests for the above competitions may be held simultaneously. You may apply for only one of these three competitions. You must make your choice when you register online and you will not be able to change it after the deadline for registration.

A.   DUTIES

The competition is for grade 4 in function group AST for duties mainly involving:

—	helping with the preparation and conduct of administrative investigations within the institutions and other bodies, economic operators and recipients of Community funding inside the European Union and in non-member countries,

—	helping with the administrative, financial and legal follow-up, with the Member States, of fraud cases uncovered,

—	researching and analysing information with a view to drawing up estimates,

—	drawing up reports on investigations,

—	helping to develop technical assistance to the Member States.

Within the framework of this open competition, OLAF places particular importance on the ability to grasp problems of all kinds, often complex in nature, to react rapidly to changing circumstances and to communicate effectively. You will have to show initiative and imagination and be highly motivated. You should be able to work frequently under pressure, both on your own and in a team, and adjust to a multicultural working environment. You will also be expected to develop your professional skills throughout your career.

B.   ELIGIBILITY

(a)   General conditions

You must:

—	be a citizen of a Member State of the European Union,

—	enjoy your full rights as a citizen,

—	have fulfilled any military service obligations imposed on you by law,

—	meet the character requirements for the duties involved.

The competition notice does not set any age limit, but please note the information in Section V.7 concerning the retirement age.

(b)   Special conditions

1.   Qualifications

You must:

(i)	have a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma; OR

(ii)	have a level of secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of at least three years.

N.B. The minimum of three years' professional experience required under (ii) above counts as an integral part of the above qualification and cannot be included in the professional experience required under 2 below.

The selection board will allow for differences between education systems. For examples of the minimum qualifications required, see the tables annexed to the Guide for Applicants (http://europa.eu/epso/on-line-applications/guide_en.htm) for each category. Note that these are examples only — stricter requirements may be set in the competition notice.

2.   Professional experience

You must have acquired at least nine years' professional experience:

—	since obtaining the qualification required under (i) above, OR

—	since obtaining the qualification and professional experience required under (ii) above,

at least half of which must relate to fraud prevention.

3.   Knowledge of languages

You must have:

—	main language (language 1) a thorough knowledge of one of the official languages of the European Union; and

—	second language (language 2 — must be different from your main language) a satisfactory knowledge of English, French or German.

Under Article 45(2) of the Staff Regulations, officials must prove their ability to work in a third language before their first promotion after recruitment.

You must indicate your choice of language for the admission tests and the competition tests (English, French or German: language 2) when you register online  (2). You will not be able to change your choice after the deadline for online registration 26 February 2008.

To ensure that all general texts relating to the competition and all communication between you and EPSO are clearly understood on both sides, only English, French or German will be used for the invitations to the various tests and correspondence between you and EPSO.

You may send any questions to EPSO by e-mail (EPSO-AST-45-08@ec.europa.eu), but please check first that the information you want is not in the competition notice or the Guide for Applicants, or on the EPSO website (http://europa.eu/epso).

II.   ADMISSION TESTS

The appointing authority will admit you to the admission tests if your online registration shows that you satisfy the general and special conditions set out in I.B on the closing date for online registration (26 February 2008).

TEST PROCEDURES

EPSO will organise computer-based admission tests for all the candidates admitted. The tests will be held in the European Union in one or more centres specialised in this type of test, depending on availability.

You will be informed of the procedure for attending these tests via your EPSO profile.

You will take the admission tests in English, French or German (language 2).

(a)	A test comprising a series of multiple-choice questions to assess your knowledge of the European Union, its institutions and its policies. This test will be marked out of 10 (pass mark: 5).

(b)	A test comprising a series of multiple-choice questions to assess your general verbal and numerical reasoning ability and skills. This test will be marked out of 20 (pass mark: 10).

Wrong answers in these tests will not be penalised.

The candidates with the 360 highest aggregate marks (3) in the admission tests and a pass mark in each will be invited to submit a full application in view of a possible admission to the open competition.

III.   OPEN COMPETITION

Following reception of the applications, the appointing authority will draw up a list of the candidates who satisfy the general conditions set out in Section I.B.(a) and send it to the chair of the selection board together with their application files.

After having examined the necessary number of files from the list mentioned above, the selection board will admit you to the written tests if you are among the candidates with the 90 highest aggregate marks in admission tests, and provided you meet the special conditions set out in Section I.B.(b).

TEST PROCEDURES

1.   Written tests — marking

You will take written tests (a) and (b) in English, French or German (language 2).

(a)	A test comprising a series of multiple-choice questions to assess your specific knowledge in one of the following two fields (which you are free to choose): — Administrative investigations, — Intelligence analysis. This test will be marked out of 40 (pass mark: 20)

(b)

Written test on the same subject in the field chosen for test (a). This test is designed to assess your knowledge, ability to understand, analyse and summarise, and your drafting ability (ability to think and develop a logically structured written argument). This test will be marked out of 40 (pass mark: 20).

(c)	Drafting a brief memo in your main language (language 1) setting out the arguments and conclusions of test (b). This test is designed to test your command of your main language in terms of both drafting and presentation. This test will be marked out of 10 (pass mark: 8).

These written tests will be held simultaneously at one or more centres in the European Union.

The date of the written tests scheduled by EPSO cannot be changed at your request. You will be notified of the date when you receive your invitation to the tests (via your EPSO profile).

2.   Oral test — marking

Once the written tests have been marked, the selection board will invite the candidates with the 45 highest aggregate marks (3) in the tests and a pass mark in each to the oral test.

(d)

Interview with the selection board in English, French or German (language 2), to enable it to assess: — your suitability to perform executive duties involving administrative; financial and legal work in the field of fraud prevention, — your ability to think and communicate, — your knowledge of the European Union, Community policies, and fraud prevention, — your motivation and ability to adjust to working as a European civil servant in a multicultural environment.

Your knowledge of your main language (language 1) will also be examined.

This test will be marked out of 50 (pass mark: 25).

The oral test will normally be held in Brussels.

3.   Reserve list

The selection board will place on the reserve list the names of the candidates with the highest aggregate marks (3) in the written and oral tests and a pass mark in each (see Section I, Number of successful candidates).

The list will be drawn up by merit group (maximum of four groups) and the names of the successful candidates will be given in alphabetical order within each group.

The reserve list and its expiry date will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the EPSO website (http://europa.eu/epso) (4).

IV.   HOW TO APPLY

Please consult the Guide for Applicants (http://europa.eu/epso/on-line-applications/guide_en.htm), which can be found on the EPSO website (http://europa.eu/epso). It contains detailed instructions to help you submit your application correctly.

The closing date for online registration is 26 February 2008, with a deadline of 12.00 (noon) Brussels time on that day.

1.   Creating an EPSO profile/online registration

Before registering, you should carefully check whether you meet all the eligibility criteria.

If you decide to apply, you must register via the Internet by going to the EPSO website and following the instructions there concerning the various stages of the procedure.

It is your responsibility to complete your online registration in time. We strongly advise you not to wait until the last few days before applying, since heavy Internet traffic or a problem with the Internet connection could lead to the online registration being interrupted before you complete it, thereby obliging you to repeat the whole process. Once the deadline has passed, you will not be able to register.

On completion of your online registration, you will receive on screen a registration number, which you must note — this will be your reference number in all matters concerning your application. Once you receive this number, the registration process is finished — it is the confirmation that we have registered the data you entered.

If you do not receive a number, your application has not been registered!

Please note that you must have an e-mail address. This will be used to identify you. The information you must enter in your registration includes your choice of languages and details of the qualifications required for admission to the competition (qualification, name of issuing establishment and date obtained).

No documents are required at this stage. Candidates will subsequently be invited to send a full application (see Section IV.3).

Once you have registered online, you can follow the progress of the competition by going to the EPSO website (http://europa.eu/epso) and clicking on ‘Ongoing competitions’.

If you have a disability that prevents you from registering online, you may request a paper version of the form (preferably by fax)  (5), which you should fill in, sign and return by registered mail, postmarked no later than the closing date for registration. All subsequent communication between EPSO and you will be by post.

You must enclose with your application form a certificate attesting your disability, issued by a recognised body. You should also set out on a separate sheet of paper any special arrangements you think are needed to make it easier for you to take part in the tests.

2.   Invitations

Details of when and where to attend the admission tests and other tests will be available only on the EPSO website (http://europa.eu/epso). You can access this information by entering the user name and password you specified when registering online. You are responsible for updating your EPSO profile to reflect any change in your postal or e-mail address.

You are also responsible for consulting your EPSO profile to keep track of the progress of the competition and to check the information relevant to your application at every stage. If you find that you cannot do this, you must notify EPSO immediately by e-mail (EPSO-AST-45-08@ec.europa.eu).

Wherever possible, you will be asked to sit the admission tests in the city you chose when registering online. For organisational reasons you will not be able to switch to another venue unless you can prove that you have changed residence and unless you have informed EPSO of this no later than three weeks before the planned date of the admission tests.

3.   Full application

The candidates with the highest aggregate marks in the admission tests and a pass mark in each, as specified in Section II, will be asked to print out and complete the full application form which they will find in their EPSO profile on the website. It must be sent in by the required closing date (6).

Documents to enclose

Your application must give details of your citizenship, studies, and any professional experience. You must enclose with your application the following documents:

—	a copy of a document proving your citizenship (e.g. your passport, identity card or any other official document specifying your citizenship, which must have been obtained no later than the closing date for online registration),

—	a copy of the diploma(s) attesting successful completion of your studies,

—	employers' references clearly indicating the starting and finishing dates and the level and exact nature of the duties carried out; you will be given more detailed instructions, via your EPSO profile, on how to present your professional experience,

On a separate sheet, you should draw up a numbered index of these documents.

All documents not in English, French or German must be accompanied by a translation into one of those languages, which you may do yourself.

You should only send uncertified photocopies of these documents. Paper copies of web pages and/or references to websites do not constitute supporting documents for these purposes.

When completing your application form, you may not refer to any previous application forms submitted or any other documents enclosed with such applications. None of the documents submitted with your application will be returned.

Signing and sending the form

It is your responsibility to make sure that your application form — duly completed, SIGNED, and accompanied by all the supporting documents — is sent by registered post to the address below by the closing date  (6) (the postmark will serve as proof of the date of sending):

European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO)

C-80

Open competition EPSO/AST/45/08

B-1049 Brussels

Scrutiny of applications

The selection board will examine the necessary number of files of the candidates with the highest aggregate marks in the admission tests and a pass mark in each to determine whether they satisfy the conditions laid down in Section I.B of this notice. The candidates with the highest aggregate marks who meet all the requirements (see Section III, second paragraph) will be invited to the written tests by the selection board.

You will be disqualified if:

—	you do not complete your online registration by the deadline (26 February 2008),

—	you do not complete and/or sign the application form (original signature required),

—	you do not meet all the eligibility criteria,

—	you post your application after the closing date (6),

—	you do not send all the required supporting documents.

4.   Reserve list

The names of the successful candidates (see Section III.3) will be entered on the reserve list.

5.	If, at any stage in the procedure, it is established that the information in your online registration or official application form is incorrect you will be disqualified from the competition.

6.	To simplify administration of the competition, please quote in all correspondence YOUR FULL NAME AS GIVEN ON YOUR APPLICATION FORM, THE COMPETITION NUMBER, AND THE REFERENCE NUMBER YOU RECEIVED WHEN YOUR ONLINE REGISTRATION WAS ACCEPTED.

V.   GENERAL INFORMATION

1.   Equal opportunities

The European Union institutions apply a policy of equal opportunities and accept applications without distinction on the grounds of 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.

2.   Selection board

A selection board is appointed for each competition. Its members are designated by the institutions and their staff committees in equal numbers. The chair and members are then appointed by EPSO's appointing authority. Their names will be published on the EPSO website after all the candidates have been notified whether or not they have been admitted to the competition.

The European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO) is responsible for all communication with you until the competition is completed. You are strictly forbidden to make any contact with the members of the selection board, either directly or indirectly. In the event of any infringement of this rule, it will be for the selection board to decide whether you should be disqualified from the competition.

3.   Approximate timetable

Depending on the total number of candidates, the competition will take approximately one year from the closing date for online registration.

Full details will be available on the EPSO website.

4.   Requests from candidates for access to information concerning them

Candidates involved in selection procedures have the specific right of access to certain information concerning them directly and individually, as described below. EPSO may therefore supply supplementary information on candidates' participation in the competition at their request. Candidates must send such requests in writing to EPSO within a month of being notified of their results in the competition. EPSO will reply within a month of receiving the request. Requests will be dealt with taking account of the confidential nature of selection board proceedings under the Staff Regulations (Annex III, Article 6) and in compliance with the rules on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. Examples of the type of information which may be supplied are given in the Guide for Applicants, Section III.3.

5.   Requests for review — Appeal procedures — Complaints to the European Ombudsman

See Annex.

6.   Recruitment/career

If you are placed on the reserve list, you will only be eligible for appointment to a post in the European Anti-Fraud Office; recruitment will normally be as a probationary official, as and when required by the European Anti-Fraud Office, in any place where it operates (currently only in Brussels).

You will be called upon to effectively exercise the functions for which you sat the competition for a minimum period, the length of which will be determined according to the interest of the service before being assigned to other functions (either through re-assignment or transfer).

If you are on the reserve list and are offered a post, you will be asked to produce the originals of all the requisite documents, in particular your qualifications, so that copies can be authenticated.

Recruitment will depend on posts and funds becoming available.

Depending on the nature of the post concerned, successful candidates on the reserve list may initially be offered a temporary contract; in this case, their names will remain on the reserve list.

Article 29(1)(b) of the Staff Regulations refers to the possibility for officials to request a transfer to another institution or agency. However, in the interests of the service, during their first three years of service newly recruited officials are transferred only in exceptional and duly justified cases. Any such transfer is subject to the agreement of both the institution or agency that originally recruited the official and the institution or agency to which the official requests to be transferred.

7.   Retirement

Under the rules on the retirement age for staff laid down in the Staff Regulations, officials are retired:

—	automatically at the age of 65, or

—	at their own request, either at the age of 63, or where they are between 55 and 63 years of age and satisfy the requirements for immediate payment of a pension, or

—	exceptionally, at their own request and where it is considered to be in the interest of the service, at not later than the age of 67.

8.   Grade

Assistants will be recruited from the reserve list to grade AST4.

9.   Remuneration

Basic monthly salary as at 1 January 2008:

grade AST4, first step: EUR 3 581,39

10.   Protection of personal data

As the body responsible for organising the competition, EPSO ensures that applicants' personal data are processed as required by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data ( Official Journal of the European Communities, L  8 of 12 January 2001). This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data.

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(1)  The European Union institutions apply a policy of equal opportunities and accept applications without distinction on the grounds of 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.

(2)  For practical reasons the online registration form is available in English, French or German only.

(3)  Where a number of candidates tie for the last available place, they will all be taken into consideration by the selection board.

(4)  A successful candidate may explicitly request that his/her name not be published. Any such request must reach EPSO no later than 2 weeks after the candidate is notified of the results.

(5)  EPSO — Info-recrutement — Avenue de Cortenbergh, 80 — 4/11 — B-1049 Brussels — Fax (32-22) 95 74 88

(6)  The closing date will be indicated in good time in your EPSO profile.

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