Guide for candidates in selection procedures organised by the European Parliament

1.	INTRODUCTION

What form does a selection procedure take?

2.	THE VARIOUS STAGES OF A SELECTION PROCEDURE

Receipt of application files

Assessment for compliance with the general conditions

Assessment for compliance with the specific conditions

Assessment of qualifications

Tests

List of suitable candidates

3.	HOW TO APPLY

General points

How should the complete application file be submitted?

What supporting documents should be enclosed with the application file?

General points

Supporting documents demonstrating compliance with the general conditions

Supporting documents demonstrating compliance with the specific conditions and assessment of qualifications

4.	COMMUNICATION

5.	GENERAL INFORMATION

Equal opportunities

Requests from candidates for access to information concerning them

Protection of personal data

Travel and subsistence expenses

ANNEX I

ANNEX II

1.   INTRODUCTION

What form does a selection procedure take?

Selection procedures consist of a series of stages in which candidates compete against one another. They are open to all citizens of the European Union who, on the deadline for submission of applications, meet the relevant criteria. They give all candidates a fair opportunity to demonstrate their skills, with a view to discrimination-free selection based on merit.

Successful candidates in a selection procedure are placed on a list of suitable candidates, on which the European Parliament will draw in order to fill the post to which the recruitment notice applies.

A selection committee, consisting of members representing the Administration and the Staff Committee, is appointed for each selection procedure. The proceedings of the selection committee are confidential and are conducted in accordance with Annex III to the Staff Regulations of Officials.

Candidates may not under any circumstances approach the selection committee themselves, either directly or indirectly. The appointing authority reserves the right to disqualify any candidate who disregards this instruction.

The selection committee adheres strictly to the eligibility criteria set out in the recruitment notice when deciding whether or not each candidate should be admitted to the selection procedure. Candidates admitted to a previous competition or selection procedure will not automatically be eligible.

In order to select the best candidates, the selection committee compares the candidates' performance with the aim of assessing their suitability to perform the duties described in the recruitment notice. This means that it must not only assess the candidates' knowledge, but also identify the best-qualified individuals on the basis of their merit.

Please note that selection procedures take between six and nine months, depending on the number of candidates.

2.   THE VARIOUS STAGES OF A SELECTION PROCEDURE

A selection procedure comprises the following stages:

—	receipt of applications,

—	assessment for compliance with the general conditions,

—	assessment for compliance with the specific conditions,

—	assessment of qualifications (admission to tests),

—

tests,

—	list of suitable candidates.

Receipt of application files

Should you decide to apply, you must submit a complete application file, including the application form specific to the recruitment notice, completed and signed and accompanied by all the requisite supporting documents showing that you meet the general and specific conditions set out in the recruitment notice. Failure to do so will result in your exclusion from the competition. The application file must be sent by registered post by the date specified in the recruitment notice (dispatch by private courier company will be accepted as equivalent to dispatch by registered post, in which case the date appearing on the delivery form will be taken as the date of dispatch). The address and closing date for applications are given in Section C of the recruitment notice.

Assessment for compliance with the general conditions

The Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit will check applications in order to determine whether they are admissible, i.e. whether they have been submitted in the form and by the closing date indicated in the recruitment notice and whether each candidate meets the general eligibility conditions.

Candidates will therefore be automatically eliminated if they:

—	send their application after the closing date, as evidenced by the postmark or by the delivery form of a private courier company,

—	do not send their application form by registered post or by private courier company,

—	do not use and properly complete the official application form specific to the recruitment notice,

—	fail to sign the application form,

—	do not meet the general eligibility conditions.

After the closing date for applications , candidates will be individually informed if their application has been rejected.

A list of the candidates who meet the general conditions set out in the recruitment notice will be drawn up by the appointing authority and forwarded to the selection committee with the application files.

Assessment for compliance with the specific conditions

The selection committee will consider the application files and draw up a list of candidates who meet the specific conditions set out in the recruitment notice. It will base its decisions solely on the information given on the application forms and substantiated by supporting documents enclosed with it.

Your application must give full details of your studies, training, professional experience and knowledge of languages, as follows:

—	as regards your studies: the dates on which they began and ended and the nature of the diploma(s) obtained, as well as the subjects studied,

—	as regards your professional experience: the dates on which the periods of experience began and ended and the precise nature of the duties performed.

Candidates who have published studies, articles, reports or any other texts relevant to the duties set out in the job description should mention these on the application form.

Candidates who do not meet the specific eligibility conditions set out in the recruitment notice will be eliminated at this stage.

The selection committee will inform all candidates by post of its decision concerning their admission/non-admission to the procedure.

Assessment of qualifications

In order to select the candidates who will be invited to take part in the tests, the selection committee will assess the qualifications of those admitted to the selection procedure (see paragraph above). It will base its decisions solely on the information given on the application form and substantiated by supporting documents enclosed with it (see Section 3 below). The selection committee will base its work on criteria which it has laid down in advance, taking account in particular of the qualifications specified in Section B.2 of the recruitment notice.

The selection committee will inform all candidates by post of its decision concerning their admission/non-admission to the tests.

Tests

All the tests are compulsory and eliminatory. The maximum number of candidates who can be admitted to the tests is specified in Section B.2 of the recruitment notice.

For organisational reasons, candidates may be invited to all the written and oral tests. However, the tests will be marked in the order in which they appear in the recruitment notice. Consequently, if a candidate does not achieve the minimum mark required in one of the eliminatory tests, the selection committee will not mark the subsequent tests.

The tests of candidates who give up will not be marked.

List of suitable candidates

The maximum number of candidates who may be included on the list of suitable candidates is laid down in Section B.4 of the recruitment notice.

The inclusion of a candidate's name on the list of suitable candidates means that he or she may be called for interview by one of Parliament's departments, but it does not constitute either a right to, or a guarantee of, recruitment.

3.   HOW TO APPLY

General points

Before applying, you should check carefully whether you meet all the eligibility conditions, both general and specific. To that end, you should first read the recruitment notice and this guide and take due note of the relevant requirements.

Although recruitment notices do not specify an age limit, you should note that the retirement age for staff is laid down in the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/toc100_en.pdf).

Candidates are required to complete the application form (original or copy) which is specific to the recruitment notice and contained in this Official Journal published by the Publications Office of the European Union.

Documents sent after the closing date will not be taken into account.

If you have a disability or if your circumstances are such that they might cause difficulties during the tests (e.g. because you are pregnant or are breastfeeding, or because you have health problems or are undergoing medical treatment), you must state that fact on the application form and provide any relevant information so that the Administration can take appropriate measures, where possible. If appropriate, please enclose with your application form a separate sheet giving details of any arrangements which you consider necessary to help you take the tests.

How should the complete application file be submitted?

1.	Complete and sign the application form specific to the recruitment notice for the selection procedure concerned.

2.	Include a numbered list of all the supporting documents enclosed with your application.

3.	Enclose all the supporting documents required, which you should first number.

4.	Submit the application file as specified in the recruitment notice and before the closing date given therein.

What supporting documents should be enclosed with the application file?

General points

Do not send the originals of the documents required: you need only send photocopies, which do not have to be authenticated. References to websites will not be regarded as constituting supporting documents. Printouts of pages from websites will not be regarded as certificates, although they may be enclosed purely to provide additional information.

Your attention is drawn to the fact that successful candidates on the list of suitable candidates who are offered a job will be required to produce the originals of all the documents required before they can be recruited.

A curriculum vitae (CV) will not be regarded as a supporting document.

You may not refer to application forms or any other documents already submitted in connection with previous applications (1).

None of the documents submitted with the application will be returned to you.

Supporting documents demonstrating compliance with the general conditions

No document is required at this stage to show that candidates:

—	are nationals of a European Union Member State,

—	enjoy full rights as a citizen,

—	have fulfilled any obligations imposed on them by the laws on military service,

—	can provide appropriate character references for performing the duties concerned.

Candidates must sign the application form. By doing so, they declare on their honour that they meet these conditions and that the information supplied is true and complete.

Supporting documents demonstrating compliance with the specific conditions and assessment of qualifications

Candidates must provide the selection committee with all the information and documents it needs to verify the accuracy of the information given on the application form.

Diplomas and/or certificates attesting successful completion of studies

Candidates must supply photocopies of the diplomas or certificates attesting that they have completed studies of the level required by the recruitment notice.

The selection committee will take account of the different education systems in the European Union Member States.

In the case of post-secondary diplomas, the most detailed possible information must be provided, particularly concerning the subjects studied and the length of time for which they were studied, so that the selection committee can assess the relevance of the diplomas to the duties to be performed.

In the case of diplomas relating to technical or vocational training, further training or specialisation courses, candidates must state whether the course was full time or part time or consisted of evening classes, as well as the subjects covered and the official duration of the courses.

Professional experience

Professional experience will be taken into account only if it has been obtained more recently than the required diploma or certificate. The supporting documents must prove the duration and level of the professional experience, and the nature of the duties performed must be described in as much detail as possible, so that the selection committee can assess the relevance of your experience to the duties to be performed.

All such periods of work experience must be covered by supporting documents, for example:

—	statements from former employers and your current employer certifying that you possess the professional experience required for admission to the selection procedure,

—	if, for reasons of confidentiality, you cannot enclose the required evidence of professional experience, it is essential, as a substitute for that evidence, to enclose photocopies of the employment contract or letter of recruitment and/or the first and the most recent salary statements,

—	where the work has not been performed on behalf of an employer (as a self-employed person, member of the liberal professions, etc.), invoices or order forms detailing the services provided or any other relevant official supporting document will be accepted as evidence.

Knowledge of languages

Knowledge of the required languages must be confirmed by a diploma, a certificate or a declaration on the candidate's honour, to be made on a separate sheet of paper, explaining how that knowledge was acquired.

If, at any stage in the procedure, it is established that the information given in your application form is incorrect or is not substantiated by supporting documents, or that all the conditions set out in the recruitment notice are not met, you will be disqualified.

4.   COMMUNICATION

It is your responsibility to make sure that your application form (original or copy), duly completed and signed and accompanied by all the supporting documents, is sent by registered post (2) by the required deadline, as evidenced by the postmark.

It is your responsibility to send a letter, fax or e-mail (3) to the Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit if you do not receive, by e-mail, a letter concerning your application by the date given in the last paragraph of the recruitment notice.

Any correspondence from a candidate concerning an application must quote the name given in that application and the number of the selection procedure.

All correspondence sent by the European Parliament concerning a selection procedure, including invitations to tests, will be sent by ordinary post to the address given on the application form. You are responsible for checking your e-mail account (including the spam folder) regularly (at least twice a week) and for notifying the Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit of any change in your particulars.

All communications concerning the selection procedure should be sent by e-mail to the following mailbox: PE-170-S@ep.europa.eu

If you are no longer in a position to check your e-mail account, it is your responsibility to inform the Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit immediately and to provide a new electronic address.

In the interests of clarity and comprehension, all texts of a general nature, communications to or from candidates, invitations to the various tests and any correspondence between the Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit and candidates will be in English, French or German. There will be no correspondence in a candidate's main language (language 1).

In order to safeguard the independence of the selection committee, candidates may not under any circumstances approach the selection committee themselves, either directly or indirectly; if they do so, they may be disqualified.

Any correspondence for consideration by the selection committee and any request for information or other correspondence concerning the procedure must be addressed solely to the Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit (3), which will deal with all communications with candidates throughout the competition until it has been completed.

5.   GENERAL INFORMATION

Equal opportunities

The European Parliament takes great care to avoid any form of discrimination during selection procedures.

It is an equal-opportunities employer and accepts applications without discrimination on any grounds 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, sexual orientation, marital status or family situation.

Requests from candidates for access to information concerning them

Candidates in selection procedures are entitled to be given certain information which specifically concerns them, as described below. The European Parliament may therefore supply the following additional information to a candidate on request:

(a)

those candidates who are not successful in the written tests and/or who are not among those invited to the oral test may, on request, obtain copies of their test papers as well as a copy of their personal evaluation sheet setting out the selection committee's remarks on their performance. All requests must be made within one month of the date on which the letter notifying a candidate of the decision ending his/her participation in the selection procedure was sent;

(b)

candidates who are invited to the oral tests but whose names do not appear on the list of suitable candidates will be informed of their results in the various tests only once the list of suitable candidates has been drawn up by the selection committee. These candidates may also obtain copies of their written tests in the same way as outlined under point (a);

(c)	successful candidates will be informed only that they have been included on the list of suitable candidates.

Requests will be dealt with in accordance with the requirement for the work of the selection committee to be secret, as laid down in 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.

Protection of personal data

The European Parliament, as the body responsible for organising selections, ensures that candidates' personal data are processed in strict compliance with 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 (4), particularly as regards confidentiality and security.

Travel and subsistence expenses

A contribution will be made towards the travel and subsistence expenses of candidates invited to the tests. You will be given details of the arrangements for this and the rates applicable in the letter inviting you to the tests.

The address given on the application form will be considered to be the place from which the candidate departs to attend the tests to which he or she has been invited. A change of address notified by a candidate after the European Parliament has sent the invitations to the tests will not be taken into consideration, unless Parliament considers that the circumstances invoked by the candidate amount to force majeure or are wholly exceptional.

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(1)  These conditions apply to all candidates, including officials and other servants of the European Union.

(2)  Dispatch by private courier company will be accepted as equivalent to dispatch by registered post. In this case, the date appearing on the delivery form will be taken as the date of dispatch.

(3)  Address: EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, Competitions and Selection Procedures Unit — MON 04 S 010, Selection procedure PE/170/S, Rue Wiertz 60, 1047 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË.

Fax: +32 22831717. E-mail: PE-170-S@ep.europa.eu

(4)  OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.