52017DC0096

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Brussels, 27.2.2017

COM(2017) 96 final

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

on the use made in 2015 by the institutions of Council Regulations No 495/77, last amended by Regulation No 1945/2006 (on standby duty), No 858/2004 (on particularly arduous working conditions), and No 300/76, last amended by Regulation No 1873/2006 (on shift work)

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

1.Introduction

The Council Regulations on standby duty (No 495/77) and on particularly arduous working conditions (No 858/2004) require the Commission to report annually to the Council on the number of officials and other servants in each category receiving the allowances referred to in the respective Regulations and the total related expenditure.

This report is based on the latest full-year figures available at the time of its preparation and thus refers to 2015. It covers all the Institutions, and for the sake of completeness also contains the same type of information on the use of shift work (Council Regulation No 300/76).

2.Standby duty allowance

The legal bases for this allowance are Articles 55 and 56b of the Staff Regulations and Council Regulation No 495/77 of 8 March 1977, as last amended by Council Regulation No 1945/2006 of 11 December 2006.

Payment of the allowance is limited to officials and other servants paid from research appropriations and employed in:

–an establishment of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), or

–indirect action, or

paid from operating appropriations and employed in:

–the running or supervision of technical installations,

–a safety and security department,

–an information and communication technology (ICT) services department,

–a department providing support for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)/European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) or for emergency and crisis coordination arrangements, or

–a mechanism established to provide assistance to Member States 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (MS 24/7), for emergency and crisis coordination arrangements or in services where there is a confirmed necessity for the execution of tasks in order to guarantee a mechanism for providing assistance to Member States.

The standby duty allowance is expressed in points. The number of points granted for each hour of actual standby duty is fixed as follows:

–standby duty at home, working day: 2.15 points;

–standby duty at home, weekend and public holidays: 4.3 points;

–standby duty at the place of work, working day: 11 points;

–standby duty at the place of work, weekend and public holidays: 22 points.

Each point is equal to 0.032 % of the basic salary of an official in grade 1, step 1 (= EUR 0.88 in 2015).

2.1.Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff) 1 :

Institution	AD	SC/AST	CA				Total
			FG I	FG II	FG III	FG IV
Commission	93.33	234.33	42.33	4	9	2	385
- of which JRC:	47	119	19	1	2	0	188
Council	3	42	2	0	0	0	47
Parliament	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Justice	7	10	1	0	0	0	18
Court of Auditors	0	0	8	0	0	0	8
EESC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EEAS	10	10	0	0	0	0	20
Total	113.33	296.33	53.33	4	9	2	478

2.2.Number of beneficiaries per type of standby duty:

Institution	At home	At home and at the place of work	At the place of work	Total

Commission	347	0	38	385
- of which JRC:	151	0	37	188
Council	47	0	0	47
Parliament	0	0	0	0
Court of Justice	18	0	0	18
Court of Auditors	8	0	0	8
EESC	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0
EEAS	20	0	0	20
Total	440	0	38	478

2.3.Number of beneficiaries per type of employment:

Institution	JRC	Indirect action	Technical installations	Security	ICT	CFSP/ESDP	MS 24/7	Total
Commission	188	0	58	36	70	0	33	385
- of which JRC:	188	0	0	0	0	0	0	188
Council	0	0	0	15	25	7	0	47
Parliament	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Justice	0	0	13	5	0	0	0	18
Court of Auditors	0	0	0	8	0	0	0	8
EESC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EEAS	0	0	0	4	10	6	0	20
Total	188	0	71	68	105	13	33	478

3.Allowance for particularly arduous working conditions

The legal bases for this allowance are Article 56c of the Staff Regulations and Council Regulation No 858/2004 of 29 April 2004, which replaced Council Regulation No 1799/72.

The allowance for particularly arduous working conditions is expressed in terms of points granted for each hour of actual work, with a distinction being made between special working conditions connected with ‘safety of the individual’, ‘place of work’ and ‘nature of work’. The number of points varies between 2, e.g. for an average sound level exceeding 85 decibels, and an upper limit of 50 in the case of an official wearing a self-contained fire protection suit. Each point is equal to 0.032% of the basic salary of an official in grade 1, step 1 (= EUR 0.88 in 2015).

3.1.Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff):

Institution	AD	SC/AST	Contract staff				Total
			FG I	FG II	FG III	FG IV
Commission	37	161	29	0	0	6	233
- of which JRC:	37	156	19	0	0	6	218
Council	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Parliament	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Justice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Auditors	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EESC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EEAS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	37	161	29	0	0	6	233

4.Shift work allowance

The legal bases for this allowance are Article 56a of the Staff Regulations and Council Regulation No 300/76 of 9 February 1976, as last amended by Council Regulation No 1873/2006 of 11 December 2006.

Payment of the allowance is limited to officials and other servants paid from research appropriations and employed in:

–an establishment of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), or

–indirect action, or

paid from operating appropriations and employed in:

–an information and communication technology (ICT) services department,

–a safety and security department,

–a telephone switchboard/information service or on a reception desk,

–a department providing support for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)/European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) or for emergency and crisis coordination arrangements,

–a service providing support for emergency or crisis coordination arrangements, or

–the running or supervision of technical installations.

The following figures indicate the number of allowances granted by each institution for 2015.

4.1.Number of beneficiaries (officials/temporary staff and contract staff):

Institution	AD	SC/AST	CA				Total
			FG I	FG II	FG III	FG IV
Commission	11	80	18	14	3	0	126
- of which JRC:	9	33	6	0	0	0	48
Council	0	60	0	1	0	0	61
Parliament	0	41	443	13	6	0	503
Court of Justice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Auditors	0	0	11	0	0	0	11
EESC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EEAS	0	36	0	1	0	0	36
Total	11	217	472	29	9	0	738

Four different rates of the monthly allowance are provided for (2015 figures):

–rate 1: work involving two shifts, excluding weekends and public holidays: EUR 394.48;

–rate 2: work involving two shifts, including nights, weekends and public holidays: EUR 595.40;

–rate 3: 24 hours a day, excluding weekends and public holidays: EUR 651.00;

–rate 4: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: EUR 887.52.

4.2.Number of beneficiaries per rate:

Institution	Rate 1	Rate 2	Rate 3	Rate 4	Total
	EUR 394.48	EUR 595.40	EUR 651.00	EUR 887.52
Commission	22	20	8	76	126
- of which JRC:	0	20	8	20	48
Council	36	0	0	25	61
Parliament	275	158	0	70	503
Court of Justice	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Auditors	2	0	0	9	11
EESC	0	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0
EEAS	28	0	0	9	37
Total	363	178	6	189	738

4.3.Number of beneficiaries per type of employment:

Institution	JRC	Crisis/emerg. coord.	ICT	Security	Switchboard/reception	CFSP/ESDP	Tech. Inst.	Ind. Action	Total
Commission	48	7	19	49	0	0	3	0	126
- of which JRC:	48	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	48
Council	0	0	0	61	0	0	0	0	61
Parliament	0	0	0	483	20	0	0	0	503
Court of Justice	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Court of Auditors	0	0	0	9	2	0	0	0	11
EESC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
EEAS	0	0	14	14	0	9	0	0	37
Total	48	7	33	616	22	9	3	0	738

5.Services concerned and reasons

The Council, the Commission, the EEAS (which took over much of the former DG RELEX) and the Court of Auditors use standby duty and shift work and pay the allowances provided for by the legislation.

The European Parliament does not have standby duty and only pays allowances for shift work.

The Commission remains the only institution to pay allowances for particularly arduous working conditions, at the JRC and the Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB).

5.1.Reasons for standby duty

Commission:
Joint Research Centre (JRC)
In 2015, the Commission paid allowances for standby duty to 385 members of its staff. Around 49 % (188) are employed at one of the Research Centres, which is a slight decrease compared to 2014 on account of the reorganisation of the call service at the Geel Centre. The reasons for standby duty are, as in previous years, generally security- and safety-related (firefighting service, radiation monitoring, radiation protection, etc.). In most cases at the JRC, standby duty is carried out at home, with the exception of Ispra and Karlsruhe, where the duties are undertaken at the place of work – or at home and at the place of work – owing to the specific nature of the tasks to be performed.

Other
In the other Commission Directorates-General, there was little change compared to 2014. The standby services are mainly used for security and safety, technical installations and IT services, plus assistance for Member States.

Council: The Council paid allowances for standby services to 47 members of its staff in 2015. The fields in question were information and communication technology (ICT) services, security services and support for the CFSP/ESDP. In 2015, standby duty was performed exclusively at home.

Court of Auditors: The Court of Auditors paid allowances for standby services at home to eight members of its staff in 2015.

EEAS: In 2015, the EEAS paid allowances for standby services at home to 20 members of its staff in three fields: security services, support for the CFSP/ESDP, and information and communication technology (ICT) services.

Court of Justice: In 2015, the Court of Justice paid allowances for standby services at home to 18 members of its staff. This service was established in November 2014 at the DirectorateGeneral for Infrastructure to cover the supervision of technical installations and performance of security-related tasks.

5.2.Reasons for using the allowance for particularly arduous working conditions

Commission: The Commission is the only institution to have used this possibility in 2015. The Office for Infrastructure and Logistics in Brussels (OIB) introduced it in one of its services (reproduction service) in 2008; the Joint Research Centre was already using it.

In 2015, the total number of hours worked under particularly arduous conditions was broken down as follows:

70 686.21 hours relating to individual protection (for example, the wearing of particularly uncomfortable protective clothing),

119 093.01 hours relating to the place of work (for example, high noise levels, dangerous sites), and

13 402.23 hours relating to the nature of the work (for example, handling of corrosive substances).

5.3.Reasons for shift work

Commission: Within the Commission, it is the JRC (for reasons relating to the nature of the tasks) and DG HR (safety and security department) which have the greatest need for this type of work organisation (48 and 41 persons respectively in 2015).

In 2015 shift work was performed in the other DGs (operating budget) by 37 persons in the following types of services:

–Security and prevention: 8

–Technical installations: 3

–Information and communication technology (ICT): 19

–Assistance to Member States: 7

DG COMM also established a shift work arrangement in 2015 involving 18 persons responsible for preparing press reviews for the President, the College and the Spokesperson’s Service.

All four rates (types of allowance) are applied in the Commission, with rate 4 (aroundtheclock service) being used mainly in the security services.

Council: The number of individuals paid shift-work allowances in the Council stands at 61 for 2015. This allowance is used exclusively in the areas of security and prevention (61 members of staff). Shift work consists of either a two-shift arrangement (rate 1) or a continuous 24-hour service (rate 4).

European Parliament: To safeguard and protect people, infrastructure, information and events occurring during public holidays, weekends or nights and to ensure the continued presence of security staff in buildings while avoiding recourse to overtime, which would increase Parliament's budget, it was decided to apply Council Regulation 300/76 of 9 February 1976, as last amended by Council Regulation No 1873/2006 of 11 December 2006, and to replace overtime by specific work patterns. Therefore, security and prevention staff are entitled to the allowance for shift work.

In 2015, 503 allowances were granted for shift work at the European Parliament - a considerable increase on 2014. This allowance is mainly used in the field of security and, to a lesser extent, in the telephone service/reception domain. The sharp rise referred to concerns mainly the security services.

Shift work consists of either a two-shift arrangement (rate 1), a two-shift arrangement including nights, weekends and public holidays (rate 2) or a continuous 24-hour service (rate 4).

Court of Auditors: The Court of Auditors has been using shift work in the fields of security and telephone service/reception since 2011. Shift work consists of either a two-shift arrangement (rate 1) or a continuous 24-hour service (rate 4). A total of 11 allowances were paid in 2015.

EEAS: In 2015, the EEAS paid 37 allowances in the fields of information and communication technology (ICT), security, and the CFSP/ESDP.

6.Budget expenditure, per institution and per allowance (in EUR)

Institution	Shift work	Standby duty	Arduous working conditions	Total
Commission	829 677.01	1 323 459.23	581 696.58	2 734 832.82
- of which JRC:	273 698.59	545 662.52	557 836.14	1 377 197.25
Council	391 455.84	156 580.15	0	548 035.99
Parliament	2 697 070.72	0	0	2 697 070.72
Court of Justice 2	0	18 021.13	0	18 021.13
Court of Auditors	104 085.48	15 198.89	0	119 284.37
EESC	0	0	0	0
CoR	0	0	0	0
EDPS	0	0	0	0
Ombudsman	0	0	0	0
EEAS	214 409.82	62 634.26	0	277 044.08
Total	4 236 698.87	1 575 893.66	581 696.58	6 394 289.11

The amount spent on the three allowances in all the European Institutions stood at EUR 6 394 289.11 in 2015 (EUR 5 594 969.65 in 2014).

(1)

At OLAF, standby duty is carried out 24/7 by 0.33 AD/0.33 SC/AST/0.33 FG I (total = 1 beneficiary) from the security standby team.

(2)

New budgetary expenditure following the establishment of a standby service at the Court of Justice in November 2014.

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