Keywords
Summary

Keywords

++++

1 . Officials - Action - Action against a decision rejecting a complaint - Admissibility

( Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91 )

2 . Officials - Action - Prior administrative complaint - Same subject-matter - Submissions and arguments not appearing in, but closely linked to, the complaint - Admissibility - Claim for compensation made for the first time before the Court - Extension of the subject-matter of the action - None

( Staff Regulations, Arts 90 and 91 )

Summary

1 . Under the system established by the Staff Regulations, an appeal by an official to the Court of Justice against a decision of the appointing authority relating to him may lie only if the official has previously submitted a complaint to the appointing authority and that complaint has been rejected by express or implied decision . When those conditions are met, the action is admissible whether it is directed against the initial decision alone, the decision rejecting the complaint or both, provided, however, that the complaint and the appeal were brought within the periods prescribed by Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations .

2 . An official may not submit to the Court conclusions with a subject-matter other than those raised in the prior administrative complaint or put forward heads of claim based on matters other than those relied on in the complaint . The submissions and arguments made to the Court in support of those heads of claim need not necessarily appear in the complaint, but must be closely linked to it . It follows that although Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff Regulations are designed, through the lodging of the prior administrative complaint, to permit the amicable settlement of disputes which have arisen between officials and the administration, it is not the purpose of those provisions to bind strictly and absolutely the contentious stage of the proceedings, provided that the claims submitted at that stage change neither the legal basis nor the subject-matter of the complaint .

In particular, a claim for compensation made for the first time before the Court, whereas the administrative complaint sought only the annulment of the decision by which the applicant claimed to have been adversely affected, is admissible since such a request for annulment may imply a request for compensation for damage which may have been caused to the applicant by that decision .