Rules for implementing Article 26 of the Staff Regulations

The purpose of this notice is to set out the rules for implementing Article 26 of the Staff Regulations following the entry into force of the new system for evaluation and promotion and the arrangements for communicating career development reviews and promotion files to the other institutions. Under Article 5(a) of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001¹, it also informs Commission staff about rights of access to these documents when they apply for a vacant post.

• ARTICLE 26 OF THE STAFF REGULATIONS AND THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT REVIEW (CDR)

• COMMUNICATION OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT REVIEWS AND PROMOTION FILES TO THE OTHER INSTITUTIONS

• VACANCY NOTICE AND COMMUNICATION OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT REVIEWS

1. ARTICLE 26 OF THE STAFF REGULATIONS AND THE CAREER DEVELOPMENT REVIEW (CDR)
   
   Article 26 of the Staff Regulations states that “The personal file of an official shall contain: all documents concerning his administrative status and all reports relating to his ability, efficiency and conduct;” that the “personal file shall be confidential and may be consulted only in the offices of the administration” and that “there shall be only one personal file for each official.” Under Article 11 of the Conditions of Employment of other servants, these provisions also apply to temporary staff.
   
   The new evaluation and promotion system applied for the first time in 2003 is managed using CDR and promotion modules under the SYSPER 2 software which helps implement Actions 7, 8 and 9 of the White Paper on the reform of the Commission². SYSPER 2 is mentioned as one of the elements of the e-Commission 2001-2005 strategy whose aim is “to progressively reduce the use of paper”³.
   
   Article 7(3) of the general implementing provisions for Article 43 of the Staff Regulations, adopted by the Commission on 3 March 2004, reads “Career development reviews shall be managed electronically. The jobholder’s individual file shall accordingly comprise two sections, one electronic and one in paper form. The electronic section may contain, in particular, copies of the decisions adopted in the course of the appraisal procedure and the internal appeals against those decisions. Jobholders shall each be allowed access to their career development reviews by means of a personal secret password.”
   (http://www.cc.cec/pers_admin/promotions/index_fr.html#5)
   
   Accordingly, Commission staff are informed that their career development reviews and individual promotion files securely stored in SYSPER 2 will not be printed for inclusion in their personal files.
   This means that, for a transitional period, the personal files of all officials and other staff will consist of two parts:

• a personal file on paper comprising the documents referred to in Article 26 of the Staff Regulations, including staff reports for the period before 1 July 2001⁴ and any other documents or items which cannot be stored in the SYSPER 2 computer application;
   

• the career development reviews and promotion file stored electronically in SYSPER 2. Of course, all officials and other staff can use their userid and password to access their career development reviews and promotion file. In addition, a computer terminal providing access to SYSPER 2 will be installed in the offices where the personal files are located.
  
  In due course and in accordance with the objectives set out in the ‘e-Commission’ strategy, it is intended to scan personal files so that they too may be stored electronically and to manage the whole file in a secure computer environment.

2. COMMUNICATION OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT REVIEWS AND PROMOTION FILES TO THE OTHER INSTITUTIONS
   
   If an official is transferred to another Community institution under Article 8 of the Staff Regulations, his or her personal file is transferred to that institution. Similarly, under Article 26 of the Staff Regulations, the personal file is sent to the Court of First Instance or the Court of Justice when a case concerning an official is brought before the Court.
   
   In these two instances, those in charge of the units responsible for keeping personal files will have appropriate access to the CDR and promotion modules under SYSPER 2. They will produce the career development reviews and promotion files of the official concerned, either on paper or in a secure electronic format, depending on the requirements of the addressee institution. The documents will be certified as the same as the secure version in SYSPER 2.
   
   If an official is transferred to another institution, the CDRs and promotion files will be deleted once the institution in question has acknowledged receipt of them.
    

3. VACANCY NOTICE AND COMMUNICATION OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT REVIEWS
   
   An applicant responding to a vacancy notice must attach a curriculum vitae. Applicants will be informed that their action automatically allows access for the hierarchical superior under whom the post in question falls, during the procedure leading to the filling of the post, to that part of the personal file concerning their career and to the development reviews for the last three years.
   
   The ‘Jobholder Management’ module of SYSPER 2, which is expected to be operational no later than early 2005, will automatically allow access for the hierarchical superior under whom the post in question falls to the applicant’s latest development reviews.
   
   Until that module has become operational, applicants are requested to send a copy of their reviews with their applications.

Footnotes
¹Regulation (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. OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1.
²COM(2000)200 final
³Memorandum to the Commission of 8 June 2001: “Towards the e-Commission: Implementation Strategy 2001-2005 (Actions 7, 8 and 9 of the Reform White Paper)”.
⁴Under Article 26 of the Staff Regulations, officials and other staff may consult their personal files whenever they wish. They may do in the following offices: for staff serving in Brussels, B28 1/164; for staff serving in Luxembourg, JMO A1/109; for staff serving in Ispra, TP64; for Relex staff, N105 6/96.