2006 PROMOTIONS EXERCISE

Allocation of priority points

• Invitation to consult promotion files
• Capacity to work in a third language
• Reminder : Officials in grades D*5, C*7 and B*11
• Publication of merit lists
• Publication of the formal intentions of Directorates-General for the allocation of priority points
• Allocation of priority points for work in the interests of the Institution
• Account not taken of changes after 31 December 2005
• Directorates-General and other departments not covered by this Administrative Notice
• Appeals to the promotion committees
• Indicative promotion thresholds

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1. Invitation to consult promotion files
   
   Article 25 of the Staff Regulations provides that any decision relating to an individual must be communicated to the official concerned. Officials are hereby invited to consult their promotion files in Sysper2.
   
   Officials are invited to note in particular the various points allocated to them for the purposes of the promotion exercise and the minimum time for which they must have been in their current grade in order to qualify for promotion⁽¹⁾.
   
   Note: Points allocated on the basis of proposals from the promotion committees for work in the interests of the Institution (member of a competition selection board, joint committee, etc.) have not yet been allocated at this stage and do not therefore appear in your promotion files (see point 6).
    
2. Capacity to work in a third language
   
   Article 45, paragraph 2 stipulates that "officials shall be required to demonstrate before their first promotion after recruitment the ability to work in a third language". In line with Article 11 of Annex 13 of the staff regulations, this disposition does not apply to promotions which take effect before 1 May 2006.
   
   For the 2006 promotion exercise, this will not be the case for most officials. Promotions will enter into force as a general rule on 1 January for promotion to the grades D*5, C*7, B*11 and A*13 and on 1 March for all other grades.
   
   See the corrigendum A.N. 44-2006
   The rare exceptions will concern officials likely to be promoted in 2006 and who have not acquired 2 years seniority in the grade on 30 April 2006 and who do not fall into one of the three following groups.
    
   • Group 1 : Officials who have already been promoted in their category/function group;
      
   • Group 2 : Officials who were promoted while in a lower category and who are now in a higher category following a change of category;
      
   • Group 3 : Former temporary agents already re-classified while a temporary agent and you have now become an official.

   Officials who could be concerned by the application of the dispositions of article 45, paragraph 2 of the staff regulations for the 2006 promotion exercise will be contacted by unit ADMIN.A.3. – Training.
    

3. Reminder : Officials in grades D*5, C*7 and B*11
   
   The first article of the general implementing provisions for article 45 of the staff regulations (Article 45, GIPs ) adopted by the Commission on 23 December 2004 foresees that only officials whose grade still allows them to be promoted to the next grade in the category, function group or C* or D* career stream to which they belong, are concerned by the promotion exercise.
   
   From that moment on, officials in grades D*5, C*7 and B*11 do not appear in the lists published by this administrative notice.
    
4. Publication of merit lists
   
   Article 7 of the General Implementing Provisions for Article 45 of the Staff Regulations (hereafter GIP Article 45 ) provides that:
   "On the basis of the priority points allocated [….], the Directorate-General for Personnel and Administration shall draw up merit lists for each grade by order of the number of points, giving the names of officials who are within five points of reaching the promotion threshold and the names of those who have reached or passed that threshold."
   
   This Administrative Notice contains the merit lists referred to in the Article.
   
   It also contains the merits lists arising from application of the GIP Article 45 to staff paid from the research appropriations in the general budget.
   
   For clarity, the lists are published in two forms:
    
   • a full listing , by budget, grade and decreasing order of officials' total points for those whose total points are equal to or greater than the indicative promotion threshold less five points;
      
   • the same listing arranged by budget, by grade and by Directorate-General or other department.
      
5. Publication of the formal intentions of Directorates-General for the allocation of priority points
   
   Article 5(7) of the GIP Article 45 provides that:
   
   "Following the meeting with the Joint Evaluation Committee, the Director-General shall set out his/her formal intentions regarding the allocation of priority points. Those intentions shall be made known to staff."
   
   This Administrative Notice satisfies this requirement to publish the DGs’ formal intentions for allocating individual priority points.
   
   For clarity, the following layout has been adopted:
    
   • the names of those who have not received priority points are not published;
      
   • the lists are arranged by budget, grade, number of priority points and alphabetical order.
      
6. Allocation of priority points  for work in the interests of the Institution
   
   Article 9(1) of the GIP Article 45 provides that:
    
   • "The Promotion Committees […] shall submit proposals to the appointing authority on the allocation to officials of priority points in recognition of work undertaken in the interests of the Institution."
      
   • "In order to qualify for priority points under this Article, an official must have undertaken additional tasks in the interests of the Institution which do not form part of his/her usual activities as stated inter alia in his/her job description."

   The additional tasks in the interests of the Institution which may give rise to priority points under Article 9 are set out in Annex I to the GIP Article 45. These are:
    

   • - Chairman/member of a competition selection board or of a joint committee for selecting temporary agents;
      
   • Assessor to a selection board/Marker of competition papers;
      
   • Chairman/member of a joint committee.

   To facilitate the task of the promotion committees in exercising their powers under Article 9 of the GIP, DG ADMIN has established a list of officials having devoted a certain number of days to the tasks set out above. This list is annexed to this Notice. Three groups of officials are set out.
    

   • Group 1: Those who have devoted less than 2 days to these activities.
      
   • Group 2: Those who have devoted between 2 and 3.5 days.
      
   • Group 3: Those who have devoted 4 or more days.

   The list has been drawn up on the basis of information provided by the European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO), in the case of all activities linked to competitions, and by the chairmen of the various joint committees. Please note that selection panels for the recruitment of one temporary agent or for the selection of contractual agents have not been taken into account.
   
   In regard to the activities of a marker of competition papers, the information provided by EPSO concerns the number of papers marked by each official. On the basis of information provided by EPSO this number of copies has been translated into the number of days worked according to the following formula: 7 marked papers = 1 day, 11 marked papers = 1.5 days…
   
   The information transmitted by the chairmen of joint committees concerns the number of days of meetings where the official took part. A half-day has been systematically added to take account of preparatory work.
   The list is set out by budget, grade, DG and alphabetical order.
   
   If you disagree with the number of days, as stated in the annexed list, you can appeal to the promotion committee within the deadline and by the route explained in point 9 below.
   
   Your appeal must be duly justified: you should attach in particular any documents attesting your participation in one of the activities listed in Annex I to the GIP Article 45 from which the number of days devoted to that activity in 2005 is apparent.
    

7. Account not taken of changes after 31 December 2005
   
   The published lists do not take account, in particular, of any change of category after 31 December 2005.
   
   Accordingly, some officials who have changed category since 1 January 2006 may find their name appearing in the list for their former grade as at 31 December 2005 although they are no longer qualified for promotion and their previously accumulated points are to be disregarded with a view to promotion in their new grade.
   
   The relevant updating will take place when promotion lists are drawn up for the 2007 exercise.
   
   The relevant Directorate-General is the one to which officials were assigned as at 31 December 2005.
    
8. Directorates-General and other departments not covered by this Administrative Notice
   
   This Administrative Notice covers all the Commission’s Directorates-General and other departments except for:
   

   staff assigned to the following Directorates-General: The Legal Service, The External Service, the Private Offices of Members of the Commission;
   
   officials on secondment as staff representatives.

   The relevant lists for the officials referred to above will be published at a later date, without infringing the principle of a single promotion exercise for everyone (the only practical consequence of later publication is that the period for appealing to the promotion committees against an allocation of priority points will start to run from a different date).
    
9. Appeals to the promotion committees
   
   You can appeal to your promotion committee against your Directorate-General's formal intentions for priority points under Article 8 of the GIP Article 45.
   
   9.1 Deadline and route for making an appeal
    
   1. Deadline for appeal
      
      In accordance with Article 8 of the GIP Article 45, the period for making an appeal is during the five working days following publication of the merit list in question. If you are absent from work, the 5-day period starts to run from the time when "the official could, as a diligent member of staff, have known of the formal intention concerning him/her." This deadline does not include days of annual leave.
       
   2. How to make your appeal
      
      Appeals must be made using the Sysper2 application: go to "My promotion file". You must give reasons for the appeal (a space for free text opens up when a user clicks on "Launch appeal", under the tab " DG Priority Points".).
      
      Warning: Do not forget to validate your appeal after keying it into Sysper2. Validated appeals appear under the tab "Appeal" in your promotion file.
       
   3. Provisions for absence of an official
      
      Officials absent from their workplace during the period for making appeals should take steps to comply with the deadline of five working days referred to above.
      
      The following arrangements have been allowed for:
       
      1. Access to Sysper2 from an external computer
         
         Sysper2 can be consulted and used to make an appeal to the promotion committee from any computer connected to the Internet.
          
      2. If Sysper2 is not accessible
         
         Officials unable to access Sysper2 in order to consult the number of priority points allocated to them can contact the person responsible for human resources in their home DG as at 31 December 2005, who is to give them the necessary information.
         
         In accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 8(2) of the GIP Article 45, officials unable to use the computer system can make a justified appeal by writing to the head of the unit in the Directorate-General for personnel and Administration which is responsible for providing the secretariat for the promotion committees, i.e.:
         

         Unit ADMIN.A.6.
         Personnel matter "Appeal to promotion committee"
         34 rue Montoyer (MO-34 5/1), B-1040 Brussels
         Tel.: (+32)(0)2/2955264, Fax: (+32)(0)22954762
         
         Please send any e-mails to:
         "Admin-MAIL-A6@cec.eu.int"

         Please use this alternative appeal procedure only in exceptional circumstances (when you are genuinely prevented from using Sysper2).

   9.2 Presentation of appeals
   
   The consideration of appeals will be made very much easier if you adopt the following manner of presentation:
    

   • use a clear drafting style from which it is immediately apparent

     what category is the subject of the appeal (priority points given by your DG, the number of days worked, etc.)
     
     the precise reasons why you think more points should have been given
     
     what you want to happen (e.g. receive one more point, receive a sufficient number of points to cross the promotion threshold, etc.)

   • keep your appeal concise: short messages are often better understood
     
     do not reproduce or attach documents which already appear in your promotion file; the members of the promotion committees will have access to your personal file in Sysper2 when considering each case and so there is no point in repeating personal data already on record.

   9.3 Consideration of appeals by the promotion committees
   
   Appeals will then be considered by the promotion committees and may give rise to additional points ("appeal points").
   
   An Administrative Notice giving the membership of the promotion committees will be issued soon.
    

10. Indicative promotion thresholds
    
    An estimate of the promotion thresholds for the 2005 promotion exercise was published in Administrative Notice No 26-2006 of 15 May 2005, which was the Notice announcing the launching of the current exercise.
    
    An adjusted estimate has now been made. The grades for which the indicative thresholds have been revised are shown in bold in the table below.
    These indicative thresholds, including those that have been adjusted, may be exceeded by between 0.5 and 2 points.
    
    The final promotion thresholds can only be calculated by the promotion committees and the Appointing Authority at the end of the promotion exercise. These final thresholds depend on the amount of budget resources available and the priority points ultimately allocated.

REVISED TABLE OF INDICATIVE THRESHOLDS
"ADMINISTRATION" AND "RESEARCH" BUDGETS
 

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Footnote

⁽¹⁾ See box "Excluded from promotion" under the "Summary" tab in your promotion file.