2007 PROMOTIONS EXERCISE

Allocation of priority points
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• Invitation to consult promotion files
• Ability to work in a third language
• Reminder: Officials in grades AST05/D, AST07/C and AST11
• 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 2006
• Directorates-General and other departments not covered by this Administrative Notice
• Appeals to the promotion committees
• Indicative promotion thresholds
  

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. In application of this communication requirement, 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.
   
   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. Ability to work in a third language
   
   Officials are required to demonstrate before their first promotion after recruitment the ability to work in a third language, as stipulated in article 45, paragraph 2 of the staff regulations.
   
   Each official concerned by article 45, paragraph 2 has been contacted individually by email on two occasions during 2007 in order to explain the necessity to choose a third language and further to use one of the available ways of carrying out the demonstration of the ability to work in a third language.
   
   The level required in 2007 is level 4 of the inter-institutional language classes (CEF level A.2). To be eligible for a first promotion, the demonstration must be carried out before the end of 2007. If the demonstration is not made in 2007, the official concerned is not eligible for promotion in 2007.
   
   For further details see the Administrative Notice 16-2007 of 15 February 2007.
    
3. Reminder: Officials in grades AST05/D, AST07/C and AST11
   
   Only officials whose grade still allows them to be promoted to the next grade in the category, function group or AST/C or AST/D career streams to which they belong, are concerned by the promotion exercise, as foreseen in Article 1 of the General Implementing Provisions for Article 45 of the Staff Regulations adopted by the Commission on 23 December 2004 (hereafter Article 45 GIPs).
   
   Officials in grades AST05/D, AST07/C and AST11 do not therefore 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 (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 Article 45 GIPs 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  
   
   Through this administrative notice, the DGs' requirement to publish the formal intentions for allocating individual priority points is respected, as stipulated in Article 5(7) of the Article 45 GIPs which 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."
   
   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."

   At the request of the promotion committees, a particular attention has been brought to bear in the 2007 promotion exercise on the fact that the tasks giving rise to the attribution of PPII should not be part of the job description of the officials concerned.
   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, and following recommendations formulated by the promotion committees in 2006, DG ADMIN has established a list of officials having devoted in 2006 a minimum of 4 days to the tasks set out above. This list is annexed to this Notice. Once the number of days of participation in joint committees has reached two and a half days, an additional one and a half days have been added to count as preparation time.
     
     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, therefore 28 marked papers = 4 days.
     
     The information transmitted by the chairmen of joint committees concerns the number of days of meetings where the official took part.
     
     The list is set out by budget, grade, 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 means explained in point 9 below.
     
     Your appeal must be duly justified. It should explicitly state that it is a PPII appeal. You should attach, in particular, any documents attesting your participation in one of the activities listed in Annex I to the Article 45 GIPs from which the number of days devoted to that activity in 2006 is apparent.
      
7. Account not taken of changes after 31 December 2006
   
   The published lists do not take account, in particular, of any change of category after 31 December 2006.
   
   Accordingly, some officials who have changed function group/career stream since 1 January 2007 may find their name appearing in the list for their former grade as at 31 December 2006 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 2008 exercise.
   
   The relevant Directorate-General is the one to which officials were assigned as at 31 December 2006.
    
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 External Service
   • DG Comm
   • 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 means 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 2006, 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@ec.europa.eu"
         
         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 (PPDG), priority points for work in the interest of the institution (PPII), the number of days worked, etc.)
     
     the precise reasons why you think more points should have been given;
     
     what outcome you are seeking (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 2007 promotion exercise was published in Administrative Notice No 29-2007 of 10 May 2007, which was the Notice announcing the launching of the current exercise.
    
    An adjusted estimate has now been made for the different budgets. The results have been obtained from the most numerous group of officials; those attached to the Operating budget, but are valid also for the other budgets ("Research" and "JRC"). The grades for which the indicative thresholds have been revised are shown in bold in the table below.
    To recall, the final promotion thresholds can only be calculated by the Promotion Committees and the Appointing Authority at the end of the promotion exercise. These thresholds are a function of the budget available for each establishment plan and the result of the priority point allocation.
    Nevertheless, for a certain number of grades the threshold is stabilised. It concerns the grades AD09, AD07 AD06, AD05, AST09, AST05, AST04, AST03, AST02, AST01 and AST02/C. In the framework of the 2007 promotion exercise and for the Operating budget, all officials in these grades who have accumulated a number of points at least equal to the value of the threshold will be promoted, on condition that they fulfil the eligibility conditions mentioned above.
     

REVISED TABLE OF INDICATIVE THRESHOLDS
" OPERATING", "JRC" AND "RESEARCH" BUDGETS