2008 Promotion Exercise applicable measures

Priority points for work in the interest of the institution – arrangements applicable in 2008 and 2009
2008 Indicative Promotion thresholds

1. Applicable measures in 2008
   
   Administrative notice n° 4 – 2008  dated 4 February 2008, launched the 2008 appraisal exercise. It noted that a draft decision revising the general implementing provisions (GIP) of article 43 and article 45 of the staff regulations should shortly be adopted by the Commission. It also indicated that the revised measures would only be in application from the 2009 appraisal and promotion exercise.
   
   You will be able to read more information on these proposals at Pers Admin:
    
2. Priority points "recognising work undertaken in the interest of the institution" (PPII)
   
   2.1. Dispositions to be applied in 2008
   
   On the basis of article 9 of the General Implementing Provisions (GIP) of article 45 of the staff regulations adopted on 23 December 2004, officials having carried out certain tasks, set out in annex 1 of the above-mentioned GIP, can be attributed priority points recognising this work. This disposition remains in place during the 2008 promotion exercise for tasks carried out by officials in the course of 2007.
   
   2.2 Dispositions to be applied in 2009
   
   Your attention is drawn to the fact that the new promotion measures which will be in force in 2009 foresee the abolition of "priority points recognising work undertaken in the interest of the institution" (PPII).
   
   This means consequently that the tasks undertaken in the interest of the institution as chairman/member of a competition selection board or joint committee for the selection of temporary staff, adviser to a selection board/marker of competition papers and chairman/member of a joint committee in the course of 2008 will not give rise to the attribution of PPII in the 2009 promotion exercise. These activities will however figure among the criteria to take into consideration for the promotion points put in place by the new system of appraisal and promotion.
    
3. 2008 indicative Promotion thresholds
   
   The draft revision of the GIP of article 45 of the staff regulations includes a "convergence plan" which sets out at which rhythm should operate the transition from the "historical" promotion speeds, those observed during the period 2000-2004, to the speeds deriving from the multiplier rates contained in Annex 1B of the staff regulations. This concerns all grades except end of career grades (AD13, AD12, AST10, AST 6/C, AST 4/D) for which no promotion was possible in the framework of the staff regulations in operation on 30 April 2004. For each year the convergence plan indicates the average length of time in the grade before promotion. This length of time is the basis from which the threshold will be calculated for the year in question, using the following formula:
   
   Length of time x average number of points distributed per official = promotion threshold.
   
   The advantage of such an approach is that it permits the prior fixing of the value of the promotion threshold. This is therefore an important advance on the situation which applied up to the present where the thresholds could not be fixed until the end of the promotion exercise and varied from one year to the next, while the exact scale of that variation could not be forecast.
   
   The new Article 45 GIP will not enter into force until 2009. As a result the convergence plan will only be in place as and from the next promotion exercise. However, in order to allow staff to benefit from this new approach during the 2008 promotion exercise the value of the indicative promotion thresholds for most grades is determined taking into account the average length of time in the grade foreseen for 2008 in the convergence plan. For certain other grades (AD10, AD8, AST5/C, AST4/C, AST3/C and AST3/D) the strict application of the convergence plan would have lead to an increase in thresholds in 2008 followed by a decrease in 2009. In order to avoid such a phenomenon and in order to facilitate the transition to the new appraisal and promotion system, the values of the thresholds in 2007 for these 6 grades are carried forward to 2008. The indicative promotion thresholds which follow on from this are set out in Annex I.
   
   You will also find attached a first estimation of the thresholds for the end of career grades (AD13, AD12, AST10, AST6/C and AST 4/D) which, as explained above, are not part of the convergence plan (see annex II).