Third language requirement
before first promotion after
recruitment (Article 45(2) of the Staff Regulations), and before renewal
of a contract for an indefinite period of type 3a contract agents in
function group IV (Article 85(3) of the Conditions of Employment of
Other Servants)
This administrative notice concerns the requirement to demonstrate
the ability to work in a third language and the implementing rules that
affect those officials who have not yet had their first promotion since
being recruited, as well as type 3a contract agents in function group IV
before renewal of their contract for an indefinite period.
- WHO IS CONCERNED?
Article 45(2) of the Staff Regulations and Article 85(3) of the
Conditions of Employment of Other Servants lay down who is concerned
by the third language requirement. The Common Rules laying down the
procedure for implementation apply to both these groups of persons.
1.1 Officials concerned before their first promotion
Article 45(2) of the Staff Regulations states that officials shall
be required to demonstrate before their first promotion after
recruitment the ability to work in a third language. In accordance
with Article 11 of Annex XIII of the Staff Regulations, this applies
to all first promotions after recruitment which take effect after 30
April 2006. It applies also to officials who would be promoted
pursuant to Article 29(1)(a)(iii) of the Staff Regulations.
All officials concerned by this rule, who were in service on 31
December 2006, received two messages in the course of 2007(1).
Officials and probationary officials who have arrived at the
Commission since 1 January 2007 should ensure that they discuss this
issue with the Human Resources unit of their Directorate-General or
Service.
Article 45(2) concerns only first promotions after recruitment. So,
if you have already been promoted, you are not concerned by Article
45(2). In particular, you are not concerned:
- If you have already been promoted in another institution;
- If you have already been promoted in another category, and
have changed category since then;
- If you are a former temporary agent, who was re-graded, that
is, assigned to a higher grade (Articles 10 and 15 of the
Conditions of Employment of Other Servants) while a temporary
agent, provided that this re-grading was analogous to a
promotion exercise for an official, i.e. it being the result of
a comparison of merits.
Previous promotions in another institution are taken into
consideration if they were awarded in an institution, including
agencies that apply the Staff Regulations.
1.2 Type 3a contract agents in function group IV before renewal
of their contract for an indefinite period
Article 85(3) of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants
stipulates that contract staff referred to in Article 3a) of the
Conditions of Employment of Other Servants and belonging in function
group IV shall before renewal of a contract for an indefinite period
be required to demonstrate the ability to work in a third language.
- CHOICE OF LANGUAGE?
The third language is selected by the official or contract agent
concerned and can be any of the official languages of the European
Communities. These are the languages identified in Council
Regulation (EC) No 920/2005 of 13 June 2005 amending
Regulation no.1 of 15 April 1958. The third language must differ
from the two languages chosen or identified for the competition or
selection procedure on the basis of which the official or contract
agent was recruited.
Where training is required, the immediate superior shall, in the
course of a preliminary meeting, deliver an opinion, taking into
account the interests of the service and of the institution (Article
2 of the Common Rules). This
may lead, for example, to a request to change the originally
selected language.
Where a training course is necessary, for officials or contract
agents based outside the locations of Brussels and Luxembourg, the
choice of a third language can be limited to those for which
language training is available locally (Article 10 of the Common
Rules).
- WHAT LEVEL OF COMPETENCE?
The level required is level 6 of the inter-institutional language
courses. During a transition phase until 31 December 2008, for the
purpose of promotion or prolongation of a contract, it is level 4.
These levels are equivalent to level B.2 (= 6) and A.2 (4) of the
Common European Framework of Reference (CEF) of the Council of
Europe.
Officials who are promoted in the transition phase, i.e. the
promotion takes effect at the latest by 31 December 2008, and who
have demonstrated the third language requirement at level 4 or 5 for
the purpose of their promotion, must ensure the acquisition of
levels 5 and 6 afterwards. This should become part of their training
map and personal training objectives (Annex to the Commission
Decision of 19 July 2006 on the implementation of Article 45(2)).
Their future promotions are not, however, conditional on this.
The same transitional phase applies for function group IV contract
agents who must demonstrate the ability to work in a third language
before having their contracts extended for an indefinite period. The
vast majority of such contracts can only be extended for an
indefinite period from 2009 onwards, so level 6 must be obtained.
- HOW CAN THE ABILITY TO WORK IN A THIRD LANGUAGE BE
DEMONSTRATED?
The ability to work in a third language is assessed in the light of
four skills: oral comprehension, written comprehension, oral
expression and written expression. The demonstration of this ability
can be made in several ways(2):
- By successfully passing an inter-institutional language
course;
- By having a certificate or a diploma which is included on
EPSO's indicative list or recognised by the appropriate
assessment committee;
- By passing a test organised by EPSO;
- By passing a test at an external school, after prior
authorisation by EPSO;
- By successfully having passed a competition where 3
languages were tested in all 4 competences;
- By successfully having passed an additional competition with
a different language combination from the one of the competition
through which you were recruited.
Level placement tests to identify a level for subsequent course
participation do not constitute a demonstration of ability. Level
placement tests are easier than an end of course official test.
As mentioned above, in the transition phase until 31 December 2008,
for the purpose of promotion or the prolongation of a contract,
level 4 of the inter-institutional courses is sufficient; thereafter
level 6 will be required.
- WHAT ABOUT TRAINING?
All language training requests from officials and contract agents
concerned by the requirement to demonstrate the ability to work in a
third language are examined by their hierarchical superior, taking
into consideration the interest of the service and the institution.
Once a training request is approved, priority access to
inter-institutional language classes is guaranteed, provided that
the enrolment has been made within the enrolment period for the
language session concerned. After the enrolment period, a language
training request can be satisfied only if there are places
available.
If the Commission has approved language training for the purpose of
the third language requirement, the Common Rules stipulate that the
assessment of the third language should be carried out in the
language in which the training has been requested.
- WHAT ACTION DO I HAVE TO TAKE TO MAKE THE DEMONSTRATION?
For those staff affected by the third language requirement, Sysper2
contains a sub-section 'Languages, which you can access via the
'Personal Data' section 'under the section ' Jobholder Management',
Here you will find registered the two languages of the competition
or selection procedure through which you were recruited. If you wish
to contest the encoding of these two languages, you are requested to
send an e-mail to
ADMIN A6 Third
language.
Once a decision on the choice of the third language has been taken,
you need to select it in Sysper2. To do this, you click on the
button "modify", choose a third language in the drop-down menu and
click on the button "save". You will not be able to change it once
you have registered it. In case it needs to be changed, you are
requested to send a message to
ADMIN A6 Third
language.
As set out above, you can demonstrate your ability to work in a
third language in various ways. Depending on how you want to make
the demonstration, this means in practice :
- Inter-institutional language course
: send a message
to
ADMIN A3 ARTICLE
45.2, indicating the language which you have chosen and the
highest level reached.
- Diploma/certificate
: send a scanned copy to EPSO
troisième langue, accompanied by the duly completed
Excel table
:
- Test organised by EPSO
: send a message to EPSO
troisième langue indicating the language to be tested, accompanied
by the duly completed Excel
table
- Test at an external organisation/school
: you may
identify a language school and submit a
prior authorisation form
in order to have the school approved by EPSO and
undertake the language test at that school. If this option is
taken, EPSO will reimburse any fees incurred up to a maximum of
€200.
- Competition in 3 languages
: send a message indicating
the reference number of the competition to
ADMIN A6 Third
language.
- Additional competition with different language
combination
: send a message indicating the reference number
of the competition to
ADMIN A6 Third
language
Once the demonstration of the third language has been made
through any of the means described above, the administration will
encode the means of demonstration, the demonstration date and the
level reached in the above-mentioned 'Languages' sub-section in
SYSPER2. This will be visible for the official or contract agent
concerned. In case of attendance of inter-institutional language
courses, level 6 will be encoded also for levels higher than 6.
Likewise, a diploma/certificate which has been accepted at level
higher than B2 will be registered at level 6. This reflects the
requirements of the common rules which define level 6 as the maximum
level required.
- WHAT EFFECT WILL THIS HAVE
7.1 ON PROMOTION? (FOR OFFICIALS ONLY)
All officials concerned who demonstrate their ability to work in a
third language, through any of the means described above before 31
December of the calendar year of the promotion exercise will be
eligible for promotion. Once this ability has been demonstrated, the
comment 'excluded from promotion' will be removed from their
promotion file in SYSPER2. Officials who do not demonstrate their
ability before 31 December of the calendar year of the promotion
exercise will not be eligible for promotion that year and will not
be promoted even though they may have a stock of points placing them
above the threshold for the grade in question.
These officials will retain their stock of points at the end of year
N. If they succeed in demonstrating their ability to work in a third
language in the year N+1 and providing they remain above the
threshold, they should be promoted the following year. However,
promotion in these circumstances will take effect in year N+1.
As an exception to the general rule described above, officials who
are promoted for the first time since recruitment and pursuant to
Article 29(1)(a)(iii) of the Staff Regulations will be required to
demonstrate their ability to work in a third language before the
date of effect of appointment to the new post.
7.2 ON THE RENEWAL OF A CONTRACT? (FOR CONTRACT AGENTS ONLY)
It is important for function group IV contract agents to make sure
ensure that the level of their third language is known as early as
possible, as it may be a factor in deciding on the length of the
first contract and/or a prolongation of the contract. For example, a
contract agent who has a first contract of 3 years ending in 2009
and who is only at level 1 in her/his third language in 2008, should
be offered a contract extension for a sufficiently long period to
allow him/her to reach level 6 before the end of his/her contract
extension (provided that there is a service need for the contract
extensions).
- WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ASSESSMENT COMMITTEES?
The EPSO
website provides details about the role of the assessment
committees being set up in 2007 for every official language.
- ADDITIONAL ISSUES
Certain circumstances might make it impossible to demonstrate the
ability to work in a third language during the year of the relevant
promotion exercise. To an official who is ill, on parental or family
leave, and who is
unable to make the demonstration, a prolongation of the deadline to
make the demonstration may be granted with view to a promotion which
would be backdated. The accordance of such a prolongation and the
new deadline are subject to prior authorisation by DG ADMIN.
Contract agents who find themselves in a similar situation are also
requested to contact DG ADMIN.
Contact points:
ADMIN A6 Third
language
ADMIN A3 ARTICLE
45.2
EPSO
troisième langue
_______________
Footnotes
(1) Officials in grades AD14 and AD15 have
received separate messages. Officials who apply for middle or senior
management positions, who are concerned by Article 45(2) and who would
be promoted pursuant to Article 29(1)(a)(iii) receive a personal message
in case they have not yet demonstrated the ability to work in a third
language.
(2) Officials who apply for middle or senior
management positions, who are concerned by Article 45(2) and who would
be promoted pursuant to Article 29(1)(a)(iii) receive a personal message
in case they have not yet demonstrated the ability to work in a third
language.
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