ATTESTATION PROCEDURE, 2008 EXERCISE:

Admission criteria

The attestation procedure allows officials in the assistants' function group (AST) who are currently in the C (AST1-7) and D (AST1-5) career streams to access the career stream with no restriction and become members of the assistants' function group (hereinafter “function group AST”) with prospects of promotion to grade AST11. This procedure was introduced by Article 10(3) of Annex XIII to the Staff Regulations.

Officials from the assistants' function group (AST) who apply for the attestation procedure will be admitted provided they meet each of the four criteria relating to seniority, level of education (taking into account the years of professional experience to supplement the level of education), potential to perform "Administrative assistant" level functions, and the level of performance. These criteria are spelled out in Article 5(1) of the Commission Decision of 29 November 2006 (IA 55-2007) laying down the rules for implementing the attestation procedure.⁽¹⁾

The detailed rules for applying the admission criteria for the 2008 attestation exercise were adopted on 25 September 2008 by the appointing authority, as laid down in Article 4 of the above Decision. The joint attestation committee was consulted on 19 September 2008.

Annex

ATTESTATION PROCEDURE, 2008 EXERCISE:
Detailed rules for applying the admission criteria

• Seniority in career stream C or D
• Level of education and taking into account of professional experience to supplement the level of education
• Professional experience: potential to perform "Administrative assistant" level functions
• Level of performance
• Miscellaneous provisions

To be included in the final list of applicants admitted to the 2008 attestation procedure applicants must meet each of the four admission criteria detailed below.

1. Seniority in career stream C or D
    
   • For the purpose of applying this criterion, seniority acquired in career stream C, D or higher as an official or temporary staff member will be taken into account.
      
   • Seniority as a temporary staff member will be taken into account even if there has been a break between the periods of work as a temporary staff member and as an official.
      
   • Periods of work when seconded in the interests of the service or at your own request (in another European institution, in a Community/executive agency or in an organisation devoted to furthering the Community's interests) will be taken into account.
      
   • Leave on personal grounds will not be taken into account.
      
   • Only seniority acquired as at 16 January 2009 will be taken into account.
      
2. Level of education and taking into account of professional experience to supplement the level of education
    
   • Applicants must have a level of education at least equal to that required by Article 5(3)(a)(i) of the Staff Regulations for appointment to the function group AST, i.e. "a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma" (non-university higher education course or short university course lasting at least 2 years).
      
   • However, if a candidate does not have this level of education, he/she may still be eligible for attestation on the basis of professional experience acquired in the institutions (even with a status other than official or temporary staff member) or outside the institutions. Education levels can be supplemented as follows:
      

   LEVEL OF EDUCATION Level of highest qualification	Minimum seniority C/D	Additional professional experience
   a) Primary education	5 years	+ 9 years
   b) Secondary education (not giving access to post-secondary education)		+ 5 years
   c) Secondary education (giving access to post-secondary education)		+ 2 years
   d) Higher education (higher non-university education degree or short university cycle of a legal duration of at least 2 years)		0
   e) University level education of a legal duration of at least 3 years
   f) University level education of a legal duration of at least 4 years & third stage
   g) University level education – third stage

   • Only studies certified by a qualification/diploma - recognised by the Member State or third country in which it was issued – obtained by the candidate will be taken into account.
      
   • An indicative and non-exhaustive list of diplomas by level of education will be made available to staff.
      
3. Professional experience: potential to perform "Administrative assistant" level functions
    
   • Only those applicants who are positively assessed for demonstrating potential to perform "Administrative assistant" level functions and/or tasks will be admitted to the 2008 attestation procedure.
      
   • In their application forms applicants must give one or more examples of occasions between 1 September 2005 and 31 August 2008 when they believe they demonstrated this potential.
      
   • On the basis of this and after consulting the applicant's reporting officer, the countersigning officer will assess whether or not the applicant has demonstrated potential to perform "Administrative assistant" level functions and/or tasks.
      
   • The reporting officer and countersigning officer responsible for the assessment will be determined according to the post held by the applicant on the day on which he or she signs the application for attestation.
      
4. Level of performance
    
   • Applicants for the 2008 attestation procedure will not be admitted if their professional performance was assessed as insufficient or inadequate in their annual CDR covering the year 2007.
      
   • In accordance with Commission Decision C(2004) 1597 of 28 April 2004 on maintaining individual professional standards, merit points of 9.5 or less equate to insufficiency.
      
   • Assessment as "insufficient" or "poor" in one of the three CDR headings equates to inadequate performance.
      
5. Miscellaneous provisions
   
   5.1. Verification of the information in the application form
    
   • DG ADMIN will systematically check the information relating to points 1 and 2 above in the application form of each of the applicants included in the list referred to in Article 5(4) of the Commission Decision of 29 November 2006, after publication of this list and at the latest when the requests for attestation are processed.
      
   • If there is a discrepancy between the information in the application form and the documents in the applicant's personal file, attestation will not be granted.
      
   • Under no circumstances will it be possible at this stage to add any information or professional experience which the applicant might have omitted to mention.

   5.2. Specific training modules recommended
    

   • The list of specific training modules referred to in Article 6(2) of the Commission Decision of 29 November 2006 will be communicated to applicants when the final list of those admitted to the 2008 attestation procedure is published.

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Footnotes

⁽¹⁾ Decision C(2006) 5788 of 29 November 2006 laying down the rules for implementing the attestation procedure.