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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.
- WHAT LEVEL OF COMPETENCE IS REQUIRED?
Since 1st January 2009, the level required to demonstrate a third
language is level 6 of the inter-institutional courses. During the
transition phase foreseen by Article 11 of Annex XIII of the staff
regulations, and which finished on 31 December 2008, the level required
to obtain a first promotion or a contract extension was level 4 of the
inter-institutional courses (level A2 of the Common European Framework
of Reference (CEF) of the Council of Europe). From now on, the level
required is level 6 of the inter-institutional language courses which is
equivalent to B2 of the CEF.
Officials who were promoted in the transition phase, i.e. the promotion
took effect at the latest by 31 December 2008, and who had 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 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.
1.1 Officials who have not had a first promotion but who have made
the demonstration at levels 4 or 5 by the end of 2008
Officials who have succeeded at levels 4 or 5 of the inter-institutional
courses but have not been promoted before 1 January 2009 will see in
their promotion file in sysper2, the information that they are again
excluded from promotion. In order to be eligible for promotion in 2009
or thereafter, these officials have to demonstrate level 6 before their
first promotion can take effect.
The same principle applies to Contract Agents in function group IV who
have not had their contracts extended 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.
2.1 Officials concerned before their first promotion
Article 45(2) of the Staff Regulations states that officials shall be
required to demonstrate the ability to work in a third language before
their first promotion after recruitment. 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.
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.
2.2 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. Each training request requires the
approval of the hierarchical superior.
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).
It is not possible to change the third language after the demonstration
has been made.
- 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:
- 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.
- 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(1) .
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 TROISIEME LANGUE
DIPLOMAS , accompanied by the duly completed Excel table:
- Test organised by EPSO: send a message to
EPSO TROISIEME LANGUE
TEST 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 a 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
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 2010 and who is only
at level 1 in her/his third language in 2009, 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 set up in 2009 for every official language.
- ADDITIONAL ISSUES
An official who is on sick leave, on parental or family leave and who is
unable to make the demonstration at the last possible moment of the year
of the promotion exercise through taking a test, may receive a
prolongation of the deadline to make the demonstration 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
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Footnotes
(1) 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. |
