APPOINTING AUTHORITY COMPETENCES WITHIN THE COMMISSION

The new Commission Decision on the exercise of powers conferred on the Appointing Authority and on the Authority Empowered to Conclude Contracts of Employment is set out in the appendices listed below. This decision replaces the Commission Decision C(2007)5730 of 30 November 2007 (as amended).

The main objective of the recast is a further simplification of administrative procedures. Thus, certain types of decisions regarding officials in senior management functions (e.g. on working part-time or on parental or family leave) that used to be taken by the College are delegated to the Member of the Commission responsible for human resources or to DG HR. Other subject-matters, such as the assessment of the personal interest of an official or other agent or the assessment of his or her spouse's gainful employment, are fully or partly decentralised, i.e. most of these files will not have to be submitted to DG HR any longer, but will be handled by the agent's DG of assignment.

The Decision has been adopted based on Article 2 of the Staff Regulations and on Article 6 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants. According to these provisions each institution shall determine who within it shall exercise the powers conferred by the Staff Regulations on the Appointing Authority and by the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants on the Authority Empowered to Conclude Contracts of Employment. It thus establishes who has the authority to adopt

• decisions provided for by the Staff Regulations in respect of officials (these decisions are taken by the Appointing Authority);
   
• decisions provided for by the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants in respect of temporary and contract staff and special advisers (these decisions are taken by the Authority Empowered to Conclude Contracts of Employment).

While the body of the act lays down general rules on the delegation of powers, the details of how the exercise of powers is distributed among Commission services are set out in three annexes to the Decision: Annex I for all staff except that of JRC and OLAF, Annex II for the staff of the JRC and Annex III for the staff of OLAF. Each of those three annexes comprises a cover page with general explanations and a set of tables spelling out the distribution of powers, sorted by subject matters and bodies or persons responsible for decisions concerning different categories of officials and other agents.