Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 7 February 2019.Frederik Duym v Council of the European Union.Civil service — Officials — Appointment to a post of head of unit — Vacancy notice — Rejection of an application — Appointment of another candidate — Obligation to state reasons — Principle of sound administration — Interests of the service — Manifest error of assessment — Principle of non-discrimination.Case T-549/17.

Judgment // 07/02/2019 // 2 min read
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Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 7 February 2019 –Duym v Council

(Case T‑549/17)

(Civil service — Officials — Appointment to a post of head of unit — Vacancy notice — Rejection of an application — Appointment of another candidate — Obligation to state reasons — Principle of sound administration — Interests of the service — Manifest error of assessment — Principle of non-discrimination)

  1. Officials — Competitions — Selection Board — Rejection of application — Obligation to state reasons — Scope — Observance of the secrecy of proceedings — Obligation to state reasons, at the latest, at the stage of rejecting the complaint

(Art. 296 TFEU; Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 25, second para., 90(2), 91 and Annex III, Art. 6)

(see paras 23-25, 39, 41, 42)

  1. Officials — Vacancy — Consideration of the comparative merits of candidates — Discretion of the appointing authority — Observance of the conditions laid down in the vacancy notice — Judicial review — Limits — Manifest error of assessment — None

(Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 41(1); Staff Regulations of Officials, Arts 7 and 29)

(see paras 48, 49, 56-60, 74, 83, 90, 91)

  1. Officials — Recruitment — Procedure — Obligation for the administration to communicate with a candidate in a language of which he has thorough knowledge — Scope

(Staff Regulations of Officials, Art. 27)

(see paras 110, 115)

Re:

Application based on Article 270 TFEU and seeking the annulment of the decision of the advisory selection board, communicated to the applicant by email of 7 October 2016, rejecting his application in the context of the selection procedure for the Head of the Dutch Language Unit for the Council’s Translation Service, as well as the subsequent decision of the appointing authority of the Council of 20 December 2016 to appoint Ms A. to the post.

Operative part

The Court:

  1. Dismisses the action;

  2. Orders Mr Frederik Duym to bear his own costs and to pay those incurred by the Council of the European Union.