JUDGMENT OF THE GENERAL COURT (Appeal Chamber)
6March 2012
Case T‑167/09 P
European Commission
v
Amerigo Liotti
(Appeal— Civil service— Officials— Reports procedure— Career development report— 2006 appraisal procedure— General implementing provisions— Application of the appraisal standards consistently and through consultation)
Appeal:against the judgment of the European Union Civil Service Tribunal (First Chamber) of 17February 2009 in Case F‑38/08 Liotti v Commission [2009] ECR-SC I‑A‑I‑25 and II‑A‑1‑103 and seeking to have that judgment set aside.
Held:The appeal is dismissed. The European Commission will bear, in addition to its own costs, those incurred by MrAmerigo Liotti in the present proceedings.
Summary
Officials— Reports procedure— Career development report— General implementing provisions establishing common appraisal rules for each directorate-general— Appraisals conducted without regard to the appraisal rules— Unlawfulness
(Staff Regulations, Art.43)
Even where they are supported by evidence and reasons are given, appraisals of officials’ ability, efficiency and conduct in the service which are conducted without regard, or without sufficient regard, to the appraisal rules necessarily depart from the assessment criteria common to all officials within a particular directorate-general, as laid down in those rules, and consist of the assessments, sometimes incomplete or subjective, of the individual reporting or countersigning officer. A career development report drawn up without regard to the appraisal rules cannot therefore be identical to that which would have been drawn up if the rules had been applied.
Furthermore, the evidential difficulties particular to the appraisal of officials preclude an official who contests a career development report from being required to demonstrate that, if the appraisal rules had been applied by the reporting and countersigning officers, the report might have been different.
(see paras48-49)