Judgment 500
48th Session, 1982
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
Article 92 of Eurocontrol's General Conditions of Employment establishes the jurisdiction of the Tribunal "in the absence of a competent national jurisdiction. But [...] the Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany held that the West German courts were not competent in this case. Nor may any other national jurisdiction be invoked."
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; municipal court; subsidiary;
Judgment 481
48th Session, 1982
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"The complainant argues that the Director of her division was not competent to order the deduction from her salary, since such a decision falls to the Director-General [...]. She fails, however, to prove any such abuse of authority. Moreover, the Director of her division merely carried out the instructions given [...] by the assistant Director-General."
Keywords:
competence; decision-maker; deduction; salary; unauthorised absence;
Judgment 429
45th Session, 1980
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 8
Extract:
"Only the body empowered to amend Staff Regulations may determine whether the amendments it adopts are desirable. That is a matter for the governing bodies of the organisation, not the Tribunal, to decide."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; competence of tribunal; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 388
43rd Session, 1980
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"The decision to abolish the complainant's post and create a new one was taken by [a national] government, which alone was competent to take it. It was not for the [organization] to impose such a decision and so interfere in the internal affairs of the [national] authorities. Nor is it established that it sought to influence those authorities. [...] It had no reason to oppose the wishes of the [...] government, which was free to decide what form assistance from international organisations should take."
Keywords:
abolition of post; competence; decision; member state; project personnel;
Judgment 382
42nd Session, 1979
World Meteorological Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 7
Extract:
"The decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to apply the [general service salary] scales which are now in force in its Geneva office was challenged by an official of the United Nations in case no. 225 [...] before the Administrative Tribunal of the United Nations. This Tribunal is satisfied that the United Nations Tribunal is the proper forum for the determination of this issue. That Tribunal upheld as valid the decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations." The decision taken by the Secretary-General of the WMO to apply those scales therefore stands.
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; case law; competence; enforcement; general service category; judgment of the tribunal; scale; unat;
Judgment 358
41st Session, 1978
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
One decision was signed by the chief of personnel; another by a representative of the Director and on the Director's behalf. "[B]oth those officials were qualified to take the decision in the place of the Director. Hence the complainant cannot properly contend that the decisions were taken without authority. Besides, the decision [...] to dismiss the complainant's second [...] appeal, which conforms with the two earlier decisions, was signed by the Director himself."
Keywords:
competence; decision-maker;
Judgment 353
41st Session, 1978
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
According to the general principles of the international civil service, "a supervisor may suspend from duty, forthwith and without formality, a staff member who is manifestly guilty of misconduct serious enough to make it clear that it is incompatible with the organisation's interests to keep him on the staff. Suspension is a provisional measure and reserves the staff member's rights; it should be followed by an inquiry which affords him full safeguards and as a rule requires notably action by the head of the organisation."
Keywords:
competence; disciplinary procedure; international civil service principles; misconduct; organisation's interest; safeguard; supervisor; suspension;
Judgment 339
40th Session, 1978
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
The jurisdiction of an appeals committee need not necessarily be the same as the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. "It would be neither irrational nor inconvenient if the question whether a contract of appointment had or had not been concluded was left outside the jurisdiction of a committee designed to deal with staff grievances rather than with questions of law."
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; contract; evidence; internal appeals body; offer;
Judgment 323
39th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 22
Extract:
"[T]he Council in general in its dealings with the staff acts through the Director-General to whom [...] the staff is responsible and who [...] carries out the Council's decision."
Keywords:
competence; decision; enforcement; executive head; legislative body;
Consideration 22
Extract:
It is not the case that "a decision of the Council which, when executed, will inevitably have an effect upon an official's rights, ipso facto alters those rights from the moment it is made and before it is executed. [I]t is the Director-General, not the Council, who vis-a-vis the official fixes his salary; this is so, whether or not in fixing the salary the Director-General is required to conform with decisions of the Council."
Keywords:
competence; decision; decision-maker; enforcement; executive head; general decision; legislative body; salary;
Consideration 7
Extract:
Is the Director-General required "to act independently as he thinks right [...] when appointing, assigning and promoting staff, or [is he] acting as executive officer [...] and carrying out the decisions of the Council" ? The Tribunal believes that the latter is the correct view [...]. "The Council must act through the Director-General. What the [Regulation] requires is a decision by the Director-General, but it is as satisfied with a decision which he is taking on the instructions of the Council as with one which he is taking on his own responsibility."
Keywords:
competence; decision; executive head; legislative body;
Consideration 25
Extract:
According to the organization "the decision impugned was taken by one of the governing bodies of the FAO in the exercise of its constitutional powers and represented a legislative enactment. [T]he term 'governing body' is not a term used in the constitution of the FAO and there is no definition of what it means." The Council is the executive organ of the Conference, which is the organization's supreme body. The Constitution gives the Council such powers as the Conference may delegate to it. "There is no assertion in the organization's reply of the delegation of any power that would justify the Council in depriving any official of any part of the salary to which under the Regulations he or she is entitled."
Keywords:
competence; decision-maker; executive body; reduction of salary; salary;
Judgment 304
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
"It is for the [competent] committees and for the Director-General to adapt the conditions of promotion to the [organisation's] requirements. Hence those conditions may change from year to year and, since they do so, different staff members are differently treated according to the dates on which they receive promotion. Where there are administrative reasons for such difference in treatment, it is no breach of the principle of equality laid down in [the Staff Regulations]."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; criteria; equal treatment; executive head; organisation's interest; promotion; promotion board;
Judgment 301
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
It is for the competent committees and the Director-General to adapt the conditions of promotion to the requirements of the organisation. "Hence those conditions may change from year to year and, since they do so, different staff members are differently treated according to the dates on which they receive promotion. Where there are administrative reasons for such difference in treatment, it is no breach of the principle of equality."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; criteria; date; effective date; equal treatment; executive head; organisation's interest; promotion; promotion board;
Judgment 300
38th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 5
Extract:
Vide Judgment 301, consideration 5.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 301
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; criteria; date; effective date; equal treatment; executive head; organisation's interest; promotion; promotion board;
Judgment 294
38th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
"it is unnecessary to determine whether the council's decision automatically amended the rule to which the old salary schedule was attached... it is not to be expected that the council would itself consider and provide in detail for all the implications of the change. the council's function in relation to the staff is to settle or approve fundamental conditions of service and basic rights, duties and obligations..."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; decision; executive body; salary; scale; staff regulations and rules; terms of appointment;
Consideration 7
Extract:
The Director-General "is under an obligation to use his powers so as to ensure that an amendment authorised by the Council does not in its application result in inequality of treatment which the Council cannot be supposed to have intended."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; equal treatment; executive head; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 293
38th Session, 1977
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"It is not disputed that [...] the council of the organization could by means of a resolution supplement or amend the Staff Regulations without prejudice to the acquired rights of staff members."
Keywords:
acquired right; amendment to the rules; competence; decision; executive body; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 292
38th Session, 1977
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 17
Extract:
The Tribunal will not rule whether a rule of application can be amended by an office notice. "It will assume for the purposes of this case that a valid amendment can be made by office notice, provided that: a) the document containing the amendment is made by the Director-General himself; b) the intention to amend is made clear in the document; c) the amendment is clear in its effect; d) the amendment is not deemed effective to deprive an official of essential acquired rights."
Keywords:
acquired right; administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; competence; competence of tribunal; condition; executive head; judicial review; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 18
Extract:
"A change in the conditions of remuneration is not an ordinary administrative matter; it is something which the Director-General is expected to consider and decide himself. In the absence of [words to that effect] it is not therefore to be supposed that the power to amend [rules] is one which the Director-General can delegate. [The relevant article] specifies that in individual cases the application of the Staff Regulations may be delegated, but there is no similar provision in respect of the making of general rules."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; decision-maker; delegated authority; executive head; no provision; salary; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 15
Extract:
"If it is to be granted that the power to make a rule must embrace a power to amend it, then the Director-General could unilaterally amend Rule No. 7, but only by the exercise of his rule-making power. There is no document in the dossier [which explicitly shows him to have exercised] such a power."
Keywords:
adoption; amendment to the rules; competence; decision-maker; executive head; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 18
Extract:
"In the absence of [words to that effect] it is not [...] to be supposed that the power to amend [the] rule [respecting conditions of remuneration] is one which the Director-General can delegate. [The material provision] specifies that in individual cases the application of staff regulations may be delegated, but there is no similar provision in respect of the making of general rules."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; delegated authority; no provision; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 25
Extract:
" [I]t is within the power of the Director-General to lay down by means of an instruction criteria for determining what is or is not 'reasonably near', provided that in doing so he has proper regard to the nature and purpose of the [material provision]. [...] He must be guided by accessibility for school children [...] to lay down [...] that for every official [...] every school within a radius of 50 kilometers [...] is to be deemed accessible is not a proper exercise of the power. Accordingly the provision to this effect [...] is not binding upon the complainant."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; competence; condition; criteria; education expenses; enforcement; executive head; interpretation; provision; refund; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 274
36th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 22
Extract:
Under FAO Manual provision 330.151, unsatisfactory conduct consists of "conduct which is incompatible with the staff member's undertaken or implied obligation to the organization." "The unsatisfactory performance of staff duties is clearly within this general definition." A staff member's conduct of his private life or his trade union activities are not, apart from exceptional cases, the concern of the Director-General.
Reference(s)
Organization rules reference: PARAGRAPH 330.151 FAO MANUAL
Keywords:
competence; conduct; executive head; outside activity; staff member's duties; staff union activity;
Consideration 22
Extract:
"Activities within the staff organization [...] constitute an area that is 'prima facie' outside the Director-General's jurisdiction. [...] There may be exceptional cases. [...] As a general rule a staff member gives no undertaking, express or implied, about how she will conduct herself in the business of the Staff Council or its organs."
Keywords:
competence; complainant; conduct; executive head; freedom of association; staff union; staff union activity;
Consideration 22
Extract:
"[A]s a general rule a staff member gives no undertaking, express or implied, about how she will conduct herself in the business of the Staff Council or its organs. It would be contrary to the principle of freedom of association that she should. Freedom of association means that there must be freedom of discussion and of debate [...] There could be no true freedom of association if the disapproval of the Director-General [...] of what was said could lead to disciplinary measures."
Keywords:
competence; definition; elements; executive head; freedom of association; staff union;
Consideration 13
Extract:
The elections were postponed by the Election and Referendum Committee following an intervention by the Director-General. "Whatever may be the power under the Staff Regulations, the Statutes, which are the [...] Committee's only source of authority, required quite clearly that the election should be held in January. The Committee may have believed that the Director-General's prerogative enabled him to dispense them from observance of the Statutes, but they cannot [...] have supposed that their action would not meet with criticism and even indignation."
Keywords:
amendment to the rules; competence; date; election; enforcement; executive head; provision; staff regulations and rules; staff representative;
Consideration 22
Extract:
When the offending conduct falls outside staff duties, "each case must be examined carefully to see whether an obligation has been broken". A staff member's conduct of his private life is not the concern of the Director-General, unless it brings the organization into disrepute. In the same way, trade union activities fall outside the competence of the Director-General, although there may be exceptions.
Keywords:
competence; conduct; executive head; freedom of association; judicial review; outside activity; staff member's duties; staff union activity;
Considerations 11-12
Extract:
On the eve of the elections, the Director-General sought assurances from the election and referendum committee concerning the participation of regional members, in particular as regards their nomination of candidates. "Any intervention by an employer with the processes by which his employees elect the representatives who will have to negotiate with him is a delicate matter even when he has a clear 'locus standi'." In the instant case, it is doubtful whether the Director-General had such a right.
Keywords:
competence; election; executive head; staff representative; staff union;
Consideration 1
Extract:
"The Director-General has [...] under the general rules of the organization disciplinary control over all staff members and he must therefore have inherent power to warn as an alternative to a disciplinary measure and to have the warning put on record; whether or not that is called a reprimand does not matter."
Keywords:
competence; disciplinary measure; executive head; provision; staff regulations and rules; warning;
Judgment 243
33rd Session, 1974
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
According to the basic principles to be observed in the public service, "a supervisor should exercise supervision and control over all the activities of his subordinates. Such authority is exercised exclusively in the interests of the organisation and in particular its exercise should not impair the efficiency of work."
Keywords:
competence; organisation's interest; purpose; supervisor;
Judgment 219
31st Session, 1973
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
Vide Judgment 216, consideration 1.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 216
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; internal appeals body; tribunal;
Judgment 216
31st Session, 1973
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"The internal procedure and the procedure before the Administrative Tribunal are connected, the former being a necessary prelude to the latter. Subject to any provisions to the contrary in its own Statute, therefore, the Administrative Tribunal is competent to hear any cases which are referable to the internal appeals body."
Keywords:
competence; competence of tribunal; internal appeals body; tribunal;
Judgment 208
30th Session, 1973
Universal Postal Union
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 2
Extract:
"In order to invalidate the plea of lack of authority, it is enough to confirm that the Director-General did not overstep the limits of his powers, and it is not necessary to consider how he exercised those powers."
Keywords:
competence; decision-maker; discretion; executive head; judicial review;
