JUDGMENT OF THE EUROPEAN UNION CIVIL SERVICE TRIBUNAL (First Chamber)

21 July 2016

Case F‑127/15

António Gaspar Pinto Ferreira

v

European Commission

(Civil service — Officials — Disciplinary penalty — Article 9(2) of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations — Amount withheld from pension — External activity undertaken without permission — No advance request for permission made)

Application:      under Article 270 TFEU, applicable to the EAEC Treaty pursuant to Article 106a thereof, by which Mr Pinto Ferreira seeks annulment of the decision of the European Commission, of 16 December 2014, imposing, as a disciplinary measure under Article 9(2) of Annex IX of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (‘the Staff Regulations’), the withholding of an amount of 185 EUR per month from his retirement pension, for a period of 12 months, with effect from the date when he began to receive that pension, namely 1 November 2015.

Held:      The decision of 16 December 2014, by which the appointing authority of the European Commission imposed on Mr Pinto Ferreira the penalty provided for in Article 9(2) of Annex IX of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union, is annulled. The European Commission is to bear its own costs and is ordered to bear the costs incurred by Mr Pinto Ferreira.

Summary

1.      Officials — Disciplinary measures — Penalty — Imposition on an official in active service of a disciplinary penalty laid down for officials in receipt of a retirement pension or invalidity allowance only — Unlawfulness

(Staff Regulations, Annex IX, Art. 9(1) and (2))

2.      Officials — Staff Regulations — Extension by analogy of the benefit of a provision of the Staff Regulations — Precluded

1.      Article 9(1) of Annex IX of the Staff Regulations, relating to disciplinary measures, applies to all officials, whether they are in service or not, whereas Article 9(2) relates only to officials in receipt of a retirement pension or an invalidity allowance.

Accordingly, an institution infringes Article 9(2) of Annex IX of the Staff Regulations where it imposes a penalty on a serving official which is laid down only for officials in receipt of a retirement pension or an invalidity allowance.

(see paras 23, 24)

2.      The provisions of the Staff Regulations, the sole purpose of which is to regulate legal relations between the institutions and officials by establishing reciprocal rights and obligations, employ precise wording and there is no reason to extend their scope by analogy to situations to which they do not refer.

(see para. 28)

See:

Judgments of 30 June 2005 in Olesen v Commission, T‑190/03, EU:T:2005:264, para. 39; 25 October 2005 in Salvador García v Commission, T‑205/02, EU:T:2005:368, para. 43, and 22 February 2006 in Adam v Commission, T‑342/04, EU:T:2006:61, para. 34