Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 12 September 2013 —
Italy v Commission

(Case T‑142/08)

Languages — Notices of open competition for the recruitment of administrators and assistants — Full publication in three official languages — Information concerning the notices of open competitions — Publication in all official languages — Language of the tests — Choice of second language from three official languages

1.                     Officials — Competitions — Notice of open competition — Publication in full in the Official Journal only in some official languages and brief notice in all languages — Not permissible — Discrimination based on language — Breach of principle of proportionality (Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, Art. 21; Staff Regulations, Art. 1 quinquies, (1) and (6); Annex III, Art. 1(2); Council Regulation No 1, Art. 5) (see paras 24-30)

2.                     Officials — Competitions — Running of an open competition — Languages of participation in tests — Equal treatment — Requirement of specific linguistic knowledge — Statement of reasons — Justification having regard to the interests of the service — Observance of the principle of proportionality (Staff Regulations, Arts 1 quinquies, (1) and (6), 27, first para., 28(f); Annex III, Art. 1(1)(f); Council Regulation No 1, Art. 1) (see paras 35-41)

3.                     Actions brought by officials — Judgment annulling a measure — Effects — Annulment of a notice of open competition — Legitimate expectations of the candidates selected — Results of the competition not called into question (Art. 266 TFEU; Staff Regulations, Art. 91) (see paras 50, 51)

Re:

APPLICATION for annulment of Notice of open competitions EPSO/AD/116/08 and EPSO/AD/117/08 to constitute a reserve list of Administrators (AD 8) and Principal Administrators (AD 11) in the field of fraud prevention and Notice of open competition EPSO/AST/45/08 to constitute a reserve list of Assistants (AST 4) in the field of fraud prevention (OJ 2008 C16A, pp. 1 and 16 respectively) on the ground that they were published in French, English and German only.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the notices of open competitions EPSO/AD/116/08 and EPSO/AD/117/08 to constitute a reserve list of Administrators (AD 8) and Principal Administrators (AD 11) in the field of fraud prevention and EPSO/AST/45/08 to constitute a reserve list of Assistants (AST 4) in the same field, published in the English, French and German versions of the Official Journal of the European Union on 23 January 2008;

2. Orders the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the European Commission to bear their own costs.