Staff Regulations of EC officials: amending the Regulations

The committee adopted the report drawn up by Malcolm HARBOUR (EPP-ED, UK) and Manuel MEDINA ORTEGA (PES, E) proposing a few amendments to the proposal on amending the Staff Regulations of EC officials and other servants (consultation procedure). MEPs said that the new Staff Regulations should enter into force on the date of accession of the new Member States, i.e. 1 May 2004. As regards the whistleblowing procedure, they specified that the period of time within which either OLAF or a given institution must act after being given information by an official "on the presumption of possible illegal activities" should be one month for the institution and 60 days for OLAF. The amendment also proposed that, "should the complexity of the case so require, this period of time may be increased" and that the official who has disclosed the information should be duly informed not only of the period of time in question but also of the decision regarding action to be taken. On the question of organising internal competitions for each function group on the basis of qualifications or tests at AST 6-level or higher and at AD 9-level or higher, the committee said that these competitions should only be open to members of the temporary staff of the institution concerned. Moreover, it said that the European Parliament should organise an internal competition once every 5 years for each function group, rather than organising at least two internal competitions every 5 years, as proposed. Other amendments dealt with pension rights and reimbursement of officials' travel expenses. �