Procedure before the European Union Civil Service Tribunal: specific aspects

Abstract

The distinct character of the Civil Service Tribunal as well as its case-law has led to a number of procedural particularities and innovations. The Civil Service Tribunal encourages the parties to a case to favour an amicable settlement of the dispute. In the staff cases the amicable settlement procedure is of very significant value as it allows achieving a balanced and for both parties to a case acceptable solution. The particular attention needs to be paid to the allocation of costs according to the rules governing the procedure before the Civil Service Tribunal. It is to be noted that a special rule previously had applied to the staff cases, according to which the applicant did not pay the institution's costs even if he lost the case. The special rule was abolished as from the 1st November 2007 and today a general rule stating that the unsuccessful party shall be ordered to pay the costs has to be applied. However, as it is apparent from the case-law of the Civil Service Tribunal, the general rule is not applied automatically. Attention must be also drawn to the provisions granting the Tribunal the possibility of ordering any claimant bringing a manifestly abusive action to reimburse the costs occasioned by that action. The Tribunal is faced with an increasing number of actions from claimants who misuse that judicature, the cases brought by those applicants often take up a disproportionate amount of the Tribunal's time and impedes its functioning. Thus, this article analyses the abovementioned specific aspects of the procedure before the Civil Service Tribunal. These procedural aspects are compared to the aspects of procedure before the Court of Justice and the General Court.