1. An allowance for living conditions shall be fixed, according to the official's place of employment, as a percentage of a reference amount. This reference amount shall comprise the total basic salary, plus the expatriation allowance, household allowance and dependent child allowance, less the compulsory deductions referred to in the Staff Regulations or in the regulations adopted to implement them.
Where an official is employed in a country in which living conditions can be deemed equivalent to those normally obtaining in the Community, no such allowance shall be payable.
In the case of other places of employment, the allowance for living conditions shall be fixed as follows.
The parameters taken into account for fixing the allowance for living conditions shall be the following:
- health and hospital environment,
- security,
- climate,
to which three parameters shall be applied a weighting of 1:
- degree of isolation,
- other local conditions,
to which two parameters shall be applied a weighting of 0,5.
Each parameter shall have the following value:
0: where conditions are normal but not equivalent to those normally obtaining in the Community,
2: where conditions are difficult compared with those normally obtaining in the Community,
4: where conditions are very difficult compared with those normally obtaining in the Community. The allowance shall be fixed as a percentage of the reference amount referred to in the first subparagraph, in accordance with the following scale:
- 10 % where the value equals 0,
- 15 % where the value is greater than 0 but not greater than 2,
- 20 % where the value is greater than 2 but not greater than 5,
- 25 % where the value is greater than 5 but not greater than 8,
- 35 % where the value is greater than 8.
The allowance for living conditions fixed for each place of employment shall be reviewed and, where appropriate, adjusted each year by the appointing authority after the opinion of the Staff Committee has been obtained.
2. If living conditions at the place of employment are such as to put the official at personal risk, a temporary additional allowance shall be paid to him by special reasoned decision of the appointing authority. This allowance shall be fixed as a percentage of the reference amount referred to in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1:
- at 5 % where the authority advises its staff not to settle their families in the place of employment,
- at 10 % where the authority decides to reduce temporarily the number of staff serving in the place of employment.
Remuneration, as also the allowances referred to in Article 10, shall be paid in Belgian francs in Belgium. They shall be subject to the weighting applicable to the remuneration of officials employed in Belgium.
At the request of the official, the appointing authority may decide to pay all or part of his remuneration in the currency of the country of employment. In that event, it shall be subject to the weighting for the place of employment and shall be converted on the basis of the corresponding exchange rate.
In duly substantiated exceptional cases, the appointing authority may make all or part of this payment in a currency other than that of the country of employment in such a way as to maintain purchasing power.
In order to ensure as far as possible that officials, enjoy equivalent purchasing power irrespective of their place of employment, the Council shall determine the weighting referred to in Article 12 every six months. The Council shall, by the written procedure within one month, act on a proposal from the Commission by the qualified majority provided for in the first eventuality set out in the second subparagraph of Article 148 (2) of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community and of Article 118 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. Should a Member State request formal examination of the Commission proposal, the Council shall act within two months.
Where however, in the case of a given country, the variation in the cost of living measured on the basis of the weighting and the corresponding exchange rate is found to have exceeded 5 % since the last adjustment, the Commission shall decide on interim measures for adjusting the weighting and shall inform the Council thereof as soon as possible.
The Commission shall submit an annual report to the Council on the application of this Annex and in particular on the fixing of the rate of the allowance for living conditions as provided for in Article 10.
On the conditions laid down by the appointing authority, the official shall receive an education allowance to cover the actual education costs incurred, payment of the allowance being made on the production of supporting documents. Except in cases deemed exceptional by the appointing authroity, this allowance shall not exceed three times the doubled maximum education allowance.
Reimbursements due to officials shall be paid in either Belgian francs or the currency of the country of employment, on the basis of a reasoned request from the official.
Officials may opt to have installation or resettlement allowances paid in either Belgian francs or the currency of the place of installation or resettlement; in the latter case, they shall be subject to the weighting fixed for the place in question and converted at the corresponding exchange rate.
Section 2
RULES RELATING TO THE REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES
An official not in furnished accommodation provided by the institution who, for reasons beyond his control, is obliged to change his residence at the place of employment shall, by special reasoned decision of the appointing authority, be reimbursed the expenses incurred in respect of removal of furniture and personal effects, on production of supporting documents and in accordance with the rules on removals.
In such cases, he shall have his actual installation expenses reimbursed on production of supporting documents, subject to a ceiling equal to half the installation allowance.
An official who, at his place of employment, is staying at a hotel because the accommodation provided for in Article 5 cannot yet be allocated to him or is no longer available to him or who, for reasons beyond his control, has not been able to take possession of his accommodation shall be reimbursed the hotel expenses of himself and his family on production of the hotel bills, after prior authorization by the appointing authority.
He shall also receive half the daily allowance.
The expenses referred to in the first and second subparagraphs shall be reimbursed subject to the limits laid down in Article 10 of Annex VII to the Staff Regulations, except where the appointing authority takes a special decision that there is a case of force majeure.
Where hotel accommodation cannot be provided, the official shall be entitled to reimbursement of the actual cost of renting temporary accommodation, after prior approval by the appointing authority.
An official who does not have the use of a staff car for travel relating to official business within his area of activity shall receive a mileage allowance for the use of his own car. The amount of the allowance shall be fixed by the appointing authority.
An official shall be entitled to travel expenses for rest leave from his place of employment to the authorized place of leave for himself and, if he is entitled to the household allowance, for his spouse and dependents if they live with him.
Where travel by train is impossible or impracticable, reimbursement shall be by special decision on production of the air tickets, whatever the distance.
An official who is obliged to change his place of residence in order to comply with Article 20 of the Staff Regulations and Article 4 of this Annex and who does not move house shall be entitled, on taking up his duties, to reimbursement of the cost of transporting his personal effects, subject to the conditions laid down by the appointing authority, on production of supporting documents.
Where, following a transfer, an official is obliged to change his place of residence in order to comply with Article 20 of the Staff Regulations, the institution shall, depending on the type of accommodation that can be provided at the place of employment and subject to the conditions laid down by the appointing authority, bear the actual cost of moving part or all of his furniture and personal effects from their location at the time to the place of employment or of transporting his personal effects or of storage. Reimbursement may be made for any or all of these costs.
In the event of termination of service or death, the institution shall, subject to the conditions laid down by the appointing authority, bear the actual cost of moving an official's furniture and personal effects from their location at the time to his place of origin or of transporting his personal effects from the place of employment to his place of origin. Reimbursement may be made for any or all of these costs.
In the event of the death of an unmarried official, reimbursement shall be made to those entitled under him.
The temporary accommodation allowance and the cost of transporting the personal effects of his spouse and dependants shall be advanced to a probationer official by the institution.
In the event of the probationer official not being established at the end of his probationary period, the institution may in exceptional cases take steps to recover up to half of these sums on the basis of the provisions laid down by the appointing authority.
Where the official is not provided with accommodation by the institution, his rent shall be reimbursed, provided that the accommodation corresponds to the level of his duties and to the composition of his dependent family. Section 3
SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
The official, his spouse, his children and other persons dependent on him shall be covered by supplementary sickness insurance for the difference between expenditure actually incurred and payments from the scheme provided for in Article 72 of the Staff Regulations; no reimbursement shall be made under Article 72 (3).
Half the premium shall be paid by the official and half by the institution. However, the official's contribution shall not exceed 0,6 % of his basic salary, any balance shall be paid by the institution.
The official, his spouse, his children and other persons dependent on him shall be insured for repatriation on health grounds in the case of an emergency or extreme emergency; the premium shall be paid entirely by the institution.
The spouse, children and other persons dependent on the official shall be insured against accidents occurring outside the Community in the countries appearing on a list adopted for this purpose by the appointing authority.
Half the premium shall be paid by the official and half by the institution.
CHAPTER 5
DISCIPLINE
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
