Article 2
This Regulation shall enter into force on 1 May 2004. This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States. Done at Brussels, 22 March 2004. For the Council The President B. Cowen (1) OJ C 291 E, 26.11.2002, p. 33. (2) OJ C 62 E, 11.3.2004, p. 160. (3) Opinion of 18.2.2004 (not yet published in the Official Journal). (4) OJ C 75, 24.3.2004, p. 1. (5) OJ C 364, 18.12.2000, p. 1. (6) OJ L 56, 4.3.1968, p. 1. (7) OJ L 327, 16.12.2003, p. 3. ANNEX I AMENDMENTS TO THE STAFF REGULATIONS OF OFFICIALS OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES The Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities are amended as follows: 1) Articles 1 and 1a are replaced by the following: "Article 1 These Staff Regulations shall apply to officials of the Communities." "Article 1a 1. For the purposes of these Staff Regulations, 'official of the Communities' means any person who has been appointed, as provided for in these Staff Regulations, to an established post on the staff of one of the institutions of the Communities by an instrument issued by the Appointing Authority of that institution. 2. This definition in paragraph 1 shall also apply to persons appointed by Community bodies to whom these Staff Regulations apply under the Community acts establishing them (hereinafter 'agencies'). Any references to 'institutions' in these Staff Regulations shall apply to agencies, save as otherwise provided in these Staff Regulations."; 2) the following Articles are inserted: "Article 1b Save as otherwise provided in these Staff Regulations, (a) the European Economic and Social Committee, (b) the Committee of the Regions, (c) the European Ombudsman, and (d) the European Data Protection Supervisor shall, for the purposes of these Staff Regulations, be treated as institutions of the Communities." "Article 1c Any reference in these Staff Regulations to a person of the male sex shall be deemed also to constitute a reference to a person of the female sex, and vice-versa, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise."; 3) the former Article 1a becomes Article 1d and is amended as follows: (a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following: "1. In the application of these Staff Regulations, any discrimination based on any ground such as sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national minority, property, birth, disability, age, or sexual orientation shall be prohibited. For the purposes of these Staff Regulations, non-marital partnerships shall be treated as marriage provided that all the conditions listed in Article 1(2)(c) of Annex VII are fulfilled."; (b) in paragraph 2 the following phrase is inserted after "women in working life": ", which shall be an essential element to be considered in the implementation of all aspects of these Staff Regulations,"; (c) the following paragraphs are added: "4. For the purposes of paragraph 1, a person has a disability if he has a physical or mental impairment that is, or is likely to be, permanent. The impairment shall be determined according to the procedure set out in Article 33. A person with a disability meets the conditions laid down in Article 28(e) if he can perform the essential functions of the job when reasonable accommodation is made. 'Reasonable accommodation', in relation to the essential functions of the job, shall mean appropriate measures, where needed, to enable a person with a disability to have access to, participate in, or advance in employment, or to undergo training, unless such measures would impose a disproportionate burden on the employer. 5. Where persons covered by these Staff Regulations, who consider themselves wronged because the principle of equal treatment as set out above has not been applied to them, establish facts from which it may be presumed that there has been direct or indirect discrimination, the onus shall be on the institution to prove that there has been no breach of the principle of equal treatment. This provision shall not apply in disciplinary proceedings. 6. While respecting the principle of non-discrimination and the principle of proportionality, any limitation of their application must be justified on objective and reasonable grounds and must be aimed at legitimate objectives in the general interest in the framework of staff policy. Such objectives may in particular justify stipulating a mandatory retirement age and a minimum age for drawing a retirement pension."; 4) the following Article is inserted: "Article 1e 1. Officials in active employment shall have access to measures of a social nature adopted by the institutions and to services provided by the social welfare bodies referred to in Article 9. Former officials may have access to limited specific measures of a social nature. 2. Officials in active employment shall be accorded working conditions complying with appropriate health and safety standards at least equivalent to the minimum requirements applicable under measures adopted in these areas pursuant to the Treaties. 3. Measures of a social nature adopted in accordance with this Article shall be implemented by each institution in close cooperation with the Staff Committee, on the basis of multi-annual proposed actions. These proposed actions shall be transmitted each year to the budgetary authority in the framework of the budget procedure."; 5) Article 2 is amended as follows: (a) the existing first paragraph is numbered and becomes paragraph 1; (b) the second and third paragraphs are deleted; (c) the following paragraph is added: "2. However, one or more institutions may entrust to any one of them or to an inter-institutional body the exercise of some or all of the powers conferred on the Appointing Authority other than decisions relating to appointments, promotions or transfers of officials."; 6) in Article 4 the third paragraph shall be replaced by the following:"If the vacancy cannot be filled by transfer, appointment to a post in accordance with Article 45a or promotion, it shall be notified to the staff of the other institutions, and/or an internal competition shall be organised."; 7) Articles 5, 6 and 7 are replaced by the following: "Article 5 1. The posts covered by the Staff Regulations shall be classified, according to the nature and importance of the duties to which they relate, in an administrators' function group (hereinafter 'AD') and an assistants' function group (hereinafter 'AST'). 2. Function group AD shall comprise twelve grades, corresponding to administrative, advisory, linguistic and scientific duties. Function group AST shall comprise eleven grades, corresponding to executive, technical and clerical duties. 3. Appointment shall require at least: (a) in function group AST: (i) a level of post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or (ii) a level of secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of at least three years, or (iii) where justified in the interests of the service, professional training or professional experience of an equivalent level. (b) in function group AD for grades 5 and 6: (i) a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma, or (ii) where justified in the interest of the service, professional training of an equivalent level. (c) in function group AD for grades 7 to 16: (i) a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma when the normal period of university education is four years or more, or (ii) a level of education which corresponds to completed university studies attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year when the normal period of university education is at least three years, or (iii) where justified in the interests of the service, professional training of an equivalent level. 4. A table showing types of posts is given in Annex I, point A. By reference to this table, each institution shall define the duties and powers attaching to each type of post after consulting the Staff Regulations Committee. 5. Identical conditions of recruitment and service career shall apply to all officials belonging to the same function group.