Selection
Article 7
1. Preselected candidates 1.1. The Traineeships Office shall include preselected candidates in a database that is available to all the departments and services participating in the Blue Book Traineeship programme for the final selection, hereafter called the Virtual Blue Book. The Virtual Blue Book shall contain up to three times as many applicants as there are traineeship positions available. 1.2. Taking into consideration departments’ and services’ needs and budget availability, the Traineeships Office shall determine the number of traineeship positions to be attributed to each service for each traineeship session. The services shall prepare a detailed job description outlining the main requirements and responsibilities for each allocated position. 1.3. The Traineeships Office shall set out the procedure for preselected candidates through which they can apply to these positions. The procedure shall be published on a dedicated website. When no suitable candidate has been found or no application is received for a specific position, the services can proactively search among preselected candidates within the Virtual Blue Book to identify suitable candidates who meet the predefined criteria for those positions. 1.4. The final decision to select candidates falls exclusively under the responsibility of the Commission departments and services and shall only take effect when the Traineeships Office sends the placement offer. 2. Selected candidates 2.1. The Traineeships Office shall sign and send a traineeship offer to all selected candidates for their signature. The traineeship offer shall be deemed as accepted and thus considered as traineeship agreement once it has been signed by the candidate and received by the Traineeships Office. Selected candidates can only be offered one single traineeship position for a given traineeship session. 2.2. The Traineeships Office shall ensure that selected non-EU candidates provide all the documentation required by the authorities of the country to legally reside and work during their traineeship. 2.3. Selected candidates who decline a traineeship offer shall be excluded from the ongoing selection process. 3. Unsuccessful applicants Unsuccessful applicants may re-apply for any subsequent traineeship session by submitting a new application, including supporting documents. 4. Withdrawal At any stage of the application, preselection and selection, candidates may withdraw their application by informing the Traineeships Office of such decision in writing. Their application is then withdrawn from the subsequent stages of the (pre)selection process. They may re-apply to any subsequent traineeship session by submitting a new application, including supporting documents. 5. Processing of personal data The selection procedure under this chapter shall comply with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 9 ) regarding personal data at all stages of the application process. The Traineeships Office shall not reuse the applicants’ files from one session to another.