# Council Decision (CFSP) 2017/824 of 15 May 2017 concerning the Staff Regulations of the European Union Satellite Centre, Article 2: Provisions applicable to all employees

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

1. Authority
Employees shall be subject to the authority of the Director and responsible to him for the performance of their duties, which they shall undertake to carry out as scrupulously and conscientiously as possible.
An employee shall be responsible to the Director through his superiors for the discharge of his duties. The responsibility of his subordinates shall not relieve him of any of his own responsibilities except in so far as any such subordinate may have been guilty of deliberate disobedience.
Where an employee, in his duties, considers that an order received is improper or is likely, if carried out, to cause serious trouble, he shall so inform his immediate superior, if necessary in writing. If his immediate superior confirms the order in writing, the employee shall carry it out, but may ask that it be referred to a higher authority. There shall be no obligation to carry out an order involving an act or omission falling within the provisions of penal law.
2. Declaration
On accepting engagement with the SATCEN each employee shall subscribe to the following declaration:
‘I solemnly undertake to exercise in all loyalty, discretion and conscience the functions entrusted to me as employee of the European Union Satellite Centre (SATCEN), and to discharge those functions with only the interests of the SATCEN in view. I further undertake not to seek or accept instructions in regard to the performance of my duties from any government or from any authority other than the SATCEN.’
3. Conduct and Confidentiality
Employees shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner compatible with their status as representatives of the SATCEN. They shall abstain from any action or activity that may in any way undermine the dignity of their position or the good name of the SATCEN.
Employees shall also conduct themselves with objectivity and impartiality, and shall avoid any conflict of interest, perception or appearance of conflict of interest, in the performance of their duties.
Employees shall observe complete discretion with regard to all matters relating to the activities of the SATCEN. Except in the discharge of their duties, they shall not disclose any unpublished information acquired by them in the course of their official business unless authorised to do so by the Director. This obligation shall continue after they have left the SATCEN.
4. Financial responsibility
An employee may be required to make good, in whole or in part, any damage suffered by the SATCEN as a result of wilful misconduct or gross negligence on his part in the course of or in connection with the performance of his duties, independently of any disciplinary proceeding.
5. Security
Employees shall, on engagement, acquaint themselves with the EU regulation on the security rules applied by the SATCEN, as laid down by Council Decision 2013/488/EU. They shall sign a declaration whereby they acknowledge their disciplinary and financial responsibility in the event of non-compliance with that regulation.
(a) All employees shall be required to have security clearance giving them access to classified information in the course of their duties. A request for such clearance will be addressed to the competent authorities by the SATCEN. Pending official clearance, temporary access to classified information may be granted by the Director in accordance with the EU Security rules in force.
(b) In accordance with these Staff Regulations and the EU Security rules in force regarding the need to hold a security clearance, no appointment will be confirmed before the competent National Security Authority grants the security clearance.
(c) Employees shall inform the Security Officer immediately in the event of the suspected loss or compromise of classified information.
6. Assistance and compensation
The SATCEN shall provide assistance to employees who, by reason of their current appointment or duties at the SATCEN, and through no fault of their own, are subject to threats, insults, defamation or attack. Compensation for any material damage sustained may be granted provided that:
(a) the employee has not wilfully or through negligence provoked the damage in question;
(b) no redress has otherwise been obtained;
(c) employees make over to the SATCEN any claims they may have against a third party, in particular insurance companies.
All decisions in this matter that could involve action or payments by the SATCEN shall be taken by the Director, who shall have a discretionary power to assess the circumstances of the case and to decide what form the assistance should take and what compensation, if any, should be granted.
7. Proprietary rights
All rights, including title, copyright and patent rights, in any work carried out by an employee in the performance of his official duties, shall be vested in the SATCEN.
8. External activities
(a) An employee shall not, without the permission of the Director, accept from any government or from any other source outside the SATCEN any honour, decoration, favour, gift or payment of any kind whatsoever, except for services rendered either before his appointment or during special leave for military or other national service and in respect of such service.
(b) Employees shall abstain from any public action or statement or publication if such action, statement or publication is incompatible with the duties or obligations of an international civil servant or liable to involve the moral or material responsibility of the SATCEN.
(c) An employee wishing to engage in an outside activity, whether paid or unpaid, or to carry out any assignment outside the SATCEN, shall first obtain the permission of the Director. Permission shall be refused only if the activity or assignment in question is such as to interfere with the performance of the employee's duties or is incompatible with the interests of the SATCEN.
(d) An employee may not directly or indirectly hold such interests in a commercial firm as could, by their nature, compromise his independence in the discharge of his duties in the SATCEN.
(e) If the spouse or the registered partner of an employee is in gainful employment, the employee shall inform the Director. Should the nature of the employment prove to be incompatible with that of the employee and if the employee is unable to give an undertaking that it will cease within a specified period, the Director shall, after consulting the Staff Committee, decide whether the employee shall continue in his post or be transferred to another post.
9. Candidacy for public or political office
(a) Employees who for personal reasons wish to stand for public or political office shall notify the Director of that intention.
(b) Any employee who stands for public or political office shall be given unpaid leave starting on the date he declares that he is beginning his electoral campaign.
(c) If elected, the employee shall request termination of his contract. Such termination shall not carry any entitlement to loss of employment indemnity or fixed-term contract allowance.
(d) If he does not accept the public or political office, the employee shall be entitled to resume his appointment with the same salary and seniority from which he benefited at the time his unpaid leave began.
(e) Time spent on unpaid leave shall not count towards seniority.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2017/824/annex/article/2 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2017-824/annex/article-2
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.