Article 23 Referral of cases to the Panel

In accordance with Article 93(1) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046, the panel shall be convened at the request of any appointing authority responsible for disciplinary matters or of an authorising officer responsible, including a head of a Union delegation or his/her deputy acting as the authorising officer by subdelegation, hereinafter ‘referring authorities’.

Where the Panel is directly informed by a staff member, it shall send the file to the competent appointing authority or, as appropriate, to the authority empowered to conclude contracts and inform that staff member. If the competent appointing authority decides to refer the case to the Panel, it shall inform the staff member. If it decides not to refer the case to the Panel, it shall inform the Panel and the staff member.

In order to ensure that whistle-blowers are effectively protected, as provided for in Article 22a(3) of the Staff Regulations, the Panel may decide, by way of derogation from the preceding subparagraph, not to inform the competent appointing officer and to inform OLAF.