# Regulation No 31 (EEC), 11 (EAEC), laying down the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, Article 51


1. The appointing authority of each institution shall define procedures to identify, deal with and remedy cases of incompetence in a timely and appropriate fashion.
When adopting internal provisions, the appointing authority of each institution shall respect the following requirements:
(a) an official who, on the basis of three consecutive unsatisfactory annual reports as referred to in Article 43, still shows no progress in his professional competence shall be downgraded by one grade. If the following two annual reports still show unsatisfactory performance, the official shall be dismissed;
(b) any proposal to downgrade or dismiss an official shall set out the reasons on which it is based and shall be communicated to the official concerned. The proposal from the appointing authority shall be referred to the Joint Advisory Committee provided for in Article 9(6).
2. The official shall have the right to obtain his complete personal file and to take copies of all documents relating to the procedure. He shall have at least 15 days, but no more than 30 days, from the date of receipt of the proposal to prepare a defence. He may be assisted by a person of his choice. The official may submit written comments. He shall be heard by the Joint Advisory Committee. The official may also call witnesses.
3. The institution shall be represented before the Joint Advisory Committee by an official designated for that purpose by the appointing authority. That official shall have the same rights as the official concerned.
4. In the light of the proposal under point (b) of paragraph 1 and any written and oral statements from the official concerned or from witnesses, the Joint Advisory Committee shall deliver by a majority a reasoned opinion stating the measure which it considers appropriate in the light of the facts established at its request. It shall forward that opinion to the appointing authority and to the official concerned within two months of the date on which the matter is referred to it. The chairman shall not vote on decisions of the Joint Advisory Committee, except in procedural matters and where votes are tied.
5. An official dismissed for incompetence shall, for the period defined in paragraph 6, be entitled to a monthly dismissal allowance equal to the basic monthly salary of an official in the first step of grade AST 1. The official shall also be entitled during the same period to the family allowances provided for in Article 67. The household allowance shall be calculated on the basis of the basic monthly salary of an official in grade AST 1 in accordance with Article 1 of Annex VII.
The allowance shall not be paid if the official resigns after the start of the procedure referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 or if he is entitled to the immediate payment of a full pension. If he is entitled to unemployment benefit under a national unemployment scheme, the amount of that benefit shall be deducted from the above allowance.
6. The period during which the payments referred to in paragraph 5 are to be made shall be:
(a) three months where the official has completed less than five years’ service at the date on which the dismissal decision is taken;
(b) six months where the official has completed at least five years’ service but less than 10;
(c) nine months where the official has completed at least 10 years’ service but less than 20;
(d) 12 months where the official has completed at least 20 years’ service.
7. Officials who are downgraded on grounds of incompetence may after a period of six years ask for all references to that measure to be deleted from their personal files.
8. Officials shall be entitled to reimbursement of reasonable expenses incurred on their initiative in the course of the proceedings, including fees payable to a defending adviser not belonging to the institution, where the proceedings provided for in this Article end without any decision being taken to dismiss or downgrade.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/1962/31/article/51 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-regulation-1962-31/article-51
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.