Open letter ALTER-EU to the head of Cabinet of Commissioner Šefčovič
"The commission attaches great importance to the respect of Article 16* of the Staff Regulations and will carry out any review of its internal procedures in this regard with great care".
This provokes several questions:
- When was the operation of Article 16 last internally reviewed?
- What were the conclusions and is this publicly available or can we submit an access to documents request to receive it?
- What are the plans for future reviews? If none are planned, what will be the trigger for a future review?
- On what basis would a review happen, considering that the Commission does not keep an internal registry of Article 16 cases and thus presumably could not really conduct an accurate and effective overview?
* Art. 16 Staff Regulations:
An official shall, after leaving the service, continue to be bound by the duty to behave with integrity and discretion as regards the acceptance of certain appointments or benefits. Officials intending to engage in an occupational activity, whether gainful or not, within two years of leaving the service shall inform their institution thereof.
If that activity is related to the work carried out by the official during the last three years of service and could lead to a conflict with the legitimate interests of the institution, the Appointing Authority may, having regard to the interests of the service, either forbid him from undertaking
it or give its approval subject to any conditions it thinks fit. The institution shall, after consulting the Joint Committee, notify its decision within 30 working days of being so informed. If no such notification has been made by the end of that period, this shall be deemed to constitute implicit acceptance.
