Ref. Ares(2020)5015182 - 24/09/2020
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
HUMAN RESOURCES AND SECURITY
HR.E – Legal Affairs & Partnerships
HR.E.3 – Ethics and Ombudsman
Brussels, 24 September 2020
Ms Margarida DA SILVA
CEO
Rue d'Edimbourg 26
1050 Brussels
By email:
ask+request-8376-
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx
Subject:
Your application for access to documents – Ref/GestDem No 2020/4871
Dear Ms Da Silva,
I refer to your request for access to documents, registered on 17 August 2020 under reference
number 2020/4871.
Your request concerns
“…documents which contain the following information:
- dedicated training, presentations and information materials that were prepared to raise
outgoing and incoming cabinet members’ awareness of their ethical obligations,
-
The most up to date Practical guide to ethics and conduct,
- any statistics or analysis relevant to the implementation of Staff Regulations Article 16 and
Article 40. I am particularly interested in finding the number of requests that were rejected.”
I have examined your request under the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European
Parliament, Council and Commission documents. I understand that your request refers to
three elements:
(A) Dedicated training, presentations and information materials prepared to raise awareness
of the ethical obligations of outgoing and incoming cabinet members serving in the
context of the 2019 transition between the “Juncker Commission” (2014-2019) and the
“Von der Leyen Commission” (2019 - 2024).
(B) The latest version of the Practical Guide to Staff Ethics and Conduct.
(C) Statistics or analysis regarding the implementation of Staff Regulations Article 16 and
Article 40, with particular interest in the number of requests rejected. Please note that
Article 40 of the Staff Regulations covers the possibility of a Commission staff member
European Commission, B-1049 Brussels - Belgium. Phone: (32-2) 299 11 11.
Office: MO34 04/004. Direct line (32-2) 2953427.
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxx@xx.xxxxxx.xx
to request unpaid leave on personal grounds. As your request is oriented towards ethical
issues in the European Commission, we understand that you might have been referring
to the requests submitted by staff members in the context of Article 12b of the Staff
Regulations in relation with Article 40, that means a staff member request to perform an
outside activities (Article 12b) while on leave on personal ground (Article 40).
Therefore, our understanding of this part of your request is that, in addition to any
statistics or analysis relevant to the implementation on requests for occupational
activities after leaving the service you also requested (Article 16), you would like to
obtain this information for requests for outside activities while on leave on personal
grounds (Article 12b and Article 40) – with particular attention to the number of rejected
requests.
In this context, the documents identified in the framework of your request relating to the topic
(A) that were prepared to raise awareness of the ethical obligations of the Cabinet fall into
two main categories: (a) Guides and Vademecums, (b) Presentations that were used during
the trainings and/or information sessions happening in 2019 and 2020 (Information Sessions
on end of contracts for temporary agents in the Cabinets, the EPSC and the SPP, Welcome
Seminar for the new Von der Leyen Commission, Ethics and Transparency induction
sessions).
The documents identified are the following:
- the parts of the
“Termination of service of temporary staff – Practical Guide 2019”
falling under the scope of your request,
- the parts of the
“Vademecum and welcome pack for Heads of Cabinet” falling
under the scope of your request,
- the parts of the
“Vademecum and welcome pack for staff in the Cabinets” falling
under the scope of your request,
- a presentation on “
Staff member’s ethical obligations after leaving the
Commission”,
- a presentation on
“Staff ethics and conduct – training offer for the new Cabinets”,
- a presentation on
“Staff ethics and conduct - Welcome seminar for staff members
in the Cabinets of the von der Leyen Commission”, and
- a presentation on the
“Ethical framework for Members of the European
Commission”.
I enclose copies of the above-mentioned documents.
In addition to your request, please note that the European Commission staff members serving
in a Cabinet have access to additional informational resources regarding their ethical
obligations. This includes access to the dedicated intracomm pages for Cabinets, which
include a comprehensive section on “Ethics and integrity” providing further ethics
information tailor-made to their task and duties (I enclose a copy of the pages of this site).
Moreover, Cabinet staff members are being reminded as part of the communication addressed
to them that they can find more information on the general intracomm webportal of the
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Commission (“MyIntracomm”) on “Staff Matters” which has a specialized section on “Ethics
and staff conduct”. They are also been made aware that the Commission offers various
training in the field of ethics to its staff members (the general “Ethics & Integrity” training, as
well as to the “Dealing with Lobbyists” training).
Please note that these other resources to raise the awareness of staff on ethics have not been
specifically prepared for the transition between the incoming and outgoing Commissions in
2019, as you requested, but are more of a general nature and permanent access. Nevertheless,
I thought you might find this information useful in the context of your request for access to
documents.
Regarding part (B) of your request, I enclose a copy of the August 2019 version of the
“Practical Guide to Staff Ethics and Conduct” prepared by DG HR.
In addition, and beyond the scope of your request, I think you could find useful the
September 2019 version of the
“European Commission Ethics Guide” drafted by the
Secretariat-General. Please find a copy enclosed.
As regards the last element of your request (C) on the implementation of Article 16 of the
Staff Regulations, I have asked my services to extract from the relevant working database the
statistics for the 2019 requests on occupational activities after leaving the service. In the year
2019, the Appointing Authority adopted 363 favourable Decisions and 3 unfavourable
Decisions. Please note that in all favourable decisions reminders on all ongoing statutory
obligations applicable after leaving the service are always listed therein and, if imposed by
the Appointing Authority, specific restrictions/conditions on the requested activity are
included too.
In addition, you might find useful the reports on occupational activities of former senior
officials, published annually and available on the “Service standards and principles” website
of the European Commission under the section “Transparency”:
https://ec.europa.eu/info/about-european-commission/service-standards-and-principles_en
In relation with the number of requests for outside activities while on unpaid leave on
personal grounds (based on Article 12b in combination with Article 40 of the Staff
Regulations), I have asked my service to extract from the relevant staff database the
following statistics for 2019: 594 Decisions were favourable and 3 Decisions were
unfavourable. Please note that in all favourable decisions reminders on all statuary
obligations applicable while on unpaid leave on personal grounds are always listed therein
and, if imposed by the Appointing Authority, specific restrictions/conditions on the requested
activity are included too.
You may reuse the documents requested and the provided statistics free of charge for non-
commercial and commercial purposes provided that the source is acknowledged, that you do
not distort the original meaning or message of the document. Please note that the
Commission does not assume liability stemming from the reuse.
Yours sincerely,
(e-sig
ned)
Dominique ENJOLRAS
Head of Unit
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List of the enclosed documents:
1- Termination of Service TA Practical Guide 2019_RelevantExtracts
2- VADEMECUM HoC_RelevantExtracts
3- VADEMECUM staff_RelevantExtracts
4- OUTGOING Ethics obligations after leaving the service final 9.07.19
5- New CABs ethics presentation
6- 20191206_Ethics_WelcomeSeminar
7- Welcome Day CAB staff info on Ethics for Members Commission
8- Intracomm pages for Cabinets (section on “Ethics and integrity”)
9- HR Practical_Guide_Ethics August2019
10- FINAL SG Ethics_Guide Sept2019
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Electronically signed on 24/09/2020 16:58 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563