General Information The Council of Europe's Secretariat has a permanent staff of about 1300 drawn from the 47 member States, working in fields such as human rights, media and democracy, legal co-operation, social and economic questions, health, education, culture and heritage, sport, youth, local and regional government, environment, administration, finance, electronic data processing, documentation, public information, translation and interpreting, etc. Staff are divided into 4 categories (A, B, C, L). About a third belong to category A (Administrative Officers from beginning-of-career grades A1/A2 to grade A7/Director General) assisted by some 250 staff of upper B grades (B4 to B6) who engage in executive and supervisory duties and by other B grade staff (B1 to B3) carrying out secretarial and clerical tasks. About 70 staff members in category L ensure translation and interpretation services. Category C comprises some 180 staff carrying out technical, manual or other service duties. Permanent staff in all categories are recruited by competitive examination only. Fixed-term positions are also regularly advertised and filled by a similar procedure. Administrative Officers are usually recruited to beginning-of-career posts (grades A1 to A2) by general competitions open to member States not yet adequately represented. Specific competitions are organised with a view to filling specialised posts. Such competitions usually take place as vacancies arise and may be open to nationals of all member States or to one or several under-represented countries. General competitions for secretarial assistants of English or French mother tongue level are organised at regular intervals. Specific competitions for secretarial assistants with mother tongue level of other European languages may also be organised.