Staff Regulations, Appendix XI

 Article 1 – Membership of the Tribunal 1

1. The Administrative Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as the Tribunal) shall be composed of three judges, who shall not be staff members of the Council of Europe.

2. One judge shall be appointed by the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter referred to as the Court) from among those who hold or have held judicial office in one of the member States of the Council of Europe or with another international judicial body, other than present judges of the Court. The remaining judges shall be appointed by the Committee of Ministers among jurists or other persons of high standing, with great experience in the field of administration. The judges of the Tribunal shall be appointed for a term of three years; they may be reappointed. 2

3. Three deputies shall be appointed by the Court and the Committee of Ministers, on the same conditions.

4. The six judges and deputies who at any one time are serving, or completing pursuant to paragraph 5 of this Article, a three-year term of office must be nationals of different member states. This provision shall not apply to judges and deputies continuing to hold office pursuant to paragraph 6 of this Article.

5. In the event of the death or resignation of a judge or deputy during the three-year term for which he or she was appointed, the Court or the Committee of Ministers, as the case may be, shall appoint a replacement to serve for the remainder of the term of office of his or her predecessor.

6. Judges and deputies shall continue to hold office until replaced, but only for a maximum period of one year. The judge or deputy who is to continue to hold office pursuant to this paragraph shall, if need be, be selected by a drawing of lots.

7. A judge or deputy who continues or has continued to hold office pursuant to paragraph 6 of this Article shall continue to deal with any case in which oral proceedings have begun before him or her.

 Article 2 – Chair

The judge of the Tribunal appointed by the Court shall be the Tribunal’s Chair. If the Chair is unable to act, he or she shall be replaced by the deputy appointed by the Court.

 Article 3 – Independence of judges

The judges of the Tribunal shall be completely independent in the discharge of their duties; they shall not receive any instructions. During their term of office they shall not hold any position which is incompatible with their independence and impartiality as judges of the Tribunal or the demands of this office.

 Article 4 – Jurisdiction

The jurisdiction of the Tribunal is provided for in Article 60 of the Staff Regulations. Any dispute concerning the scope of its jurisdiction shall be settled by the Tribunal itself.

 Article 5 – Admissibility

1. An appeal shall not be admissible unless it complies with the conditions laid down in Article 60, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the Staff Regulations.

2. If the Chair states, in a reasoned report to the judges of the Tribunal, that he or she considers the appeal to be manifestly inadmissible, and if the judges raise no objections within two months, the appellant shall be informed without delay that his or her appeal has been declared inadmissible for the reasons stated in the report, a copy of which shall be communicated to him or her.

 Article 6 – Working languages

The official languages of the Tribunal shall be English and French.

 Article 7 – Preparation of case-files

1. The notice of appeal must indicate its purpose, set out the facts and grounds of appeal and be accompanied by all supporting documents. Two copies thereof shall either be sent by registered post or handed to the registrar of the Tribunal, who shall acknowledge receipt and communicate them to the Chair and to the Secretary General.

2. The Chair shall set a time-limit for the submission by the Secretary General of his or her observations, to which all supporting documents not already submitted by the appellant shall be attached. The observations of the Secretary General shall be communicated to the appellant, for the submission of whose reply, if any, a time-limit shall also be set by the Chair.

3. The appeal, together with the memoranda and other supporting documents, the comments of the Secretary General and the appellant’s reply, if any, shall be communicated to the judges of the Tribunal at least fifteen days before the date of the session at which it is to be considered.

4. If the Advisory Committee on Disputes has been asked for an opinion under Article 59, paragraph 5 3, of the Staff Regulations, the opinion shall be communicated to the Tribunal as part of the case-file. However, evidence given before the Advisory Committee shall not be binding on the parties, nor may it be raised against them in the proceedings before the Tribunal.

5. The Tribunal may request any other document it considers necessary for the consideration of the appeal.

6. Every document included in the case-file shall be transmitted to the parties or made available to them for consultation in the offices of the Tribunal’s registry.

7. The registrar of the Tribunal shall be responsible for communicating documents to the parties.

 Article 8 – Stay of execution

1. The Chair shall rule within fifteen days on applications made under Article 59, paragraph 9 4, of the Staff Regulations for a stay of execution of an administrative act.

2. The Chair may make his or her decision subject to certain conditions.

 Article 9 – Meetings of the Tribunal

1. The Tribunal shall not be validly constituted unless a Chair and two judges or deputies are present.

2. The Tribunal shall be convened by the Chair.

3. The Tribunal’s hearings shall be public unless the Tribunal itself decides otherwise.

4. The Secretary General and the appellant may attend the hearing and make any oral submissions in support of the arguments put forward in their written statements. They may be assisted and represented for that purpose by one or more persons of their choice.

5. The Tribunal shall hear any witnesses whose evidence it considers relevant to the hearing. The Tribunal may require any official of the Council to appear before it as a witness.

6. The judges of the Tribunal shall deliberate in private.

 Article 10 – Intervention

1. Any natural person to whom the Tribunal is open for the purposes of lodging an appeal and who establishes a sufficient interest in the result of a case submitted to the Tribunal may be authorised by the Tribunal to intervene in that case. Such authorisation may also be granted to the Staff Committee under the same conditions.

2. Submissions made in an intervention shall be limited to supporting the submissions of one of the parties.

 Article 11 – Costs of the appeal

1. The Tribunal may, if it considers that an appeal constituted an abuse of procedure, order the appellant to pay all or part of the costs incurred.

2. In cases where it has allowed an appeal, the Tribunal may decide that the Council shall reimburse at a reasonable rate properly vouched expenses incurred by the appellant, taking the nature and importance of the dispute into account.

3. In cases where it has rejected an appeal, the Tribunal may, if it considers there are exceptional circumstances justifying such an order, decide that the Council shall reimburse in whole or in part properly vouched expenses incurred by the appellant. The Tribunal shall indicate the exceptional circumstances on which the decision is based.

4. The Tribunal may decide that the Council shall reimburse justified travel and subsistence expenses incurred by witnesses who have been heard, within the limits of the rates applicable to staff on official journeys.

 Article 12 – Decisions of the Tribunal

1. The Tribunal shall reach its decisions by a majority vote. Reasons shall be given for decisions.

2. No appeal lies from decisions. In the event of a clerical error in a decision, it may be rectified by the Chair either ex officio or at the request of one of the parties.

3. A copy of the decision shall be delivered to each of the parties. The original shall be deposited in the archives of the registry of the Tribunal.

4. Decisions of the Tribunal shall be published in extenso by the Secretary General.

 Article 13 – Internal Rules of Procedure

The Tribunal shall adopt its own Rules of Procedure.

 Article 14 – Registry and budgetary arrangements

1. The Secretary General shall make the necessary administrative arrangements for the functioning of the Tribunal.

2. The Secretary General shall appoint a registrar and a deputy registrar of the Tribunal. In the discharge of their duties they shall be responsible only to the Tribunal.

3. Subject to the provisions of Article 15, any compensation awarded by the Tribunal shall be borne by the budget of the Council.

4. Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by judges of the Tribunal shall be refunded according to the rules in force in the Council and at the rates determined by the Committee of Ministers.

 Article 15 – Bodies attached to the Council of Europe and other international governmental organisations 5

1. The jurisdiction of the Tribunal may be extended to cover disputes between bodies attached to the Council of Europe and other international governmental organisations and their respective officials, should the appropriate authorities of such bodies or international governmental organisations so request.

2. In such cases, an agreement governing administrative procedure and arrangements shall be concluded between the Secretary General and the body or the international governmental organisation concerned. The agreement shall expressly provide that the latter body or international governmental organisation shall bear the cost of compensation awarded by the Tribunal to any of its officials and the cost occasioned by such disputes.

1. Note: as amended by Resolution Res(94) 11 of 5 April 1994, Resolution Res(99) 19 of 16 November 1999, with effect from 1 January 2000, Resolution CM/Res(2013)64 of 11 December 2013, with effect from 1 January 2014 and Resolution CM/Res(2014)4 of 11 June 2014.

2. Note: as amended by Resolution Res(99) 19 of 16 November 1999, with effect from 1 January 2000.

3. Note: as amended by Resolution CM/Res(2013)64 of 11 December 2013, with effect from 1 January 2014.

4. Note: as amended by Resolution CM/Res(2013)64 of 11 December 2013, with effect from 1 January 2014.

5. Note: as amended by Resolution CM/Res(2014)4 of 11 June 2014.

cf: Staff Regulations / Appendix XI: Statute of the Administrative Tribunal and related documents