Rule No. 1264 of 14 December 2006 on the conditions under which staff members may represent or assist other staff members before the Administrative Tribunal or accompany them before the Commission against Harassment or during an internal inquiry

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe,

Having regard to Part VII of the Staff Regulations laying down the procedure relating to disputes;

Having regard to the Statute of the Administrative Tribunal (Appendix XI to the Staff Regulations);

Having regard to the Internal Rules of Procedure of the Administrative Tribunal;

Having regard to the Internal Rules of Procedure of the Commission against Harassment;

Having regard to the Instruction No. 51 on internal inquiries;

Considering that there is a need to clarify the conditions under which a staff member may represent or assist another staff member before the Administrative Tribunal or accompany him/her before the Commission against Harassment or during an internal inquiry;

Having consulted the Staff Committee in accordance with Article 5 paragraph 3 of the Regulations on Staff Participation (Appendix I to the Staff Regulations);

Decides:

Article 1

1. Any staff member shall be authorised to represent or assist another staff member before the Administrative Tribunal or to accompany him/her before the Commission against Harassment or during an internal inquiry as provided, respectively, in the Statute and the Internal Rules of Procedure of the Administrative Tribunal, the Internal Rules of Procedure of the Commission against Harassment and the instruction on internal inquiries.

2. In such circumstances the staff member concerned shall be authorised to fulfil this role as part of his/her official duties.

Article 2

The exercise of the role defined in the Article 1 of the present rule is incompatible with the official functions of the following categories of staff:

   a. Members of the Private Office of the Secretary General and the Deputy Secretary General;

   b. Staff attached to the central services of the Directorate General of Administration and Logistics;

   c. Staff attached to the Directorate of Human Resources;

   d. Staff attached to the Legal Advice Department and Treaty Office of the Directorate General of Legal Affairs and their superiors;

   e. Staff of the Registry of the Administrative Tribunal, staff of the secretariat of the Mediators, members of the Advisory Committee on Disputes and staff of its secretariat, members of the Commission against Harassment and staff of its secretariat, the Chair of the Disciplinary Board, staff on the two lists of potential members of the said Board and staff of its secretariat;

   f. Staff who are “counsellors” for the purposes of the Instruction on the protection of human dignity in the Council of Europe in so far as they have dealt with the case under consideration;

   g. Staff who have been called as witnesses in connection with the case.

Article 3

Any staff member who agrees to represent, assist or accompany another staff member in the course of a procedure provided for by one of the legal instruments mentioned in this Rule shall be subject to a duty of discretion in accordance with the provisions of those instruments.

Article 4

1. This Rule shall enter into force on the first day of the month following its signature by the Secretary General.

2. This Rule revokes Office Circular No. 492 of 28 January 1972.

Strasbourg, 14 December 2006

The Secretary General

Terry DAVIS