Judgment No. 4320

• Organization: European Patent Organisation (EPO)
• Date: 24.07.2020
• Original: English
• Judges: Hansen, Barbagallo, Rawlins
• Full judgment text - Full judgment text (french)

Decision

The complaint is dismissed.

Summary

The complainant challenges the decision to reject her application for a vacant post on the grounds that, as the holder of a fixed-term contract, she was not eligible to participate in the competition process.

Judgment keywords

Keywords

cause of action; selection procedure; complaint dismissed

Consideration 8

Extract:

[W]ell-established principles of statutory interpretation [were] recently reiterated by the Tribunal in Judgment 4178, consideration 10. The Tribunal stated:
“The primary rule is that words are to be given their obvious and ordinary meaning (see, for example, Judgments 3310, consideration 7, and 2276, consideration 4). Additionally, as the Tribunal stated in Judgment 3734, consideration 4, ‘[i]t is the obvious and ordinary meaning of the words in the provision that must be discerned and not just a phrase taken in isolation’.”

Reference(s)

ILOAT Judgment(s): 2276, 3310, 3734, 4178

Keywords

interpretation; interpretation of rules