Judgment 622
53rd Session, 1984
World Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The complaint is presented in the form of a challenge to the Director-General's decision not to withdraw a circular. In point of fact it is challenging the circular itself, a general and abstract rule. The claim on this point is irreceivable. The Tribunal will rule on the validity of a general and abstract rule only by way of exception, while hearing a complaint which challenges an actual decision.
Keywords:
administrative instruction; application for quashing; competence of tribunal; general decision;
Judgment 607
52nd Session, 1984
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 15
Extract:
A memorandum from the Director-General sets the conditions for renewal a fixed-term contract on the grounds of illness. "The memorandum is [...] material evidence, even though it is not part of the Staff Regulations, and the Tribunal will hold that Director-General overlooked essential facts if he refused renewal despite the complainant's fulfilling the conditions set in the memorandum."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; contract; disregard of essential fact; enforcement; extension of contract; organisation's duties; sick leave;
Judgment 598
52nd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"Where the guidelines properly modify the requirements of the Service Regulations they confer on the President an authority of his own which he exercises in the general interest and as befits the particular circumstances. [...] The wording of the guidelines is such that they cannot be treated as nothing more than standards or goals [...] They set objective and binding criteria for deciding on individual staff cases, and, while not ignoring the President's discretionary authority, the Tribunal will review the application of the rules the Council has laid down."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; binding character; competence of tribunal; discretion; enforcement; executive body; executive head; general decision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 597
52nd Session, 1984
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
Vide Judgment 598, consideration 1.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 598
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; binding character; competence of tribunal; discretion; enforcement; executive body; executive head; general decision; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 571
51st Session, 1983
European Patent Organisation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"It is not for the Tribunal to interpret the text of the guideline. The [Staff] Regulation leaves it to the discretion of the President to determine the number of years [of professional experience] so long as he has regard to the guideline. [...] He is entitled to have regard to the fact that the interpretation [put on it], whether right or wrong, has been applied consistently since the first staff were recruited and it cannot now be changed without causing injustice."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; competence; competence of tribunal; discretion; executive head; interpretation; practice; professional experience;
Judgment 528
49th Session, 1982
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The Administrative Circular to which reference is made "is subsequent both to the facts of the case and to the termination of the complainant's appointment, and neither party may rely on it."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; subsequent fact;
Judgment 514
49th Session, 1982
Pan American Health Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"It is unnecessary here to consider to what extent [an administration] directive can confer on the staff member a contractual right capable of being enforced by the Tribunal. Assuming that it can, and that in this case it does, the reasoning in paragraph 7 of Judgment No. 426 would apply to prevent it from being an acquired right." Judgment 426 states that an official is given an acquired right to fundamental benefits only. Reimbursement of tax on lump-sum payments from the pension fund may not be construed as a fundamental benefit.
Reference(s)
ILOAT Judgment(s): 426
Keywords:
acquired right; administrative instruction; contract; lump-sum; pension; refund; tax;
Judgment 330
39th Session, 1977
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 3
Extract:
The Administrative Council's declaration which the complainant cites is a document that "does not have the force of a rule but merely affords guidance." And although the "general principles" approved by the Administrative Council "give [the Director-General] guidance [...] they also respect his discretionary authority and the Tribunal must acknowledge that by not going beyond the scope of its minimum power of review".
Keywords:
administrative instruction; binding character; discretion; executive body; executive head; judicial review;
Judgment 292
38th Session, 1977
European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 6
Extract:
The question before the Tribunal is whether a document intended to determine how the provisions of a rule are to be applied may impose conditions not in the original rule. The Tribunal holds that it may not.
Keywords:
administrative instruction; enforcement; precedence of rules; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 17
Extract:
The Tribunal will not rule whether a rule of application can be amended by an office notice. "It will assume for the purposes of this case that a valid amendment can be made by office notice, provided that: a) the document containing the amendment is made by the Director-General himself; b) the intention to amend is made clear in the document; c) the amendment is clear in its effect; d) the amendment is not deemed effective to deprive an official of essential acquired rights."
Keywords:
acquired right; administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; competence; competence of tribunal; condition; executive head; judicial review; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 20
Extract:
"An office notice is the instrument by which the administration communicates in general terms with the staff membership. It may be used for many purposes besides the amendment of the rules of application. In order to be effective as an amendment it must therefore be made clear on the document itself that amendment is its purpose."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; condition; effect; purpose; staff regulations and rules;
Considerations 16-17
Extract:
Under the material article "general provisions for giving effect to the regulations are to be settled by rules, instructions and office notices made by the Director-General. [...] is it the intention of [this article] to put on a par with the rules of application a miscellaneous collection of office notices? If they are contradictory of the rules, which are to prevail ? [...] The Tribunal will not attempt to answer all these questions [...] nor to decide to what extent, if at all, a rule of application can be amended by an office notice".
Keywords:
administrative instruction; difference; judicial review; precedence of rules; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 22
Extract:
The instructions "take the form of a new and contradictory text; they do not make it clear what part of the old text is superseded and what part retained. [...] The fact [...] that documents were being signed indiscriminately by the Director-General and the director p. and a. strongly suggests that the formality appropriate to an amendment was not being contemplated at all. The fact that language appropriate to amendment was not being used suggests the same thing. [...] The effect of the instructions is not to amend [the] article but to apply its provisions."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; effect; enforcement; formal requirements; provision; staff regulations and rules;
Consideration 12
Extract:
The article was amended by an office note. "The complainant's request for an interpretation of [the article] is a request for a decision relating to him; it may be made at any time and is not subject to any time limit. [The administration] never gave any decision upon the interpretation of [this] article [...] or upon the relationship to it of the office notices; this [...] is the substantial question in this case."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; decision; failure to answer claim; interpretation; provision; receivability of the complaint; request by a party; staff regulations and rules; time limit;
Consideration 25
Extract:
" [I]t is within the power of the Director-General to lay down by means of an instruction criteria for determining what is or is not 'reasonably near', provided that in doing so he has proper regard to the nature and purpose of the [material provision]. [...] He must be guided by accessibility for school children [...] to lay down [...] that for every official [...] every school within a radius of 50 kilometers [...] is to be deemed accessible is not a proper exercise of the power. Accordingly the provision to this effect [...] is not binding upon the complainant."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; competence; condition; criteria; education expenses; enforcement; executive head; interpretation; provision; refund; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 284
37th Session, 1976
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 1
Extract:
"A circular of this character does not, as do the Staff Regulations, form part of a staff member's terms of appointment and so as a general rule a departure from its provisions does not of itself give him any right to relief [...] If a circular prescribes a certain procedure to be followed, the Tribunal will consider, not necessarily whether the procedure has been exactly followed, but whether any departure from it has prejudiced the staff member in a way that affects his rights."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; consequence; injury; judicial review; lack of injury; procedure before the tribunal; terms of appointment;
Judgment 262
35th Session, 1975
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Consideration 4
Extract:
"[T]he complainant is justified in contending that [two criteria respecting promotion] of the Director-General's circular to the staff are applicable. He is therefore as a matter of course entitled to rely on the provision which is more favourable to him. [T]he former provision is [...] more favourable to the complainant than the latter, which the Director-General was wrong in taking as the basis for his decision. The impugned decision should therefore be reviewed."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; criteria; difference; equal treatment; promotion; provision; right;
Judgment 220
31st Session, 1973
International Patent Institute
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant had never availed himself of the opportunity which was available to him under a former provision to transfer part of his remuneration. Yet "[...] he had a direct and personal interest in seeking the quashing of a decision which deprived him of that possibility."
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; cause of action; decision; injury; provision; receivability of the complaint; staff regulations and rules;
Judgment 103
17th Session, 1967
International Labour Organization
Extracts: EN,
FR
Full Judgment Text: EN,
FR
Considerations
Extract:
The complainant seeks to have a general administrative instruction making various amendments to the Staff Regulations set aside, "without adducing any decision applying any one of these amendments to his particular case. Thus he does not allege non-compliance with any of the terms of his contract of employment, nor, in general, any violation of his official status." The Tribunal is not competent to hear the complaint.
Keywords:
administrative instruction; amendment to the rules; application for quashing; competence of tribunal; enforcement; general decision; individual decision; staff regulations and rules;
