It is therefore necessary to reject as unfounded the complaints which the applicant bases on the selection board’s alleged lack of stability, namely that the selection board breached the applicant’s alleged right to be assessed by a significant number of selection board members, that the selection board carried out a very partial comparative assessment of the candidates as a body and that the alterations in the composition of the selection board were not offset by the permanent presence of the chairman or vice-chairman of the selection board.

Thus, Article 30 of the Staff Regulations and Article 3 of Annex III to the Staff Regulations provide, first, that for each competition a selection board is to be appointed by the appointing authority; second, that, apart from the chairman of the selection board, the members must be designated in equal numbers by the appointing authority and the Staff Committee; third, that the members of the selection board must be chosen from officials; fourth, that the members of the selection board must be of a function group and grade at least equal to that of the post to be filled; and, fifth, that if a selection board consists of more than four members i ...[+++]t must comprise at least two members of each gender (judgment of 15 June 2010 in Case F‑35/08 Pachtitis v Commission, paragraphs 53 and 54).

Thus, the Court of First Instance accepted that where full members of a competition selection board are prevented from attending and are replaced, for some of the candidates’ tests, by alternate members in order for the selection board to complete its work within a reasonable period, the composition of the selection board can none the less remain sufficiently stable if the selection board puts in place the coordination needed in order to ensure consistent application of the marking criteria (see, to that effect, Giannini v Commission, paragraphs 208 to 216).

I also want to say with respect to jurors, that while the reform proposal has merit, it should be limited only to those trials specifically defined as megatrials and not all trials and consideration should be given to a provision that allows a trial judge to convert a jury trial to a judge-alone trial on consent of all parties when the jury composition falls below the minimum requirement of 10.

For the purposes of the present appeal, it must first be stated that the Civil Service Tribunal recalled that any decision relating to a specific individual which is taken under the Staff Regulations and adversely affects that person must state the reasons on which it is based, on the one hand, to enable the competent court to review the legality of the decision and, on the other, to provide the person concerned with the information necessary to allow him to ascertain whether or not the decision is well founded and to enable him to decide whether to bring an action. It added, however, referring to Case C‑254/95 P Parliament v Innamorati [1996] ECR I‑3423, paragraphs 24 to 28, that, as far as concerns decisions taken by a selection board in ...[+++]a competition, the obligation to state reasons must be reconciled with observance of the secrecy surrounding the proceedings of selection boards by virtue of Article 6 of Annex III to the Staff Regulations, secrecy which was instituted with a view to guaranteeing the independence of selection boards and the objectivity of their proceedings. Thus, observance of this secrecy precludes both disclosure of the attitudes adopted by individual members of selection boards and disclosure of any factors relating to individual or comparative assessments of candidates and that the obligation to state the reasons on which decisions of a selection board in a competition are based must take account of the nature of the proceedings concerned, which, at the stage of examination of the abilities of the candidates, are primarily comparative in character and accordingly covered by the secrecy inherent in those proceedings (paragraphs 30 and 31 of the judgment under appeal).

EUROPA - EU law and publications - EUR-Lex - EUR-Lex - 62007FJ0016 - EN - Judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal (Third Chamber) of 30 April 2008. Adriana Dragoman v Commission of the European Communities. Public service - Competitions. Case F-16/07.