EEA/AD/2009/15

Head of Legal Services Group –Temporary Agent (AD7)

The European Environment Agency (EEA) is organising an open competition with a view to recruiting a temporary agent to work within the area of legal services and further with a view to establishing a reserve list.

THE AGENCY:

The EEA is an Agency of the European Union (EU) and one of the decentralised Community bodies. The EEA aims at supporting sustainable development and helping to achieve significant and measurable improvement in Europe’s environment through the provision of timely, targeted, relevant and reliable information to policy-making agents and the public.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The position will entail in particular the following tasks:

• Provision of legal advice to help ensure the Agency’s compliance with EU/EC law and, where appropriate, national law (in particular the law of the host State), in particular in the following areas:
• Regulation (EC) No 401/2009 on the European Environment Agency and the European Environment Information and Observation Network;
• Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities and the Agency’s Headquarters Agreement with the host State;
• EEA Financial Regulation (EEA/MB/52/15 – written procedure), the Framework Financial Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 as well as the general Financial Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 and the general Implementing rules (EC, Euratom) No 2342/2002 thereto;
• Staff Regulations of Officials and Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Communities (CEOS) as well as implementing rules thereto;
• Regulations (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to documents, (EC) No 1367/2006 on access to environmental information and (EC) No 45/2001 on data protection as well as implementing rules thereto;
• EU and international environmental law (including EMAS); and
• Intellectual property rights;

• Management of a small team of staff including the Agency’s procurement office;
• Drafting of legal documents (decisions, implementing rules, public contracts, grant agreements, collaboration agreements and memoranda of understanding, policies etc.);
• Representing the Agency in litigation as mandated and subject to appropriate external assistance;
• Representing the Agency in the Inter-Agency Legal Network (IALN) and other networks or fora as relevant and assigned;
• Acting as one of the Agency’s help desk correspondents to the Central Finance Service (CFS) of DG BUDG of the European Commission.
  

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

Candidates applying must satisfy the following eligibility criteria on the closing date for the submission of applications:

a) Successful completion of university studies attested by a degree in law, where the normal duration of university education is 4 years or more OR successful completion of university studies in law attested by a degree, where the normal duration of university education is 3 years;

b) A minimum of 6 years (with a 4 year diploma) OR 7 years (with a 3 year diploma) of relevant professional experience after award of the law degree.

In addition, in order to be eligible a candidate must:

• Be a national of one of the 32 member countries of the EEA (the 27 Member States of the European Union; Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey);
• Enjoy full rights as a citizen;
• Have fulfilled any obligations imposed by law concerning military service;
• Have a thorough knowledge of one of the languages of the EEA Member countries and a satisfactory knowledge of another of these languages to the extent necessary for the performance of the duties pertaining to the post;
• Meet the character requirements for the duties involved;
• Be physically fit to perform the duties linked to the post.

 SELECTION CRITERIA:

Essential:

• Good understanding of the EU’s institutional set-up as well as the Agency’s role and mandate;
• Good knowledge of EU/EC law in particular concerning Financial Regulations, Staff Regulations, Access to documents/environmental information and Data protection;
• Good knowledge of and working experience with administrative and contract law; 
• Relevant working experience in an international environment;
• Good working knowledge of written and spoken English;
• Working knowledge of French;
• Ability to prioritise work, manage responsibilities and to lead a small team;
• Good organisational and interpersonal skills; and
• Excellent communication skills.

Advantageous:

• Working experience in an international organisation (including EU institutions and bodies);
• Expertise in procurement and grants;
• Good knowledge of EU and international environmental law (including EMAS);
• Working experience managing a small team; and
• Knowledge of additional languages of EEA member countries.
  

CONTRACTUAL CONDITIONS:

The successful candidate will be offered a contract as Temporary Agent in accordance with the Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities (CEOS). The selected candidate will be employed for an initial time period of four years, renewable.

The basic monthly salary of a Temporary Agent AD7 (step 1), before any deductions or allowances, on 1 July 2008 amounts to € 5.364,07. To this basic salary a weighting factor is to be added (39.4% for Denmark on 1 July 2008). The salaries of Temporary Agents are subject to a tax of the European Communities which is deducted at source. They are exempt from national tax.

The place of work will be Copenhagen, Denmark.

It is brought to the attention of candidates that the provisions of Articles 11 to 26 of the Staff Regulations for Officials of the European Communities, concerning the rights and obligations of officials, shall apply by analogy to Temporary Agents. These rules specify, inter alia, that:

“An official shall carry out his duties and conduct himself solely with the interests of the Communities in mind; he shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government, authority, organization or person outside his institution. He shall carry out the duties assigned to him objectively, impartially and in keeping with his duty of loyalty to the Communities.

“An official shall not without the permission of the appointing authority accept from any government or from any other source outside the institution to which he belongs any honour, decoration, favour, gift or payment of any kind whatever, except for services rendered either before his appointment or during special leave for military or other national service and in respect of such service.”

For further information on the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of other servants of the European Communities (CEOS) please refer to:

http://ec.europa.eu/civil_service/docs/toc100_en.pdf.

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Eligibility of candidates will be assessed according to their compliance with all eligibility criteria by the closing date for the submission of applications.

Eligible candidates whose applications give evidence of the possession of all required competences and skills listed under “Selection criteria” may be invited for an interview, which for the most part will be held in English. Invited candidates will also sit a written test in the area of expertise required for the post.

Following this, a list of suitable candidates will be submitted to the Appointing Authority who, following a second interview, decides on the appointment of the successful candidate for the post advertised and the establishment of a reserve list. Candidates shall note that inclusion on the reserve list does not guarantee recruitment. Recruitment will be based on availability of posts and budget.

The reserve list to be established following this procedure will be valid until 31 December 2010 and may be extended at the discretion of the Appointing Authority.

Prior to contract signature, the successful candidate will be asked:

• to provide original or certified copies of all relevant documents proving his/her eligibility, including an extract from his/her police file;
• to undergo a compulsory medical examination to establish that he/she meets the standard of physical fitness necessary to perform the duties involved.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION:

Any personal data provided by the User shall be processed pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movements of such data. It shall be processed solely for the purposes of the performance, management and follow-up of information requested by the User. The User shall have the right of access to his personal data and the right to rectify any such data that is inaccurate or incomplete. Should the User have any queries concerning the processing of his personal data, he shall address them to the European Environment Agency.

EQUAL TREATMENT:

EEA is an equal opportunities employer and accepts applications without distinction on grounds of sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, age or sexual orientation. In recruiting its staff the EEA aims at attracting the broadest possible geographical range of nationals of all EEA member countries.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:

Interested candidates must apply by filling in the application form below.

The following documents must be attached to the application form:

o       a CV in Europass format (see template below), duly completed;

o       a letter of motivation; and

o       the eligibility and selection criteria grid (see template below), duly completed.

Application Documents:

• Template Europass CV (Europass_CV.doc)
• Instructions for Europass CV (instructions_for_europass_cv.pdf)
• Eligibility and selection criteria grid (Eligibility grid - EEA-AD-2009-15.doc)

NB: Failure to submit any of the required documents will lead to exclusion from the procedure.

Closing date for application: Monday 12 October 2009, at 12.00 (Central European Time)

Applications sent after this date will be rejected.

Please ensure that you observe the following:

1. Remember to take time zones into consideration when sending your application.
2. Ensure to specify in your CV exact starting and end dates of professional experiences (date/month/year), whether it is full or part time (and if necessary to what extent).
3. Attach a CV in Europass format; a letter of motivation; and the eligibility and selection grid.
4. Once your application has been submitted, you will receive an automatic reply.
5. It is your responsibility to keep the automatic reply message as proof of submission of your application.
6. Should you not receive an automatic reply message, please submit your application again.
7. Please do not wait until the last minute to submit your application. Experience has shown that the system can become overloaded as the deadline for  applications approaches and you may find it difficult to submit your application in time.
8. Candidates may apply in any of the official languages of the European Union but the use of English is encouraged to facilitate the selection process.

REQUEST FOR REVIEW:

Candidates who have not been admitted to the selection procedure will be notified by letter. The candidate may ask to have her/his application reconsidered by sending a request for review to the Chairperson of the Selection Committee at the address indicated on the letter within 21 calendar days from receipt of the letter of notification.

For questions only: