Hearing

Is the hearing a mandatory stage?

No.
See Stages in the proceedings.

Is the hearing public?

Yes.

What is the purpose of the hearing?

Proceedings before the Complaints Board are essentially written and the time allowed for oral interventions at the hearing is necessarily limited.

The hearing is designed to allow the parties to present oral observations in support of their written submissions: the purpose of the statements made at the hearing is not, therefore, to repeat the arguments but to summarise them, each party emphasising the essential points in its line of argument and explaining or clarifying, where necessary, the most complex points.

In addition, they may be invited to answer the questions which the Complaints Board deems it necessary to ask them.

When will I be informed of the date of the hearing at which my case will be heard?

The parties or their representatives have to be notified of the date of the public hearing at least 15 days in advance (Article 19 of the Rules of Procedure). In practice the Registry generally endeavours to send this notification a month in advance.

Can the hearing be scheduled during the school holidays?

Yes and it is indeed often the case.

Scheduling a hearing during the school holiday period is inevitable, in so far as most of the decisions have to be delivered by the beginning of the new school year (promotion to the next teaching level or to the year above, enrolment, etc.) and the Complaints Board endeavours to rule on such cases during the summer period.

The hearing date of which I have been notified does not suit me (I am not free on that date): can I request its deferral?

No.

The Complaints Board s judges come from different Member States, where, moreover, they hold other public offices. They convene regularly at the Complaints Board s seat, in Brussels, at administrative meetings or at public hearings, to consider collectively the cases which are submitted to them.
The dates of hearings are set often several months in advance, depending on when the judges are free. Account also needs to be taken of the availability of the interpreters, where applicable.
It is therefore impossible to change the date of the hearing once the parties have been notified, because of the considerable practical difficulties which such a request might entail.

Is the parties presence compulsory? Is it absolutely essential for me to be present at the hearing?

No.

The presence of one or other party at the hearing is not compulsory.
It should be pointed out in this connection that before an administrative court or tribunal such as the Complaints Board, the written proceedings are the most important. The hearing can, where applicable, supplement those proceedings but it does not allow the submission of new pleas in law which were not set out during the written proceedings, unless they are based on matters of law or of fact which came to light only after those proceedings (Article 18.2 of the Rules of Procedure).

Can I be represented by someone else at the hearing?

The parties themselves or their lawyers present their observations at the hearing.

If I cannot be present, I can be represented by an authorised representative, who must be a lawyer and who I designate for that purpose, taking care to notify the Registry beforehand.

Can I ask third parties to accompany me to the hearing (witness, expert, etc.)?

As the hearing is public, the parties can, if they so wish and taking care to notify the Registry beforehand, be accompanied by a witness, an expert or a member of the administrative staff of the European Schools. In that case it is up to the parties themselves to make arrangements to that end (forewarn them, possibly defray their expenses, etc.).

It will, however, only be possible for these people to be heard if the Complaints Board deems this necessary (Article 22 of the Rules of Procedure).
Assessment of the expediency or otherwise of hearing a witness or an expert is a matter for the Complaints Board and the parties have no guarantee that the person accompanying them will be heard.

How is the audience conducted? How long should I expect it to last?

Each case is called at a fixed time and generally lasts for 60 minutes. The parties are of course requested to be on time.

The hearing starts with the reading of the report presented by the member of the Complaints Board designated as rapporteur or as single judge. This report summarises the facts and the arguments developed by the parties in their procedural papers.

The Chairman then calls on first the applicant and/or his or her lawyer to speak and afterwards the representative of the European Schools and/or their lawyer.

In view of the purpose of oral proceedings and of the practical imperatives, the parties are generally requested to limit their oral submissions to 15 minutes each, although more time can be granted for more complex cases.

In this connection, it should be made clear that if a party makes only very brief observations, its silence on certain points addressed or likely to be addressed by the other party will never be interpreted as amounting to acquiescence to the position developed by the latter.

After the parties oral observations, the Chairman or the judge sitting as a single judge may, where appropriate, invite other people present (witnesses, experts or members of the administrative staff of the European Schools) to speak and the Complaints Board may put questions to the parties and/or their representatives and, if necessary, to the other people present (Article 22 of the Rules of Procedure).

Finally, the parties are invited to give a short reply if they so wish.

In which language will I be able to speak? Will the judges speak and understand my language?

All observations, oral or written, submitted to the Complaints Board must be made or written in one of the official languages appearing in the annex II to the Convention defining the Statute of the European Schools.

The Registry makes the necessary arrangements for the provision of translations of the procedural documents (application, response, reply and final decision) and of interpretation at the hearing, as required.
For budgetary and organisational reasons, the language used initially by each party (i.e. in the appeal for the applicant and in the response for the defendant) must remain the same up to the end of the proceedings.

Of what should I be mindful if simultaneous interpretation is provided at the hearing?

Simultaneous interpretation imposes constraints which each speaker must take into account if he or she wishes to have a guarantee that what he or she has to say will be properly understood and translated.

First and foremost, you are strongly advised against reading out a text written in advance: the reason is that a written presentation comprises longer and more complicated sentences than an oral presentation and is read more quickly than an extemporaneous presentation. It is preferable to speak on the basis of well structured notes, using simple terms and short sentences.
Should the party called on to speak or its lawyer prefer to keep to a text, the same recommendations apply: simple terms and short sentences, text read at the speed of normal speech.
Prior communication of any useful information about the content of an oral statement (plan or hearing note) is always appreciated by the interpreters, who are thus better prepared to grasp the structure of the statement and who will not be taken unawares by certain technical terms, quotations from texts or figures. It is recommended to send this note to the Registry before the hearing.

What happens on closure of the hearing? Will I learn the decision immediately?

No.

On closure of the hearing, the case is adjourned for deliberation and the decision will be sent later.