Building on more than a decade of continued success with advanced conferences focusing on the latest developments in EU civil service law, EIPA has identified the need to enrich its annual offer with a foundational course that provides participants with a structured and rigorous introduction to the discipline. This new course responds to increasing demand for a solid command of the normative framework, substantive rules, and jurisdictional mechanisms governing the employment relationship between the EU institutions and their staff.

A thorough understanding of EU civil service law is essential for a wide range of professionals: legal counsellors advising on staff matters, HR officials applying the Staff Regulations, trade-union representatives defending staff rights, and lawyers litigating before the General Court. The course bridges knowledge gaps by offering a systematised overview of the principles, rules and case-law that shape the EU administration’s internal legal order. It equips participants, whether newcomers or experienced professionals seeking consolidation, with the foundational conceptual, legal and procedural tools needed to work confidently and competently with EU staff regulations.

What will you learn

The course is structured around three fundamental pillars of EU civil service law:

1. Normative and Institutional Framework

• The structure and sources of EU civil service law (Staff Regulations and Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, General Implementing Provisions, internal rules)
• Key general principles (good administration, equal treatment, legitimate expectations, rights of the defence).
• Institutional actors and competences (Appointing Authority, Staff Committees, EU courts).

1. Substantive / Material Law

• Legal status, categories and types of EU staff; rights, obligations and
• Career structures: selection procedures, recruitment, grading, probation, appraisal and promotion
• Working time, leave entitlements, telework, financial rights (remuneration, allowances), social protection, and medical/disciplinary
• Protection mechanisms (harassment, duty of care, whistleblower safeguards).

1. Procedural & Jurisdictional Aspects

• Administrative pre-contentious procedures under Articles 90 and 91 of the Staff
• Jurisdiction of the General Court and Court of Justice, types of actions, admissibility and
• Litigation techniques and procedural requirements for staff
• Understanding judicial reasoning through analysis of landmark