EUMETSAT Appeals Board

Presentation

Due to its status as an intergovernmental organisation established under public international law and pursuant to Article 4 of its Protocol on Privileges and Immunities, EUMETSAT enjoys immunity from national jurisdiction and execution within the scope of its official activities. As a result, the conditions of employment of EUMETSAT staff members are governed by the organisation’s Staff Rules rather than by national law; and employment-related disputes within the organisation do not fall under the jurisdiction of national courts.

To provide EUMETSAT staff with a legal remedy for the settlement of disputes, the organisation established an Appeals Board, which has authority to settle disputes arising out of the Staff Rules or of the contracts of employment awarded under these Rules.

The EUMETSAT Appeals Board is an independent tribunal composed of three Members and three Deputies appointed by the organisation’s Council for a period of three years, which can be renewed. The Board is assisted by a Secretary and a Deputy Secretary, who are appointed from amongst the organisation’s staff and carry out the duties of a registrar. In the exercise of these duties, the Secretary and his/her Deputy are subject only to the authority of the Board.

The decisions of the Appeals Board are legally binding on all Parties and cannot be appealed.

Requirements and references

The Appeals Board has jurisdiction with regard to appeals brought against a decision of the Director-General by staff members, former staff members, and their heirs and assigns. Appeals shall only be admissible if the Claimant first exhausted in due time the administrative complaints procedure before the Director-General, as set out in Article 37 of the EUMETSAT Staff Rules.

The appeals procedure as well as the functioning of the Appeals Board are laid down in Article 38 and Annex VIII of the EUMETSAT Staff Rules.

The Judges

The Members and Deputy Members of the Appeals Board are all experienced Judges qualified in international civil service law. The three current Members are:

Mr Michael Groepper (German national), Chair. Mr Groepper is a former Judge at the German Federal Administrative Court (Bundesverwaltungsgericht). He also chairs the Administrative Tribunal of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Appeals Board of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

Mr Spyridon Flogaitis (Greek national), Member. Mr Flogaitis sat on numerous tribunals and dispute resolution bodies, both at national and international level. Currently he also presides the Administrative Tribunal of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and serves on the Administrative Tribunal of ESA and on the Appeals Board of ECMWF.

Ms Sarah Helen Christie (British and South African national) Member. Ms Christie serves on the Administrative Tribunals of ESA. She is also a former member of the administrative tribunals of the EBRD, the World Bank and the ECMWF. She sat on numerous dispute resolution panels in the private and public sector, as mediator and as arbitrator.

The three current Deputy Members are:

Mr Terry Olson (French national), judge at the French Conseil d’Etat. He is currently Chief Judge of the Administrative Court of Appeal of Versailles.

Ms Louise Otis (Canadian national), former Justice of the Quebec Court of Appeal. She currently presides the Administrative Tribunals of the OECD and of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Since 2020, she is a Member of the Internal Justice Counsel of the United Nations.

Mr Claude Rouiller (Swiss national), former President of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organisation, and former President of the Swiss Federal Court. He currently serves on the Administrative Tribunal of ESA and chairs the ad hoc Appeals Tribunal of the GAVI Alliance.

Contact

The Appeals Board can be contacted via its Secretariat, at: @email

Please note that the Secretariat does not provide legal advice.

Case-law

The decisions rendered by the Appeals Board so far can be found in this folder:

EUMETSAT Appeal Board decisions