Invalidity procedure - Commission

Opinion of 29 November 2007 on the notification for prior checking regarding the "Invalidity procedure - Medical service in Brussels and Luxembourg" case (Case 2007-125)

On the basis of Article 59(4) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities, the European Commission has established a procedure to obtain a decision from the Invalidity Committee as to whether a member of staff should be granted invalidity or should resume professional activities. The procedure not only concerns officials, but also temporary and contract staff on all the European Commission's sites (including offices), as well as European agencies via a Service Level Agreement type of arrangement.

Under this procedure, an application to launch an invalidity procedure may be made at the request of the person concerned or of the department in which the person is working, or by the Medical Service. This procedure involves referral to an Invalidity Committee which has a threefold task, namely to establish fitness or unfitness to work, to determine the reason for unfitness to work, and to decide whether follow-up examinations are required and if so, how frequently they should be carried out.

The EDPS' conclusion is that there is no infringement of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, if account is taken of the various recommendations he has made on matters including the long-term storage of sensitive data; compliance with the rules on the transfer of data to a country not covered by Directive (EC) No 95/46; and the inclusion in the privacy statement of the rules for providing information to data subjects and of a reference to the destruction of medical files after the 30-year storage period.