Call for expression of interest for Seconded national experts at the Community Fisheries Control Agency

THE COMMUNITY FISHERIES CONTROL AGENCY - CFCA - IS A EUROPEAN UNION BODY ESTABLISHED IN 2005 TO ORGANISE OPERATIONAL COORDINATION OF FISHERIES CONTROL AND INSPECTION ACTIVITIES BY THE MEMBER STATES AND TO ASSIST THEM TO COOPERATE SO AS TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES OF THE COMMON FISHERIES POLICY IN ORDER TO ENSURE ITS EFFECTIVE AND UNIFORM APPLICATION.

The Agency wishes to set up a reserve list of candidates interested in a fixed term agreement on secondment as:

Seconded National Experts – SNEs

The complete description of CFCA's activities, structure, and organisation chart and of all Units and Departments are available on the Agency's website: http://cfca.europa.eu

1. Secondment conditions

Seconded National Experts (SNEs) are mainly drawn from the respective civil services of the EU or EFTA Member States.

The secondment is not an employment nor does it lead to an employment at the Agency.

Periods of secondment may not be less than three months nor more than two years. They may be renewed once or more, up to a total period not exceeding four years.

The SNE shall remain in the service of his or her current employer throughout the period of secondment and shall continue to be paid by that employer. During the period of secondment, the SNE is entitled to a daily subsistence allowance paid by the CFCA, and may also be eligible for a monthly allowance depending on the distance from his/her place of origin. He/she will remain throughout the period of secondment, subject to the social security legislation applicable to his/her employer, which will assume responsibility for expenses incurred abroad.

The SNE shall, during the period of secondment, carry out his or her duties under the management of the CFCA, its Executive Director and the responsible Head of Unit. He or she shall carry out his/her duties and conduct having solely the interest of the CFCA in mind.

Detailed rules regarding secondment of national experts within CFCA are described in the Decision of 19.03.2009 of the Administrative Board of the CFCA laying down rules on the secondment of National Experts to the Agency.

Each candidate should, before applying, assure him- or herself that his/her current employer will support the candidacy and pay the salary during the period of secondment. The final recruitment will be confirmed by an exchange of letters between the Agency and the employer in the Member State or associated country concerned.

A selected applicant will be offered the position on the basis of a list established by the selection board. This notice is the basis for the establishment of the selection committee’s proposal.

The place of secondment is Vigo, Spain.

The secondment for a selected applicant will start when a position is available.

It is brought to the particular attention of candidates that the Agency Decision laying down rules on the secondment of National Experts to the Agency specifies, concerning duties, rights and obligations of SNEs, that efforts must be made to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of such conflict in relation to the SNE’s duties while seconded to the Agency.

For this purpose the selected candidate must sign a declaration of honour before the secondment starts and the employer must submit a corresponding declaration.

Equal opportunities

The Agency takes great care to avoid any form of discrimination in its recruitment procedures and takes geographical and gender balance into account in the selection process.

2. Selection procedure

CFCA foresees to establish a pool of candidates for SNEs in order to support the CFCA operational activities.

The applications for SNE posts are gathered via the Permanent Representations of the Member States to the EU (and the Missions of the Associated Countries to the EU).

The SNE selection procedure is as follows:

CFCA sends invitation letters to the respective Permanent Representations/Missions to the EU in Brussels, asking to provide the Agency with qualified candidates for the vacant SNE posts. Invitation includes the descriptions of the vacant SNE posts, their requirements and the Agency Standard Application Forms which are mandatory;

Permanent Representations/Missions distribute the information about vacant SNE posts in CFCA among the respective national services;

The application forms are sent by the candidates’ employers (national institutions) to the respective Permanent Representation/Mission to the EU in Brussels, which collects all the applications and forwards them to CFCA;

Applications received by CFCA are registered in the database and considered for further evaluation. All the applications are pre-screened and evaluated based on the selection criteria, and the best-qualified candidates are short listed for an interview;

As a result of the interviews, the most suitable candidates are offered a secondment to CFCA. The secondment is concluded by a bilateral agreement between CFCA and the national institution sending the expert. In practice, this involves an exchange of letters between CFCA and the respective Permanent Representation/Mission to the EU in Brussels.