*Update 04.03.2025: we’re disappointed but not surprised at the poor results of the 2023/2024 certification exercise: 22 out of 78 colleagues passed all exams first time. Only 1 out of 7 in the French class.*

*Update 19.02.2025: ‘By default, all [internal] competitions will be cross-category.’ (Stay tuned: A new approach for internal competitions) This is excellent news and should now put the Commission on an even footing with the Parliament and other EU institutions. There’s an AD6 competitions planned for QIII 2026, check it out!*

Original article: Whether you’ve completed the certification, you’re trying to get on the certification programme or you’re working your way through the process, be aware of the next steps, the deadlines and the pitfalls.

Firstly, for those of you who’ve passed the exams: well done! There are 48 Commission colleagues listed in administrative notice ​​N°47-2024/19.12.2024. You have have all succeeded in passing the certification exercise, you’ve come this far, but you’re not an administrator (AD) yet, please don’t relax too soon! Yes, believe it or not, it’s still possible that you remain an assistant (AST) through no choice of your own, even after all you have achieved so far. Please take note of the deadlines given in the administrative notice and in C(2013) 6859 final, Articles 11 and 12.

• There are 18 months in total for you to request that your DG find you an AD post, after that you’re on  your own.
• There are normally 36 months in total for you to find an AD post and then the list expires.

So for those of you listed in N°47-2024, you have until 19 June 2026 and 19 December 2027 respectively, don’t miss out!

If you are waiting for one last AST promotion before making the jump to the AD function group please do some working out taking these deadlines into consideration. Promotions are not final until the list is published in November each year: if, for example, you wait till November 2027 for that potential promotion then you might have only weeks left to find an AD role. Please make informed decisions!

For those of you still trying to get on the certification treadmill

​The draft list of the (normally around 100) Commission certification applicants selected for interview with the Joint Certification Panel is normally published each year in early January (still to be published:  administrative notices). To those of you who find your names listed there, well done and good luck!

To everyone else, all is not lost, don’t give up just yet! You still have the option of appealing your non-inclusion, essentially asking the Joint Certification Committee to have a second look at your file. In January 2023 28 colleagues appealed and 4 of them were successful, 4 were successful also in February 2024. To those who appeal, please keep working on your application, don’t wait to see whether you are on the list of those to be interviewed by the joint committee: there is very little time between the publication of that list and the interviews themselves.

For those of you working through the process

The deadline for making a decision on which exams to resit (or not) is normally in late January. As ever, we’re all about making informed decisions. Check out Certification resit options: energy efficiency? and know what changes are anticipated in the near future.

For anyone curious to know the hoops AST colleagues jump through

Alternatives

• EPSO competitions: but you will be rerecruited, this is an interruption of career. For those recruited pre-2014  this risks changing their retirement age and pension accrual rate.
• Internal competitions: but not at the Commission, where these competitions are artificially restricted to staff already in the function group of the competition.
• Senior assistant: this is a (very) long-term goal and there is no guarantee of getting there.

Overall: it’s all we have

While the certification may well be an imperfect and frustrating process, it remains an option, one which is open to AST officials only and one which has no equivalent for AST/SC colleagues or for colleagues with other types of contract. In spite of its relative complexity (compare with the paths available for recent graduates) and its known issues (also here) it does provide a means for some colleagues to change function group, a worthwhile endeavour, but we’d like to see something done about the opacity and efficiency of the whole process.

As always, we appreciate your feedback.  

If you appreciate our work, please consider becoming a member of Generation 2004.  

[1] We’re curious about the difference in language used. EuSA describes the change as a ‘A pilot project‘ while the document on the site Certification Training Programme new model in a nutshell makes no such claim: this is a new model with a ‘transitory period of 2 years’ there’s no mention of testing of any kind. 

A pilot of any kind should have specific objectives enabling meaningful evaluation of the success or failure of the ‘pilot’ project. Concrete figures or targets would be attached to the project: with key performance indicators (KPIs), timelines and benchmarks to enable assessment on whether the ‘pilot’ project is fit for purpose. We see none of this.

The Commission has form on misusing the term ‘pilot’ project: this is not the first such example and is unlikely to be the last.

Check out our certification observations in our Note to HR on European Court of Auditors Special report.pdf together with the note we drafted on behalf of the Central Staff Committee (CSC): Request for detail on EuSA 2024 priority to review the Certification programme and the EuSA response (30/05/2024).

Older updates

*Update 23.01.2025 check out the official announcement[1]: exams E1 and E3 will now be one exam: Certification Training Programme new model in a nutshell. Backwards compatibility is outlined there.

Update 13.01.2025, congratulations to the 98 colleagues whose name is on the draft list for the joint committee interviews! To those of you whose name is not there you have you have until Friday 17.01.2025 to appeal (5 working days from 10.01.2025). You have nothing to lose! Give it a go!*