Contract agents

Contract Agents are recruited at the Agency according to article 3a) of the Conditions of employment of other servants for some functions to cover long term employment; and for other functions on short-term employment in order to reinforce capacities both in specific areas of expertise and in support functions and to work in areas where a long term requirement has not yet been defined or for projects of limited duration.

The Agency typically offers Contract Agents a contract not exceeding four years with the possibility of renewal for a second period of up to 4 years if covering long term employment. Any second renewal is for an indefinite period. For projects of limited duration a contract may be of a limited period and/or non-renewable. Contract Agent positions are classified in four Function Groups corresponding to the duties and responsibilities involved:

• Function Group IV: comprises six grades corresponding to administrative, advisory, linguistic and equivalent technical tasks,
• Function Group III: comprises five grades corresponding to executive tasks, drafting, accountancy and other equivalent technical tasks,
• Function Group II: comprises four grades corresponding to clerical and secretarial tasks, office management and other equivalent tasks,
• Function Group I: comprises three grades corresponding to manual and administrative support service tasks.

Minimum qualifications required for the engagement of Contract Agents are as follows:

(a)   in function group I: successful completion of compulsory education.

(b)   in function group II:

• a post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or
• a secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education, and appropriate professional experience of three years. The secondary education diploma giving access to post-secondary education may be replaced by a certificate of adequate professional training of not less than three years on condition that there was no similar professional training giving access to higher education at the time it was issued or,
• successful completion of intermediate education plus two years relevant supplementary specialised training plus five years’ appropriate professional experience.

(c)   in function group III:

• a post-secondary education attested by a diploma, or
• a secondary education attested by a diploma giving access to post-secondary education and appropriate professional experience of three years.

(d)   in function group IV: completed university studies of at least three years attested by a diploma and appropriate professional experience of at least one year.

Only diplomas and certificates that have been awarded in EEA Member countries or that are the subject of equivalence certificates issued by the authorities in the said Member countries shall be taken into consideration.

Contract Agents are recruited in Function Groups II, III and IV at the Agency. Recruitment entry grades for Contract Agents are as follows (after completion of the minimum qualification levels described above):

(a)   in Function Group II:

• in grade 4 if the person has professional experience of less than 5 years;
• in grade 5 if the person has professional experience of 5 years or more;

(b)   in Function Group III:

• in grade 8 if the person has professional experience of less than 5 years;
• in grade 9 if the person has professional experience between 5 years and 15 years;
• in grade 10 if the person has professional experience of 15 years or more;

(c)   in Function Group IV:

• in grade 13 if the person has professional experience of less than 5 years;
• in grade 14 if the person has professional experience of 5 years and 17 years;
• in grade 16 if the person has professional experience of 17 years or more.

Please note that recruitment is done in the first step of the grade within the Function Group published to which the successful candidate qualifies, depending on the duration of the acquired professional experience.

Contract Agents in Function Groups II, III and IV are required to serve a probationary period of nine months.

Salary grid (basic salary in EUR) for Contract Agents for each grade and step (applicable from 01 July 2021):

To this basic salary a weighting factor is to be added of 34.2 % for Copenhagen as from 1 July 2021 to compensate the cost of living in Copenhagen compared to Brussels (to be reviewed annually). The salaries of Contract Agents are subject to a community tax and solidarity levy deducted at source. They are exempt from national tax. For more information, please see the Protocol on the immunities of the European Union. 

In addition to their basic salary, Contract Agents may be entitled to various allowances, in particular an expatriation or foreign residence allowance, and family allowances (household allowance, dependent child allowance, education allowance).

Under certain circumstances, in particular where Contract Agents are obliged to change their place of residence in order to take up employment, the Agency may also cover various expenses incurred on recruitment, notably removal expenses.

The above information on allowances is indicative as entitlements are determined upon recruitment, based on documentary evidence.