Judgment_paragraph 14 · Commission of the European Communities v Claudine Hamptaux (C-207/99 P)

14Accordingly, it is proper, and indeed necessary, for the appointing authority, when considering the comparative merits of candidates as provided for in the first subparagraph of Article 45(1) of the Staff Regulations, to take into consideration the fact that a candidate has already appeared on the list of most deserving officials during the previous year. In that respect, the Commission refers to settled case-law to the effect that, in assessing candidates' merits, the appointing authority is not bound to rely solely on the staff reports of those concerned but may also base its assessment on other aspects of their merits, such as information about their administrative and personal situation of such a kind as to qualify the assessment made solely on the basis of the staff reports (see, in particular, Joined Cases T-89/91, T-21/92 and T-89/92 X v Commission [1993] ECR II-1235, paragraphs 49 and 50).