Judgment_paragraph 21 · European Commission v Guido Strack (C-579/12 RX)

21Finally, ruling on the first instance action of Mr Strack, the General Court dismissed it, holding as follows in paragraphs 65 to 67 of the judgment of 8 November 2012:65 … the words “requirements of the service” used in the first paragraph of Article 4 of Annex V to the Staff Regulations must be interpreted as referring to professional activities preventing the official, because of the duties incumbent upon him, from taking the annual leave to which he is entitled ([Case T-80/04 Castets v Commission [2005] ECR-SC I-A-161 and II-729], paragraph 29). Thus, although it must be accepted that the word “service” used in the expression “requirements of the service” refers to “work done in the service of the Community administration”, an official is only entitled to sick leave if he “provides evidence of incapacity to perform his duties”. It follows that, where an official is on sick leave, he is, by definition, relieved of his duties and is therefore not in service as provided for in the first paragraph of Article 4 of Annex V to the Staff Regulations (see Case T-368/04 Verheyden v Commission [2007] ECR-SC I-A-2-93 and II-A-2-665, paragraph 61 and the case-law cited).66 The requirements of the service mentioned in Article 4 of Annex V to the Staff Regulations are reasons liable to prevent an official from taking leave because he must continue to work to carry out the tasks required by the institution for which he works. Those requirements may be short term or permanent but must necessarily relate to activity in the service of the institution. Conversely, sick leave allows an official’s absence to be excused for a valid reason. Because of his state of health, the official is not required to work for the institution. Consequently the expression “requirements of the service” cannot be interpreted as covering a situation where the official has been placed on sick leave, even in the event of prolonged illness (Castets v Commission, paragraph 33). An official on sick leave cannot be deemed to be working in the service of the institution given that he has been relieved of precisely that requirement (Verheyden v Commission, paragraphs 62 and 63).67 Having regard to the particularly strict interpretation of the expression “requirements of the service” by the case-law mentioned in paragraphs 65 and 66 above, it follows that, contrary to Mr Strack’s contention, the right to carry over annual leave in excess of the threshold of 12 days must derive necessarily from his being prevented from taking leave for work-related reasons arising from the performance of his duties and cannot be granted by reason of an illness which has prevented him from carrying out those duties, even where the occupational origin of that illness has been established.’