235The fact remains that the decision suspending a staff member based on Article 18 of Annex IX to the SatCen Staff Regulations, which is taken when an allegation of serious misconduct has been made, constitutes an individual measure having an adverse effect which must, therefore, be adopted in compliance with the rights of the defence, in particular the right to be heard. Consequently, unless special circumstances are duly established, a decision to suspend may be adopted only after the staff member concerned has been put in a position effectively to make known his views on the evidence relied on against him and on which the competent authority proposes to base that decision (see, by analogy, judgments of 16 December 2004, De Nicola v EIB, T‑120/01 and T‑300/01, EU:T:2004:367, paragraph 123, and of 16 December 2015, DE v EMA, F‑135/14, EU:F:2015:152, paragraph 57).