Judgment_paragraph 51 · SU v European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (T-296/21)

51Furthermore, when the administration introduced, by an internal directive, a special system intended to ensure transparency in the procedures for renewing contracts, the adoption of that system was tantamount to a voluntary curb on the institution’s discretion and, as observed in paragraph 39 above, it had the effect of transforming the initial system relating to contract staff described above, characterised by the insecure nature of the fixed-term contracts, into a system allowing for renewal under certain conditions. According to settled case-law, a decision of a Community institution communicated to all its staff and setting out the applicable criteria and procedure as part of its discretion for the renewal or non-renewal of contracts constitutes an internal directive which must, as such, be regarded as a rule of conduct which the administration imposes on itself and from which it may not depart without specifying the reasons for doing so, since otherwise the principle of equality of treatment would be infringed (see judgment of 7 July 2009, Bernard v Europol, F‑54/08, EU:F:2009:86, paragraph 47 and the case-law cited; see also, to that effect, judgment of 27 April 2012, De Nicola v EIB, T‑37/10 P, EU:T:2012:205, paragraph 40).