X v Secretary-General of the OEEC (Decision No 28)

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Date: 15 March 1957
• Court: Appeals Board (Organization for European Economic Cooperation)

Appeals Board of the Organization for European Economic Co-operation.

Decision No. 28.

International organization — Officials — Death benefits — Estoppel — Withdrawal of administrative decisions.

The Facts.—On December 27, 1956, Mrs. X., acting as legal representative of Mr. Y., deceased, lodged an appeal requesting the Board to annul an administrative decision of October 30, 1956, by which the Secretary-General had refused to pay her the death benefit provided for in Staff Rule 47.

Held: that the appeal must be rejected. Since Mr. Y. had not been an official of the Organization at the time of his death, his representatives were not entitled to death benefits. The fact that the Administration had, for humanitarian reasons, allowed Mr. Y. to enjoy certain benefits which were normally only granted to officials did not imply that the decision to terminate his contract was to be rescinded.

The Board said: “The security provided for by Rule 66 (d) of the Organization's Staff Rules has been duly deposited in Mrs. X.'s name.

“Mrs. X.'s appeal requests the Board to annul a decision of October 30, 1956, by which, after the death of her husband on February 14, 1965, the Secretary-General of the Organization refused to grant her the death benefit provided for by Staff Rule 47. She does not dispute that this provision applies exclusively to officials of the Organization and not to its former officials, but she simply submits that Mr. Y. had retained the status of an official of the Organization until the date of his death, and that he therefore fulfilled the necessary conditions for his legal representatives to be able to claim the application of the above-mentioned provision.

“Mr. Y. was appointed a permanent official of the Organization with effect from January 1, 1950. As a result of general steps to reduce the numbers of the staff, his appointment was terminated by a letter of April 16, 1952. The date for the termination of his contract, originally fixed for June 30, 1952, was later postponed to December 13, 1952, chiefly because of the sick leave which had been granted to him, since it had meanwhile been diagnosed that he was suffering from a tuberculous complaint. By way of supplement to his social security benefits, Mr. Y. subsequently enjoyed in turn the ‘long sickness’ benefits (which guaranteed him his full salary until May 30, 1955) and then, until his death, a pension equal to 40 per cent, of his salary.

“The validity of his termination was never...