Call for expression of interest for Seconded national experts at the Community Fisheries Control Agency

FISH-CFCA-SNE-2008/01

THE COMMUNITY FISHERIES CONTROL AGENCY - CFCA - IS A EUROPEAN UNION BODY ESTABLISHED IN 2005 TO ORGANISE OPERATIONAL COORDINATION OF FISHERIES CONTROL AND INSPECTION ACTIVITIES BY THE MEMBER STATES AND TO ASSIST THEM TO COOPERATE SO AS TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES OF THE COMMON FISHERIES POLICY IN ORDER TO ENSURE ITS EFFECTIVE AND UNIFORM APPLICATION.

The Agency wishes to set up a reserve list of candidates interested in a fixed term agreement on secondment as:

Seconded National Experts – SNEs

The complete description of CFCA's activities, structure, and organisation chart and of all Units and Departments are available on the Agency's website: http://www.ec.europa.eu/cfca

Candidates shall clearly indicate in their motivation letter the Unit/Department they are interested in working with.

1. Secondment conditions

Seconded National Experts (SNEs) are mainly drawn from the respective civil services of the EU Member States or of Iceland or Norway.

The secondment is not an employment nor does it lead to an employment at the Agency.

Periods of secondment may not be less than three months nor more than two years. They may be renewed once or more, up to a total period not exceeding four years.

The SNE shall remain in the service of his or her employer throughout the period of secondment and shall continue to be paid by that employer. During the period of secondment, the SNE is entitled to a daily subsistence allowance paid by the Agency, and may also be eligible for a monthly allowance depending on the distance from his/her place of origin. He/she will remain throughout the period of secondment, subject to the social security legislation applicable to his/her employer, which will assume responsibility for expenses incurred abroad.

The SNE shall during the period of secondment carry out his or her duties under the management of the Agency, its Executive Director and the responsible Head of Unit. He or she shall carry out the duties and conduct solely with the interest of the Agency in mind.

Detailed rules regarding secondment of national experts within CFCA are described in the Decision of 14.03.2007 of the Administrative Board (~583 Kb) laying down rules on the secondment of National Experts to the Agency.

Each candidate should, before applying, assure him- or herself that his/her current employer will support the candidacy and pay the salary during the period of secondment. The final recruitment will be confirmed by an exchange of letters between the Agency and the employer in the Member State or associated country concerned.

A selected applicant will be offered the position on the basis of a list established by the selection board. This notice is the basis for the establishment of the selection committee’s proposal.

The place of secondment will be in principle Vigo, Spain, where CFCA will be relocated from June 2008.

The secondment for a selected applicant will start when a position is available. The first positions are expected to be opened from 2008.

It is brought to the particular attention of candidates that the Agency Decision laying down rules on the secondment of National Experts to the Agency specifies, concerning duties, rights and obligations of SNEs, that efforts must be made to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of such conflict in relation to the SNE’s duties while seconded to the Agency.

For this purpose the selected candidate must sign a declaration of honour before the secondment starts and the employer must submit a corresponding declaration.

Equal opportunities

The Agency takes great care to avoid any form of discrimination in its recruitment procedures and takes geographical and gender balance into account in the selection process.

2. Selection procedure

In 2008 it is foreseen to establish a pool of candidates for SNEs in order to support the CFCA operational activities.

The applications for SNE posts are gathered via the Permanent Representations of the Member States to the EU (and the Missions of the Associated Countries to the EU).

The SNE selection procedure is as follows:

• CFCA sends invitation letters to the respective Permanent Representations/Missions to the EU in Brussels, asking to provide the Agency with qualified candidates for the vacant SNE posts. Invitation includes the descriptions of the vacant SNE posts, their requirements and the Agency Standard Application Forms which are mandatory;
• Permanent Representations/Missions distribute the information about vacant SNE posts in CFCA among the respective national services;
• The application forms are sent by the candidates’ employers (national institutions) to the respective Permanent Representation/Mission to the EU in Brussels, which collects all the applications and forwards them to CFCA;
• Applications received by CFCA are registered in the database and considered for further evaluation. All the applications are pre-screened and evaluated based on the selection criteria, and the best-qualified candidates are short listed for an interview;
• As a result of the interviews, the most suitable candidates are offered a secondment to CFCA. The secondment is concluded by a bilateral agreement between CFCA and the national institution sending the expert. In practice, this involves an exchange of letters between CFCA and the respective Permanent Representation/Mission to the EU in Brussels.

3. Essential functions

The SNEs will work under the guidance of Heads of Unit for the development of the Agency’s activities in accordance with work programmes of CFCA and in one or more of the following areas.

• Preparation and follow up of the implementation of joint deployment plans under the responsibility of the Agency, including the evaluation of data and reports (Unit C);
• Assistance of the Agency for the development of its expertise in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU), including management and methods for data processing (Unit C);
• Support of the Agency in the collection and analysis of scientific data, studies and research results on the development of fish species, including production of publications (Unit B);
• Assistance of the Agency for its external communication, in particular for replies from stakeholders and public bodies involved, and including support in web communication and events organisation (Secretariat General

4. Qualification and experience required
A. Eligibility criteria

• Be nationals of a Community Member State or Norway or Iceland;
• Have a university degree in an area relevant to CFCA’s activities;
• Have at least 6 years’ full time experience of administrative, scientific, technical, advisory or supervisory functions, gained after obtaining the relevant degree, at a level equivalent to the post;
• Have thorough knowledge of spoken and written English and a satisfactory knowledge of a second EU language for the performance of his/her duties.

B. Selection criteria

Essential

• Relevant experience and specialised technical expertise in one or more of the areas related to the functions above mentioned under point 3;
• Good knowledge of Community policy for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs;
• Good command of English;
• Ability to work under pressure and manage his/her responsibilities;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Computer literacy and familiarity with the most wide-spread electronic office equipment (word processing, spreadsheets, e-mail, internet, etc.).

Advantageous

• Experience from international working groups and projects;
• Motivated, dynamic personality with strong aptitude for team work;
• Familiarity with EU administrative procedures and terminology.

5. Application procedure

For applications to be valid, candidates must submit their application via the Permanent Representation or Mission to the EU including the following documents:

a) A detailed curriculum vitae in European format (that can be obtained at the following address
http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/europass/home/vernav/Europass+Documents/ Europass+CV//navigate.action
or downloaded from the Agency's website
b) A duly completed and signed declaration of honour ( ~87 Kb),
c) A letter of motivation (2 pages maximum)

The Permanent Representation must send your application to CFCA per e-mail at the following address: fish.cfca.vacancies-sne@ec.europa.eu

Please mention in the subject line your last name followed by the position reference:

  FAMILY NAME – CFCA-SNE-2008/01

The application will be rejected if the dossier is incomplete.
Supporting documents showing evidence of the information given in the application documents may be requested at a later stage.
No document will be sent back to candidates.

6. Selection procedure

The selection will be organised in four steps:

• The selection committee will check the validity and eligibility criteria of all applications;
• The selection committee will assess the letters of motivation and the CVs of eligible applicants; it will establish a shortlist of candidates meeting the requirements of the Agency;
• On a regular basis and depending on the number of applications received, the selection committee will interview the short listed applicants; written tests may be organised simultaneously; following this, the selection committee will establish a list of suitable candidates;
• Suitable candidates will be offered positions upon decision of the Executive Director of CFCA. Candidates should note that inclusion on the reserve list does not guarantee that a position will be offered.

Candidates may apply in any of the official languages of the European Union but the use of English is encouraged to facilitate the selection process.

Applications must be sent to mailbox fish.cfca.vacancies-sne@ec.europa.eu until 31/12/2008 at the latest, clearly indicating the vacancy reference number in the subject line.

Please note that applications submitted by fax or postal mail cannot be taken into consideration.

A reserve list will be constituted, valid until 31/12/2009. The validity of the reserve list could be extended if the Agency Executive Director so decides, and made public on the web site of the Agency.

7. General information

Publication date of this call for expression of interest is 17 January 2008.

The closing date of the present call for expression of interest is 31 December 2008.