Secondment conditions
· Seconded National Experts (SNEs) are mainly drawn from the respective civil services of the EU Member States and the Schengen Associated Countries.
· The secondment is not an employment nor does it lead to an employment at the agency.
· Periods of secondment may not be less than six 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 FRONTEX are described in the Management Board Decision laying down rules on the secondment of National Experts to the Agency (as amended on 25 June 2009)
Selection procedure
In 2007 it is foreseen to establish a pool of candidates for SNEs in order to support the FRONTEX operational activities, The EU Member States and the Schengen Associated Countries were invited in February 2007 to offer suitable candidates to fulfill the vacant SNE posts within the agency.
FRONTEX applies an equal opportunities policy and takes geographical and gender balance into account in the selection process.
The applications for SNE posts are gathered via the Permanent Representations of the Member States to the EU (and the Missions of the Schengen Associated Countries to the EU).
The SNE selection procedure is as follows:
- FRONTEX sends invitation letters to the respective Permanent Representations/Missions to the EU in Brussels, asking to provide FRONTEX with qualified candidates for the vacant SNE posts. Invitation includes the descriptions of the vacant SNE posts, their requirements and FRONTEX Standard Application Form. In order for an application to be considered valid, it shall be submitted using FRONTEX Standard Application Form;
- Permanent Representations/Missions distribute the information about vacant SNE posts in FRONTEX 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 FRONTEX;
- applications received by FRONTEX are registered in the database and considered for the 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 FRONTEX. Secondment is concluded by a bilateral agreement between FRONTEX and the national institution sending the expert. In practice, this involves an exchange of letters between FRONTEX and the respective Permanent Representation/Mission to the EU in Brussels;
- the remaining SNE applications will be kept in the data base and will be considered in the selection for the other SNE vacancies available in the agency.
For further details - please consult the Permanent Representation/Mission of your country in Brussels.
