169. This paragraph (d) spells out the extension of the entitlement to the
separation allowance to all staff members, to be calculated as provided
therein.
170. It should also be noted that Chapter XI – Separation from Service in
paragraph (c) of its Article 62 (c) under the heading “ENTITLEMENTS
AND FINANCIAL OBLIGATIONS UPON SEPARATION FROM
SERVICE” states that: “A contract staff member shall be paid a gratuity of
12.5% of his/her basic annual salary for each year of service at the time of
separation from service.” (See the English version of the mentioned Rules).
171. Thus, making a systematic interpretation of the cited Article 35 (c) and
(d), and of Article 62 (c), it is clear that the separation allowance contains
two components and that the condition for access to it is the “separation from
service” of the statutory or professional staff.
172. And because the ECOWAS Staff Regulations does not define the
concept “separation from service”, i.e., the moment or the temporal limit in
which it occurs, it must be admitted that it occurs, with the termination of the
contract.
173. It thus means that the termination of the contract determines the access
to such benefit, as long as the professional agent in question was not,
immediately, engaged in a new contract with the Community.
174. No other conditions have been set for access to such a benefit, unlike,
for example, in the European Union.
175. In this regard, the European Union Civil Service Tribunal stated in case
F-59/15 between FX v. COMISSION EUROPÉNNE, that:
(…) le droit à l’allocation de départ, prévu par l’article 39 du RAA au
bénéfice des agents temporaires, n’est pas un droit qui naît automatiquement
au moment de la résiliation ou de l’expiration du contrat d’engagement de
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