Abstract

Assessment of the Complaints Board
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On the substance of the appeal,
12. The instant appeal turns on the provisions of Article 8.4. of the Policy of Enrolment in the Brussels European Schools for the 2021-2022 school year which provides, inter alia, as follows:
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The condition in respect of which suffers distinguishes him from other pupils. The central question is that pertaining to the notion of an “essential measure for the treatment of the condition from which the person concerned suffers”.
It is clear from the Applicants’ case that the essential treatment required is to ensure that the pupil has the appropriate supervision when eating and the application of the measures outline in paragraph 1 of this Decision and in particular the rules 1 to 5 specified by the Applicants are observed.
It is apparent that these procedures and rules can be applied in the School in Evere and while this is further away from the family home or the places where the parents work, this is not such as to give rise to intolerable consequences for the Applicants or their son.
While the child is someone who may be at risk when eating, this risk can be catered for in the school in Evere and in extreme circumstances in the nearest hospital which is the Hôpital universitaire St. Luc.
It is clear that while the presence of the parents may be desirable in certain circumstances, this is not an essential treatment of the pathology of which the child suffers.
In conclusion, it must be stated that the evidence submitted by the Applicants is not such as to establish that the child’s attendance at the school/site designated (Brussels III) is an essential measure for the treatment of the condition from which he suffers.
Accordingly, the Applicants case must be dismissed as unfounded.

On the legal and other costs,
13. Article 27 of the Rules of Procedure provides that: “The unsuccessful party shall be ordered to pay the legal and other costs of the case if they have been applied for by the other party. However, if the particular circumstances of the case so warrant, the Complaints Board may order the latter party to pay the legal and other costs, or may order that they be shared between the parties. […) If costs are not claimed, the parties shall bear their own costs.”

14. It is clear from those provisions, which, incidentally, are fully comparable with those in force in most national and international courts, that the unsuccessful party must, in principle, bear the legal and other costs of the proceedings. However, the said provisions allow the Complaints Board to assess on a case by case basis the conditions in which this should be applied.

15. In view of the fact that the Applicants have failed in this appeal it is appropriate that they be ordered to pay the costs of the European Schools measured in the sum of € 400.