Types of contract

Staff at the European Medicines Agency receive one of two main contract types

Temporary Agents

Temporary Agent contracts are offered for five years with the possibility of renewal for an indefinite period. Temporary Agent posts are classified according to the nature and importance of the duties:

• Administrator function group (AD) comprises twelve grades from AD 5 to AD 16 corresponding to technical, administrative, advisory, linguistic and scientific duties;
• Assistant function group (AST) comprises eleven grades from AST 1 to AST 11 corresponding to executive, technical and clerical duties.

Temporary Agents serve a probationary period of six months.

Contract Agents

The duration of contracts for Contract Agents varies according to the needs of the Agency. Most Contract Agents have a contract duration of between nine months and two years.

Contract Agent positions are classified in four function groups corresponding to the duties and responsibilities involved:

• Function group I: comprises three grades corresponding to manual and administrative support service tasks;
• Function group II: comprises four grades corresponding to clerical and secretarial tasks, office management and other equivalent tasks;
• Function group III: comprises five grades corresponding to executive tasks, drafting, accountancy and other equivalent technical tasks;
• Function group IV: comprises six grades corresponding to administrative, advisory, linguistic and equivalent technical tasks.

Contract Agents with a contract lasting one year or more serve a probationary periods of six months (function group I) or nine months (function groups II, III and IV).