In a decision (C-258/15) made on Tuesday 15 November, the European Court of Justice held that member states can demand that candidates for police force posts responsible for performing operational duties must be under 35 years of age. This stipulation is also necessary for the effective long-term functioning of the police services.
In this case, the judges followed the conclusions of the Advocate General Paolo Mengozzi submitted in July (see EUROPE 11599), to the letter. The decision made also underlines that directive 2000/78/EC prohibits any direct or indirect discrimination based on age in the employment field but does not preclude national legislation that demands that candidates for police force posts responsible for performing operational duties must be under 35 years of age.
The Court argues that there are two essential points justifying this kind of different treatment. On the one hand, the nature of the role performed by police officers demands that they have specific physical abilities to be able to carry out their missions. This can be considered to constitute “a genuine and determining occupational requirement” when exercising this profession and therefore justifies different treatment based on age, which is also stipulated in the directive.
The Court also highlights the problem currently encountered in many member states, namely: widespread ageing of the police workforce. The judges believe that this clearly demonstrates a need to include plans for replacing older police officers through the recruitment of younger people in order to re-establish a more satisfactory age distribution in the police service. This objective can also be reached by taking into consideration the years of service accomplished by an officer after their recruitment. (original version in French by Jan Kordys)