Brussels, 17/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday the Commission accepted the proposal of Neil Kinnock, the Commissioner for Reform, to test out a new assessment system for appraising senior A1 and A2 officials. Once in place, this type of appraisal will help inform Commission decisions on appointments, promotion and mobility of senior staff. At the end of the pilot scheme experimenation period the Commission will expected to have all the elements needed to formally adopt the methodology. Initial appraisals of A1 oficials will begin in November using a computer-assisted system. Apraisals will be caried out every two years. The first tests of all A1 and A2 officials should be finsihed by April. This will be the first time that the Commission's most senior staff have been subject to performance evaluation. The appraisals will provide regular feedback on officials' performance and assist them with the development of their careers. The first full appraisals of all A1 and A2 officials will be completed by April 2003. The system will be appraising "performance", competence" and "conduct". The appraisal will be clearly linked to the objectives and tasks agreed with the official. It will include a self-assessment by the official and a dialogue with his/her superior who will draft the final appraisal. Information on the work carried out by the official will figue in the report, as well as supplemntary contriutions from questionnaires given to different groups of particpatns: colleagues, personnel, and in exceptional cases, external staff. But the final draft of the report will be written by the official's superior. Europe believes that this system was devised as a 360 degree information system (given that the official, his/her superior, colleagues and external personnel etc.) will provoke a certain amount of soul-searching at the Commission, especially with regard to the possible contribution of external personnel in the compilation of inforamtion used in the appraisal of the official. At least seven commissioners have insisted that the appraisal method avoids being too unwieldy or bureaucratic.