Entitlement to payment of travel expenses is governed by the provisions of article R V 1.08 of the Staff Rules and Regulations.
The conditions for entitlement to the right to travel on taking up appointment are the following:
- must reside over 70 km from CERN (in a straight line) at the time of the notification of the selection. This place of residence does not have to be located on the territory of a Member State or an Associate Member State,
Where a member of the personnel already holds a residence permit granted by one of the Host States, the former place of residence is the address communicated to the authorities of that State.
and
- must establish their new place of residence within a radius of 50 km of CERN within two years of taking up their appointment.
The conditions applicable to the payment of travel expenses on taking up appointment are set out in Administrative Circular No. 30 (AC30), a summary of which is provided in the table below:
| Category | Preconditions | Payment of travel expenses on taking up appointment | Payment of travel expenses on taking up appointment for family members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staff |
|
One-way journey from the home station or former place of residence (at the staff's discretion) |
Yes, if the family members take up residence with the member of the personnel within two years of the taking up appointment |
| Graduate | One-way journey from the former place of residence | ||
| Scientific Associate |
Yes, if:
|
||
| Guest Professor | N/A | ||
| Student | |||
| Other associated members of the personnel |
|
Members of the personnel organise their own travel and travel expenses are paid on a lump sum basis, regardless of the means of transport used.
1. Payment of travel expenses for staff, graduates, scientific associates, guest professors and students
Payment of travel expenses shall be paid upon request by members of the personnel to their departmental secretariat (DAO) upon arrival at the latest within two years taking up appointment.
The payment scheme for travel expenses per country is indexed annually (scale applicable from 01.01.2025).
For children under two years of age, the amount paid corresponds to 50% of the lump sum.
|
The HR department establishes whether the person concerned is entitled to travel expenses when the latter's contract is drawn up. Departmental secretariats (DAO) may consult information on entitlement to travel expenses in HRT (Planning Menu; report: Arrival entitlements). Departmental secretariats (DAO) are responsible for ensuring that the members of the personnel have registered their local address via the EDH document Changement d'adresse locale / Change of local address and for checking whether the second condition (establishment of the new place of residence within a radius of 50 km from CERN) is met. The distance criteria is integrated into the claim Document de voyage d'arrivée et de départ / Arrival and Departure Travel document (ADFT). The departmental secretariat (DAO) provides the following information:
N.B. Travel expenses on taking up appointment paid since March 2024 are available in the report "Arrival entitlements" under the criteria "Trip paid on". |
2. Payment of travel expenses for summer students
Travel expenses (equivalent to a return trip) for summer students are paid as a lump sum upon appointment. This payment is made automatically by the service of Personnel Accounting on the basis of a lump sum for a return trip per country.
3. Specific circumstances
Paragraph 18 of the Administrative Circular No. 30 specifies "In duly justified circumstances, the Head of the Human Resources department may authorise the reimbursement to staff members, fellows and graduates of the real cost incurred for one-way travel upon taking up appointment or on termination of contract, on the basis of the cheapest ticket available using public transport, taking account of the journey time. Requests for such real-cost reimbursement shall be submitted, to the extent possible, no later than 21 calendar days prior to departure and shall be subject to approval prior to travel."
The request must be sent by the member of the personnel, within the required deadline, to HR-Official-travel@cern.ch and accompanied by a justification of the situation and an estimate of the actual transport costs expected for the travel. If authorisation is granted, the member of the personnel and the departmental secretariat (DAO) will be informed. Reimbursement is made in accordance with the travel payment procedure described above; the supplement to the lump sum is paid via a Frais divers / Sundry expenditure (SUN) claim created by the HR department.
| No revision | Modifications | Approuved |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | New lump sum system for arrival and departure travel of students | 01.08.2014 |
| 2 | Application of the new lump sum system to all students, independently on their date of taking up appointment | 01.07.2016 |
| 3 | Suppression delay of submission for the reimbursement requests for the students | 18.04.2017 |
| 4 | Additional information: If the member of the personnel opts to make his own travel arrangements, the Organization will pay the cost of the cheapest form of public transport, taking into account travel time, from the train station, airport or port closest to the place of residence of the member of personnel. | 31.05.2018 |
| 5 | New memorandum "Payment scheme for student travel (TECH, DOCT, ADMI) - valid from 1st April 2019". | 26.03.2019 |
| 6 | Revision of the paragraph 1.3 with the use of the payment scheme for students while member of the personnel travels by his own means. | 15.12.2020 |
| 7 | The procedure detailing the payment of travel expenses on taking up appointment for Volontaires Internationaux is available via Volontaire International Traineeship in the framework of an agreement with a national funding agency (TRNE "Special Programmes"). | 21.12.2021 |
| 8 | Procedure revised by the service in charge. | 18.09.2024 |
| 9 | Procedure revised by the service in charge following the revision of the AC30. | 12.12.2025 |