JRC Ispra - Frequently Asked Questions

This list is a result of my personal experience in coming to JRC Ispra as a Visiting Scientist from the UK between December 1997 and November 1998, augmented with verbal advice from other visitors. This advice is oriented specifically at people coming from the UK and not other nationalities.

This does not reproduce information in the yellow "information booklet" which you should apply for immediately. They are sent out to anyone who asks.

Questions and Answers

• General
• Claiming initial expenses
• Accommodation
• Furnishings and Utilities
• Bank Accounts
• European School (Scuola Europae)
• Insurance
• Tax, National Insurance and Health Insurance
• Cars and driving
• Shopping
• Being a Visiting Scientist
• Mirror sites

General

Q. What is the JRC ?
A. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) is part of the European Commission, one of the DG s since 16 Jan. 1996. It is reports to the same Commissioner as does DG XII: Science, Technology and Research. It has 5 sites and 7 Institutes. Centro Comune di Ricerca (CCR) Ispra is the only site in Italy and it appears on roadsigns (hah!) as "CCR Euratom" (Euratom is one of the European Communities which the Commission serves). JRC Ispra houses the Space Applications Institute (SAI), the Environmental Institute (EI), the Institute for Systems, Informatics and Safety (ISIS) and the Institute for Safety and Consumer Protection. Also on site is ENEA, part of the Italian energy research agency. The site has strict security, only two entrances and special identity cards. Oh yes, there appear to be two nuclear reactors on site.

Q. How do I get some general information ?
A. Write to the Human Resouces Unit (Risorse Umane), JRC, 21020 Ispra (VA), Italy, or fax. to +39 (332) 78-9001. They will send you a little yellow (visiting scientist) or blue (some other employees) information booklet. Two editions are currently in circulation: Oct. 1993 and Sep. 1996 which do not appear to differ much. This helpfully gives the internal extension numbers of many offices on site, but does not anywhere tell you how to get an internal number from outside. In fact, if you dial +39 (332) 78- before the number you can get it from outside. Of course, many of the numbers given are out of date. This is an initiative test in colloquial italian by phone to get the office you want. English is universally spoken by the scientific staff, but not universally by the administrative staff.
From 19 June 1998 you insert the '0' before the area code for all Italian phone calls: '332'->'0332'. After some months this will become obligatory (even from outside Italy).

Q. Who is responsible for Visiting Scientists in the Human Resources department ?
A. Mrs. Daniela Barbieri (now replaced by Elena Moneta) and Mrs. Rosalba Rabossi (who signs the official documents). Once you meet Mrs. Barbieri in person, she is most forthcoming. However her staff are not so confident in English and appear to be overworked. This may be the reason why so many written requests and questions are not answered. No they don't use email: Daniela. Barbieri@jrc.it is an illegal email address. You may be told that someone else in Human Resources is the person to ask about something (e. g. elegibility for remission of school bus fares), but all queries that relate to visiting scientists are handled by Mrs. Barbieri. After 3 months at Ispra I discovered that many administrative staff do have email addresses, but of the form Forname.Surname@jrc.org . [During 1998, email sent to person@jrc.it started to be forwarded automatically to person@jrc.org, but not vice versa.]

Q. How do I get specific information before I come to Ispra ?
A. You must write to the Human Resouces Unit. Yes, you will usually get more prompt advice from anyone else, e. g. in the Unit or Institute you will be attached to, but you cannot in general rely on it. Most officials in the JRC are not fully aware of the distinction between statutory and non-statutory staff, and will give you answers that apply to other people and not to you. Replies from other people are informal, and they do it because they want to help. At the Human Resources Unit it is their job. As a result, unless you have written a letter (yes, do everything in writing and fax. it, even if just to confirm a telephone call), you have no recognised grounds for complaint if you have not got an answer.

Q. How do I send mail to a specific person at the JRC site ?
A. Every employee has a Terminale Postale (TP) number. This is usually the building number with a further digit stating the floor they collect their mail from, e. g. Dr. H. Schmidt, TP 123, JRC, 21020 Ispra (VA), Italy.

Q. How do I get paid ?
A. You have to set up an account at the Banco Nazionale di Lavoro branch on site.This was apparently part of the agreement between Euratom and the Italian state when the centre was set up. See Bank Accounts .

Q. What is the countryside like at Ispra ?
A. There is a good arial photo of the Ispra site in existance, showing its position and the lake, and Monte Rosa beyond, but nowhere on the Internet yet. It is not sent to newcomers in any form. See other JRC information for maps and photographs.

Q. What is the best time of year to arrive at Ispra ?
A. For tax reasons, it is crystal clear that you should start on April 1st. If you start before the main skiing season you will be able to send your ski equipment and cold-weather clothes home in advance when you leave, but Ispra looks much better and you will feel more cheerful if you arrive in the Spring when the woods are turning green in profusion (and it rains a lot). Many visiting scientists never leave: the position is used by the JRC Units as a way of trying out staff before offering them a semi-permanent position (e.g. as a "temporary" agent).

Q. Where exactly is JRC Ispra ?
A. You can find the town of Ispra on any suitably-large-scale map of Lago Maggiore (larger than 1:400,000). If you only have a 1:1,250,000 map, it is roughly half-way between Laveno and Sesto Calende on the SE shore of the lake. The most detailed map is Kompass 1:50,000 Carta Turistica: "Lago Maggiore, Lago Varese" (ISBN 3-87051-097-8) which shows even single-track roads, footpaths and incidates which roads are blocked by JRC site gates. Nearly as detailed but more reliable is the Swiss Tessin Tichino 1:120,000 (Kümmerly+Frey) which goes as far south as Borgomanero and Sesto Calende). You will get a map of the JRC site in the yellow information booklet - but no indication of where the site is in relation to the town or surrounding villages. The site map also only labels a tiny number of the buildings. The site stretches from Ispra railway station most of the way to Cadrezzate and halfway to Brebbia. Sketch maps showing supermarkets etc. are available only on a couple of personal home pages and not in any official publication.

Q. How do I get to the JRC Ispra ?
A. The JRC gives you an excellent free 1:100,000 tourist map in your induction pack - after you have got there - so it is useless for its major purpose. Difficult points to watch for are (a) the motorway junction near the south end of Lago Maggiore: you can easily find yourself in Stresa on the wrong side of the lake, and (b) the roads in Sesto Calende: coming from Stresa (!): you have to double-back under the main bridge road to get on the shore-road north to Ispra. In Sesto Calende there are two signs for the JRC at adjacent junctions: the first is blue and white, the second is yellow on brown; both say "CCR Euratom". When on the road north from Angera, do not take the first road to the right signposted "CCR Euratom" (which takes you to an unmarked junction nowhere in particular), take the second such signposted road ("centro Euratom") which is Via Fermi and goes directly across the level crossing and up the hill to the main gate. There is a recommended driving route between Calais and Ispra.

Q. How do I get to the JRC Ispra from the south west ?
A. If you come by the A26 motorway from the south west, do not leave at the Castelletto Tichino exit, leave at the Sesto Calende/Vergiate exit. After paying the toll, take the road labelled Vergiate, then the next turning labelled Besozzo, then the fork labelled Laveno/Luino - all actually part of the same complex roundabout system. Keep on the dual carriageway, go past the Restaurante Due Laghi, the Q8 petrol station and the cement works. Go straight at the first traffic lights, then turn left at the next set of traffic lights to signs saying Cadrezzate, Monate, Ispra, Angera. Follow this road, which twists and turns amd takes you though Monate and then Cadrezzate and deposits you at the roundabout at the entrace to the JRC. Halfway along the winding road you will have seen a sign pointing straight on saying "CCR Euratom" just before a side junction that you didn't take.

Q. How do I get to the JRC Ispra from France via the Mont Blanc tunnel or Petit St. Bernard pass ?
A. You will go on 4 motorways. Follow the motorway along the Aosta valley until you see a turning for Milano, take it. Take the next turning for Milano. Take the next turning for Gravellona which is the A26. Gravellona is a tiny town just north of Stresa which may not be on your map, but since it is where the motorway ends at the moment, that is where the signposts direct you. You are now approaching from the south west (see previous instructions ).

Q. How do I recognise the JRC when I get there ?
A. There is a roundabout at the entrance to the JRC: a long, low building with 5 security passways for vehicles that looks a bit like a motorway toll entrance and a car-park to the right. The JRC has no notice announcing what it is on the building itself. There are small (unlit) signs on the roundabout and in the car park.

Q. Are the maps up to date ?
A. In general: no. Ispra has a bypass which must be 30 years old, it is not marked on many Italian maps. It is not marked on the free tourist map handed out by the JRC, it is marked on the Michelin 1:400,000 North Italy and on the Kompass 1:50,000 Carta Turistica. Even the Kompass map is out of date with respect to the roads in Gavirate but it does also cover quite a lot of Val Grande on the other side of the lake too. The best place to buy maps that I have found is in Cannobio: get Swiss maps. There are excellent street maps in the free yellow pages ( pagine gialle : available on the web) of Varese, Gallerate, Busto Arsizio and Saronno showing cinemas, shopping centres, supermarkets and car parks. There are even better maps (more street names, more detail) in TuttoCitta'97 (Varese e Provincia), a 50 page advertising supplement to Pagine Gialle. This also has maps of Angera, Arsago Seprio, Caronno Pertusella, Cassano Magnago, Gavirate, Luino, Sesto Calende, Somma Lombardo and Tradate. The Istituto Geographico Centrale [10121 Torino, Via Prati 2, tel./fax. (011) 534850] do 1:25,000 hiking maps but for the Alps I much prefer the Swiss maps, where available. The Swiss Federal Institute of Topography has an excellent website and you can buy maps on-line: 286 and 296 are the 1:50,000 which cover the east side of Lago Maggiore, the 48 "Sotto Ceneri" is the 1:100,000 which covers both of those and the 287, 297 of Lago Como too (all updated in 1989). For general all-round use for the local area, the Tessin Tichino is the best (even though it doesn't actually mark the JRC site at all) which shows minor roads and up to date motorways.

Q. Do I have to go through Varese ?
A. Try not to. Although this is the nearest major town, it is very badly signposted and you will get lost. Even if you are driving from Swizterland, try to avoid it. There is a Varese town map (1:10,000 with a city centre insert at 1:5,000 and a 1:50,000 key map) from Studio F. M. B. Bologna, ISBN 88-7775-057-X (fax. +39 (51) 744689). However, the road plans on the main map and key map are different, especially around the area of the European School.

Q. What is the induction procedure ? How do I report for work ?
A. Every 1st and 15th (16th ?) of the month, new employees, visiting scientists etc. are processed. In December there is no induction on the 15th. You have to report to the main gate at 08:30 in the morning, but no provision is made for accommodation the night before. Even if you ask and accommodation is reserved for you in the Residenza and it is vacant the night before, you cannot occupy it as you are not an official employee yet. The cheapest local accommodation is about 2. 5 km from the main entrance - cyclable with reasonable luggage. (Or you could probably bivouak in the thick woods between the site and Cadrezzate.) There is no good place to store luggage during your induction: lock it to your bike. After having your name taken in the reception, you go to language-specific introductions in building 66 and then you will need to go to Building 6A (Human Resources) to fill in a lot of forms. All employment is handled by staff of DG IX whereas the JRC itself is its own DG (no number) and much contract work is done for DG XII-4, DG VI and DG III. The "administration" say that it is their policy to arrange transport from the airport for you with an official car; but this is not offerered and you will have to ask specifically and well in advance. Hypothetically, if you travel overnight the cost of a couchette may be reimbursable with your travel expenses (even though a hotel isn't) but no-one seems to have tried this yet.

Q. How do I get a permesso di segiorno ?
A. The form will be presented to you, already filled in, on the day you arrive. This will be at the department of human resources which you should go to immediately after your welcome and induction talk. After you fill it in, you may suppose that they will send it off. If you have a family who will be joining you later, they won't. They won't tell you that they won't be sending it off. Since you absolutely need a permesso di segiorno for many official purposes, this can be catastrophic. Take it from them and send it off yourself is my advice. This does not, however, get you a permesso di segiorno for your wife and children. You will separately have to provide a xerox of your wife's passport, and of your children's if they have them, or the relevant pages of both your wife and your passport if they do not. Also two passport photos of each child with the name and date and place of birth written on the back of each. It will take about two weeks to arrive once Mrs. Barbieri's office sends it off - which may be weeks after you give it to them. Although you fill out separate forms for yourself and your wife, Human Resources do not actually appear to send anything off until they have everything. So if your wife and children are following some weeks later, you should get the full set of xeroxes and photos before you leave the UK. We finally got our permesso di segiorno on February 26th when I arrived on December 1st.

Q. How do I get an Ispra residence certificate ?
A. First you must have received your pemesso di segiorno. Then you go to the Comune di Varese (Municipio office: 1 Milite Agnoto, an old villa in the centre of Varese) to register as a resident of Ispra. There is a law that if you are going to be resident in a place for more than 185 days you are entitled to change your official place of residence. I still don't have one after 7 months and have never needed it.

Q. What is a DG ?
A. The European Commission in Brussels is the civil service organised into "Directorate Generals" or DGs. There are currently 20 Commissioners + the President (Jacques Santer). The DGs report to specific commissioners. DG-XII and the JRC currently report to Edith Cresson. Not so much of the commission is left in Luxembourg, it is mostly centralised in Brussels now. The European Parliament still has to take 12 votes a year in Strasbourg but is otherwise based in Brussels. Some employment business at Ispra is handled by a local outpost (building 66) of DG IX. B7.

Q. What special facilities are providing for people starting work at JRC Ispra to manage the bureaucratic work-load ?
A. Hardly anything. The bureaucracy is "designed" for those already working there. The initiation of these separate systems is generally very badly handled as is their interaction. Most forms assume that you already know what they are for, where you are living, who you work for and that you are intimately familiar with the local geography and speak fluent Italian. This is a personal opinion from personal experience. The Human Resources unit do obtain a Codice Fiscale for you and help you fill in the permesso di segiorno form. They do not handle any liaison with the Scuola Europea or the bank and it is these interactions which cause the major problems.

Q. How serious is the security ?
A. Best explained by a short story. This happened to a visiting scientist in December 1997. Receptionist: "You can collect your site identity card from the Security office. ", scientist: "Oh good, let me in to collect it. ", receptionist: "You can't come in without a site identity card. " This said in all seriousness. This particular scientist had an out-of-EU passport. If you are an employee and have an EU passport you can get in unescorted before your pass is ready if you have a special green form given to you at initial induction. Spouses are not allowed in except for very specific buildings. If you want someone to visit you for work purposes, they will need a "permesso" arranged one week in advance. If they are holders on a non-EU passport this means four weeks in advance.

Q. Is there an internal website ?
A. After 3 months at Ispra I discovered that there was. It is password-controlled and access may be restricted to local IP addresses (this sort of thing changes rapidly, so this information is liable to be out of date). You get to it at www. jrc. org/jcrplus/ . After 5 months the administration has still not given me access to it.

Q. How do I do some of the administration in advance by email ?
A. You can't. No JRC administrative official that you deal with in advance of your arrival uses email to contact you or will tell you of anyone who uses email; despite repeated requests.

Q. Who can I contact by email ?
A. Your best option is to trawl through the website www.jrc.it looking at the subsites for the different Institutes (e. g. SAI, ISIS) and then looking at the sub-sub-websites for the Units (e. g. AIS in SAI) until you find some links to personal webpages with email addresses listed. Also, every email address of technical staff is of the form Forename. Surname@jrc. it so you can often guess someone's email address if you know their name. Many Institutes of the JRC at Ispra have recently forbidden personal webpages by staff, but there are still several in existence that the amministrazione have not found yet; usually running on non-standard port numbers. Administrative officers, secretaries etc. apparently have a different email address: Forename. Surname@jrc. org . I learned this after nearly 3 months in Ispra.

Q. Are there any mailing lists I can use ?
A. You could ask Postmaster@jrc.it whether you subscribe to some mailing lists before you have a Your.Name@jrc.it mail account, but it is doubtful that you would be successful as these mailing lists are for internal use only. However, if you send any message to a mailing list, that may get sent to the subscribers. The JRC Grant Holders Association gha@jrc.it is for use by non-statutory people who are mostly working towards PhDs. Most Sectors and Units have mailing lists, e.g. a message to all-ais@ais.irsa.jrc.it will send a message to everyone in the AIS Unit of the Space Applications Institute (see http://www.ais.sai.jrc.it). Some of these mailing lists may be filtered to only accept input from subscribers, some won't be filtered (although they probably should be).

Q. How do I arrange to get an email account set up before I arrive ?
A. You need to do more than just tell postmaster@jrc. it , he will just arrange the redirection mechanism. You will need a POP3 account on a real machine (probably a Unix box) within the Unit of the Institute you are visiting. The central postmaster will not know who is in charge of your Unit's email accounts, you will need to find out this person's name from someone in the Unit you are visiting.

Q. What will be my biggest problem coming to Ispra from the UK ?
A. Handling the three major administrative agencies: the JRC itself, the Scoula Europae and the Bank. You will spend most (not much; most) of your first 6 weeks shuffling paper forms provided by one of these agencies to be processed by another. You will not understand what they are for, and you will certainly not know if one of them is missing, or not signed, or does not have the appropriate additional paperwork to go with it. As a result, things you plan to do will just not happen because the paperwork has not been done (like getting paid, paying your rent, getting a pass to enter the site, getting your children to school etc. ). Within the JRC you will find the same problems between the security office, the social office (DG IX - who try to help but are limited in what they can do), Human Resources, the Amministrazione Foresteria and whatever Unit you are working in. If some office took responsibility for handling the interactions between these agencies and offices for new employees it would make the JRC a much more productive international centre for scientific cooperation. As it is, more than a month out of every visitor's period of study is wasted.

Q. Can I learn Italian on-site ?
A. Yes. The JRC Corse di Lingue put on language classes in many languages at many levels. You go and get a form from the Corse di Lingue which you then get signed by your Head of Unit and return. When enough people wanting the same class as you accumulate, a course is organised. For beginners italian my course began a month or so after I returned the form. The Corse di Lingue send you a letter telling you the place and time of the lessons, but they will not tell you what books or materials you need: for that you have to wait until you meet your teacher. This is for inside-the-wire employees only, spouses go to a different set of classes in the Club House outside which are organised quite differently and much more effectively. Important: building 36a is not the same place as entrance 36a in building 36. No courses are initiated in Summer, if your Level 1 course finishes in June, you have to wait until October to start Level 2 - despite the fact that the language teachers want to teach and the pupils want to learn over this period.

Q. How often are the courses?
A. The JRC Corse di Lingue appear to start courses during the year whenever they get enough people (6) on a list. However they will not start any course after June. You have to wait until the beginning of October. Do not imagine that just because you filled in the form you were given by the teacher in June for a follow-on course and gave two signed copies in to Mrs. Carmen Kind of the Corse di Lingue (one via teacher and one via internal post) that you will actually be registered. Mrs. Kind loses a significant proportion of applications. You must confirm with at every conceivable opportunity that she has you down for the course. When Mrs. Kind loses your form it is your fault of course, you have to apply all over again but the courses are now full (in October).

Q. How do I post a parcel at the site Post Office if I do not have a site pass ?
A. Tricky. Like the bank and the travel agent, the Official Italian Post Office has counters on both the public and internal sides of Building 1 (which is also the main entrance). However the public counter does not accept parcels. So you have to ask in Reception and an armed guard will escort you to the internal counter while you take the suspect parcel. He will then escort you out again. Alternatively, go to the post office in Ispra town and do it there.

Q. I have got a buff-coloured card with Italian printing on it in my mailbox at my TP, what does it mean ?
A. This is a note from the Italian Post Office to say that you have a parcel or registered letter. Do not go to the JRC site branch of the Italian Post Office, instead you must go to the branch in Ispra town itself. If you sign it, someone else can collect it for you. Sometimes, however, the parcel is at the JRC branch of the Post Office but unfortunately whoever fills in these cards does not usually fill in the bit that tells you which. Note that if there is import duty to pay, you have to pay it, and then the Post Office make you pay VAT on the import duty!

Q. Can my wife come in to the site ?
A. Spouses of statutory staff can get a permesso to enter, on demand, if they present a passport to the entrance reception - but only for the clinic or the accommodation office (but they are allowed in unescorted). As a visiting scientist, your spouse does not have this privilege unless your surname is similar to a statutory member of staff, in which case the reception staff (who have no list of visiting scientists) will assume that your spouse is that person's spouse and let them in. Once they find out their mistake (3 months in my case), your spouse can only come in if escorted by someone (not you!) who comes to collect them from inside the site.
If you are ill, your spouse is in practice allowed in, driving your car (with appropriate badge), with you in it, to take you to the clinic; but nobody follows you and you can then go all over the site.

Q. Is there a back gate ?
A. Yes, there is a gate on the Brebbia side of the site which is open 08:15-09:15 mornings and 17:30-18:15 afternoons (16:00-16:30 Fridays: see the yellow information booklet). However, it is shut completely from half-way through July to the end of September - the hottest period when you really need a short cut (if you are cycling from that side of the site). There is a sequence of tracks and sandy paths through the thick woods that avoids the Cadrezzate hill: take the first track on the left after Il Globo newsagent on the Cadrezzate road from the main entrance.

Q. How do I arrange to get JRC business cards printed ?
A. Do not believe anyone who says that you just go to building 30. You must get "the secretary of your section" to arrange this for you. When you arrive at the JRC you will not be told who this is, and many people go for months without discovering that such a person exists. So be careful who you ask. It will not be at all obvious which section you are in either. Once you find the secretary, she (almost invariably "she") will tell you to go to building 30. Go. There is a form to fill in, but unusually it does not have to be signed by anyone. Just fill it in and give it in to building 30.

Q. Are the nuclear reactors running ?
A. Both are in "cold shut down condition". One is certainly de-fuelled (building 21). The other ("Edith ?") in building 80 has an extra double security fence around it and there are rumours of 20 kg of plutonium (which is hardly any compared with the fuel-rod content in a power-generating reactor). Spent nuclear fuel rods are stored on site (presumably still in the cooling pond). In his end-of-1997 speech, the acting Director-Generale of the JRC stated verbally that it would be possible that it would need to be decommissioned and that the money for this would have to come out of the research budget. For further information, write to Mr. Celso Osimani , Radioprotezione, TP510, I-21020, Ispra (VA), Italia.

Q. What is the Club House ?
A. All the social clubs meet here. It is outside the wire, close by the Fontanone apartments. One of the dozens forms you fill in on arrival will be an application for a club house card for your wife. After 7 weeks, we had not reply to the application. An enquiry produced the card within a few days. Nobody seems to ever ask for this card.

Q. How long does it take to get any other kind of position ?
A. The Grant Holders (post grads and postdocs) did a survey (43 replies out of 58 on site in 1997) and found that the average waiting time from the first application to signature of the contract is about one year (32 and 33 months for two people). More than 1/2 did not think that they had been adequately informed of their rights and obligations which are different for the different types of contract. The majority of the postdocs were unhappy at not being statutory employees of the Commission (postdocs are like Visiting Scientists in this repect).

Q. How has the Ispra site survived if its organisation for newcomers is like this ?
A. It almost hasn't. In AGORA No. 12, Fivos Andritsos wrote "Its performance is regularly under scrutiny, its role is questioned on every possible occassion and its personnel operate in a context of permanent transition at the end of which we cannot see other but the negation of its identity and its gradual elimination". To which the hassled visiting scientist will probably mutter, "Roll on that happy day. . . ". It is not just the JRC. The Scuola Europae is equally confusing and unhelpful until you arrive and see them in person and the bank behaves as if it has a captive market - which it has.

Claiming Initial Expenses

Q. What expenses can I claim for travelling here?
A. These are listed in the Visiting Scientist Guidelines. Article 3): medical examination, luggage (max. 1000 ecu) and travel for you and family. Despite what you may be told verbally, there is no allowance for getting a " certificate of good conduct " from the police.

Q. What is a certificate of good conduct ?
A. Despite the fact that such a certificate has never been issued by any UK police force, the JRC still asks every UK citizen for one, and every UK visiting scientist has to go through the same laborious procedure of discovering what is available and asking the JRC if it is acceptable. The idea that saying this up front would save both visitors and the JRC staff time does not seem to have occurred to JRC Human Resources. This is typical.
What you need is form SA1A from your local police force "Data Protection Act 1984 - How to apply for access to information held on police computers". This form states explicitly, in a highlighted box, that police forces in the UK do not provide certificates of good conduct or any other document giving evidence of good character, and that any such information as may be provided does not provide you with a certificate of this type. The document you get back a couple of weeks later says at the bottom: "this document does not constitute a certificate of good conduct". Nevertheless, the JRC accepts such documents.
You should obtain a "prosecution/conviction history" from the Police National Computer (£10) and I also got a "criminal activities" record from my local police force (another £10).

Q. My family came by car and I flew, what do I claim for travel?
A. Nearly everything, but hotel costs en route cannot be claimed. The UK is more than 500km from Ispra, and if you will be a VS for more than 6 months, your family's travel is also covered. Car travel is paid at the "1st class rail-fare equivalent". However, you really, really should get a written cost of this fare from British Rail before you leave. Otherwise you will discover that in Italy you cannot get a proper fare quote: the JRC site travel agent is ineffective since they can only get a correct fare if they actually book a ticket: they quote 720,000 Lire (£244). The British Rail fare Cambridge-London (1st class), Eurostar London-Paris (1st class), Paris-Milan (2nd class sleeper) was actually £270-15. Milan-Ispra (2nd class) is 5,900 Lire. Mr. Dal Molin in Human Resources seems to have his own method for finding this fare: 446,600 Lire !! Note that if you actually travel to Ispra by train, it takes longer than a day and a couchette is obligatory - it also restricts which trains are actually feasible. Thus you cannot obtain some cheaper fares on specific trains. Circumvent all these hassles by getting a fare for a real journey written on BR headed notepaper or from a travel agent in the UK before you leave.

Accommodation

Q. Where will I live ?
A. There are 3 options: in a publically available apartment or villa, in a JRC-owned IACP flat, or in the JRC Foresteria-Fontanone-Residenza apartments next to the site.

Q. If I ask 'them' to arrange accomodation for me, where will they put me ?
A. In an apartment in theForesteria-Fontanone-Residenza area , next to the site. However they won't tell you that you have to sign a minimum of a month's contract for this on arrival and that you must give a month's notice before leaving. Neither will they offer to tell you how much it costs. This is a complete blind leap of faith on your part.

Q. How do I find out about public (non-JRC) apartments ?
A. The Ufficio Gestione Alloggi on the JRC site produces a list on the first of every month. Mrs. Ferrari speaks good english (+39 (332) 78-9675) and will send this to you if you ask. The last page of the list is an essential glossary in apartment-speak abbreviations.

Q. How do I find out about the JRC-owned IACP flats ?
A. You don't. It's a secret. They are administered by some combination of COPAS, the Human Resources dept. , the Social Office and the Ufficio Gestione Alloggi who don't tell you that they exist. Once you attend your induction meeting, you will be handed an induction-pack. In it are the official lists of JRC apartment vacancies in italian and english. These apartments seem to be mostly in Varese and have strict closing dates for applications. About 6 seem to become vacant every month. Perhaps they will send you these lists in advance if you ask for them, perhaps not. If not, it would be because they are only for JRC or Scuola Europea employees, not anyone who asks - even if they expect to become an employee.

Q. What are the JRC Foresteria-Fontanone-Residenza apartments ?
A. The Administrazione Foresteria administers these and it is on the first floor (primo) of one of the pink blocks - building 62 but you can't easily tell that because the block numbers are obscure. This administers the apartments (yellow and pink buildings) and little shacks/bungalows. All are in the same oak and pine wood at the side of the site on a hillside below the Club House . The cost is index-linked to your JRC salary. "The Fontanone complex takes its name from an aqueduct which until a few years ago crossed this area and comprises three types of accommodation: "Fontanone" detached bungalows, "Foresteria" terraced bungalows and "Residenza" and accommodation of Via Esperia, apartment blocks several stories high. "

Q. What accommodation is offered by the JRC Housing Service "Fontanone" ?
A. The housing service is run by DG IX and comprises:

All on the same wooded hillside plot on Via Fermi or Via Esperia between the JRC main entrance and the Club House. The Foresterie and Fontanone are now almost completely uninhabited - only one family remains in the Fontanone - and it appears that they are about to be renovated or bulldozed since they have suffered badly from damp. The IACP appartment blocks (A1, A2, A3 and A4) are all in the process of being completely rennovated in March 1998. The Housing Office often keeps appartments empty for months because they have been told by the JRC administration to expect a newcomer who then doesn't arrive.

Q. How many Residenza blocks are there ?
A. There are four Residenza blocks: two hold 2-bedroom (and 1 ?) appartments and two hold 3-bedroom (and 1 ?) appartments. Block 54/55/56 and block 58/59/60 have 2-bedroom appartments, each has three staircases. Blocks62 and 64 have 3-bedroom appartments. Block 62 also houses the Fontanone Housing Office office on the first floor.

Q. How many bungalows are there ?
A. The map shows 17 Fontanone bungalows and 9 terraces of Foresteries.

Q. How big are the JRC Residenza apartments ?
A. The newer Residenza (yellow buildings, 2 bedrooms) are approx. 75 square metres, including internal walls and semi-external cleaning space, but excluding balcony.

Q. What are the Residenza apartments like ?
A. They are hygenic, white-painted, high-ceilinged (3m), clean, recently-refitted appartments with complete but basic equipment and furnishings . Full bedding and towels are provided as is a free weekly washing service for them.

Q. How big is the Residenza kitchen ?
A. The kitchen has one table 800x1100mm and one worksurface 900mm wide. There is also 300mm of worksurface on one side and 150mm on the other side of the gas hob. There is a stainless steel sink and draining board. There are plenty of cupboards, a fridge and a freezer. The one and only electrical power socket is immediately behind the middle of the gas hob where it cannot be used without burning up the cable of any applience connected to it. There is a hidden power socket in the cupboard under the worksurface, but it has the fridge and freezer plugged in to it.

Q. How much do the Residenza cost ?
A. Much more than you expect from what they tell you the rent is. You will never complain about British Gas or your local Electricity Board again. The amount you pay (33. 4p/cu. m. ) for gas is about twice (+85%) what you will have been paying in the UK per cubic metre (17. 4p/cu. m. , including VAT in Cambridge) but you will use many more cubic metres because the Residenza apartments are apparently solid concrete and poorly insulated. The gas standing charge for a 2-bedroom appartment is also +45% of what you would pay for a 3-bed semi in the UK (including VAT). Your first month's bill will look like this (this is for December 1997, mostly mild weather, for an apartment occupied only 14 days):

(Your last month's bill is described later.) The flat cleaning charge is because they cleaned it before you moved in. All accommodation I have ever dealt with in the past charged this to the occupant who created the mess. Not so here. So, on your initial inspection when they walk round the flat with you, they are really saying "we are going to charge you £53 for cleaning this, do you agree?". So it is in your interest to refuse to accept it unless it is spotless, in particular, check the oven. My wife spent two hours on Christmas Eve cleaning the oven.
The Fixed charges include cleaning the stairwell, maintaining the grounds, emptying bins, administration, weekly change of towels and sheets. This is 100,000 for one person, 20,000 for each extra person.
The "tantum" is stated as being payable only on the first months rent. We think it's a tax of some sort.
The electricity standing charge is 15,925 L (£5. 49) per month. The gas standing charge is 5,950 L (£2. 05) per month (including IVA - value added tax). So the cost of electricity is 346. 5 L/kWhr (12p/kWhr) and the cost of gas is 969. 5 L/cu.m. (33. 4p/cu. m. ) including all the taxes. The bill does not report on the calorific content of the gas. The total standing charges for a year would be £90. 50 ! This is for a first-floor 2-bedroom apartment, 75 sq. m. in size, with occupied apartments above and on each side.

The Residenza are famous for having obscenely high gas bills compared to the UK. This is partly because of the taxes . The flats do feel warm in mild weather and but the floor of a first-floor apartment is always cold as it is solid concrete above an open walkway or unheated store-room. The meters are read by the JRC staff:

Rent is reviewed at the beginning of the year according to variations of the "ISTAT Life Cost Index".
The amministrazione send the bills to your office in the JRC instead of to the apartment itself. If you have not given them the exact correct address on the first day you arrive - which of course is when you probably do not know precisely where you will be working, the bill can languish in a cupboard somewhere for weeks.

Q. What is the real cost of gas ?
A. The Amministrazione Foresterie insulates you from the full horror of The Italian Gas Bill from Societa Generale Gas (Milan). When we got our own accommodation, the standing charge per month was 5,000 L. per month and the gas itself cost 448.7 L. /cu.m. (The calorific value of the gas is the same as in the UK: 38.456 MJ/cu.m.). Then there are the taxes... The first 25 cu.m has a low tax of 181 L./cu.m., the next step is 367 L./cu.m., then on top of everything (standing charge, cost of gas, earlier taxes) there is 20% IVA (i.e. VAT). The net result is that for us the tax rate was 100%: the bill was twice as much.

Q. Do they ever make a mistake in the bills ?
A. Yes. The May 1998 gas and electricity bills for the Residenza included all the consumption for April as well as for May, which had already appeared in the April bill. This was rectified in the bill for June. There was a similar mistake in March 1998 which was rectified in the bill for April. However, those who left the Residenza during these dates may still be owed money. The lesson is clear: read the meters yourself regularly.

A grant-holder emailed this to gha@jrc.it about the Residenza on 11 June 1998: Having received the bill for May, I was really surprised to see that I could have consumed more gaz and electricity than in March, even if I had switch off the heating and was away from Italy during almost two weeks in May. I have checked my consumption since I get into the flat in mid-february from the counters at the bottom of the batiment. My total consumption is 175 kwh and 234 m3 of methane, but for the same period I have been factured 227 kWh and 331 m3, which makes 52 kWh and 97 m3 more. Moreover, I was really surprised to see the mensual variations of the prices of the kWh of electricity and the m3 of gaz :

The prices for April look most suspicious! Morality : YOU WOULD BETTER CHECK YOUR BILLS AND IF NECESSARY COMPLAIN TO MR G. PINCHERLE, CHEF OF THE DIVISION DG IX/B.7 - ISPRA.

Q. What do you have to do to get a refund if you think you need one ?
A. >I wrote to Mr. Cobianchi on 21st September, and again on the 13th and 26th of October, and again (having received no replies) on 9th November:
"The calculations for the final bill for the Fntanone Apartment in March 1998 was incorrect. I paid 9.000 Lire too much. It should have been 1.910.910 not 2.080.910 Lire. (calculated incorrectly, see elsewhere for the story behind this). Please can you arrange to pay me the 90.000 Lire. Also, the Gas and Electricity readings for March see very high, they look as if the calculations included February's consumption by mistake: 288-137=151kWh and 196-102=94 cubic metres.

    Dec.97  Jan.98  Feb.98  Mar.98  
            
kWh   132 201 137 288 
cubic metres  202 210 102 196 

    Dec.97  Jan.98  Feb.98  Mar.98  
            
kWh   132 201 137 151 
cubic metres  202 210 102 94  

Q. What deposit do I have to pay for staying in the Residenza ?
A. 6 months stay or less, 1 month's rent. Up to one year, 2 month's rent. More than a year, 3 month's rent. Of course, you don't actually know how long you will be staying when you arrive. It appears to take the adminstration seven weeks to notice that you haven't paid any deposit, and more than 3 months before they notice that you haven't paid any rent.

Q. How do I pay the deposit for the Residenza ?
A. Just give them the cash: no, sorry, I'm joking; if only it were that simple. . . That would be too easy. What you have to do is:

1. Go to the bank (Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, JRC site branch) and tell them that you must open a "Libretto a Risparmio al Portatore" (savings booklet) for your rental deposit. This will cost you 20,000 L in state taxes.
2. Take the Libretto a Risparmio al Portatore to the cashier, Mrs. C. Rinaldin in Building 6 (which is inside the site, where your spouse is not allowed to go).
3. Mrs. Rinaldin will take it and give you a photocopy of it.
4. You then have to send the photocopy to Amministrazione Foresterie, TP 093.
5. When you depart, the Amministrazione Foresterie will give you a letter.
6. You have to take the letter to Mrs. Rinaldin in building 6. She gives you back the Libretto a Risparmio al Portatore.
7. You go to the bank and they give you the money and interest on it for the whole period. Presumably minus any bank charges.

Yes this does make logical sense, it is an improvement over handing them cash, and it is the only procedure (apart from its inverse, when you leave) which is provided in itemized form, clearly written in your own language.

Q. Are the Residenza apartments noisy ?
A. Yes. The solid-concrete walls and floors conduct baby crying, toddlers trundling trucks, clogs etc. very well, and since most inhabitants of the Residenza have babies, you are strongly advised to bring ear plugs with you. You can buy them in Boots in the UK.

Q. Why does the central heating suddenly stop working in the Residenza appartments and what do I do about it ?
A. There is always a slow pressure leak and when the pressure drops below 1.5bar, it stops working or will not re-start. Ask the Fontanone office and they will send someone round to turn the tap in your appartment to restore the pressure level.

Q. What are the monthly tariffs for furnished flats in 1997 ?
A. This depends on your salary. The basic Visiting Scientist salary is 5,500 ecu/month, i.e. 10,725,000 L./month.

In addition to rent, all accommodation has "expenses" of 100,000 L. per month, plus 20,000 L. per month for each person in the accommodation (not counting the first person) plus the monthly cost of electricity. (For zero income occupants of Foresterie's, the monthly expense is instead 150,000 L. plus a "final settlement" and no extra fee for additional occupants apparently.) For the Residenza the monthly cost of gas is also added on (cooking, hot water and central heating) but apparently the other accomodation has hat-water supplied by a central boiler.

Q. How long can I stay in the Housing Office accomodation.
A. The maximum stay allowed cannot exceed a total of two years. In addition, the following limits currently apply (since Auguat 1997):

Stagiaires can get another rental contract if they obtain Auxiliary Agent status. Auxiliary Agents' contracts can only be for a year before they become permanent staff or a temporary agent.

Q. How much do the JRC-owned IACP flats in Varese and elsewhere cost ?
A. They seem to be pretty cheap:in 1997 they are 190-370,000 per month + 160-300,000 per month "charges" for services (excluding electricity and garbage disposal, higher for the higher value flats). The Residenza charge a sliding scale depending on your JRC salary. However the stated policy is that IACP flats are for "people with social needs", i. e. low salary. As a Visiting Scientist this means they are unavailable to you unless there are no poor people asking for them when you ask and there is a vacancy.

Q. How responsive are the Fontanone administration for maintenance ?
A. Excellent. Two men known (unkindly but accurately) to the appartment residents as "Laurel and Hardy" will come round quickly. Both of them. They will be there to replace burned-out light bulbs in an hour or so. They will happily come round to check on your broken washing machine (no, it's meant to work like that, it does run at 400 rpm so yes, you do need to spin washing three times. Spinning once means you can wring it out afterwards). They may be responsive, but they have a rather precise view of their responsibilities: if they happen to replace a dead light-bulb with one of the wrong wattage, they will not change it as that is not their job.

Q. How much does other, non-JRC accommodation cost ?
A. More than you suspect. Note that in Lombardy, the "charges" are nearly as much as the rent, and can be higher.

Q. What is the postal address of the Residenza apartments ?
A. They don't tell you and it is not written on any of the paperwork. After 43 days we were still not sure of the postcode and address, we had been working from old circulars addressed to the former occupant. Once we got on top of the mountain of more urgent paperwork we got around to asking the administrazione what it was. [During 1998, the postal address beagn to be given to you when you signed the contract.]

Q. Does the post delivered to the Residenza on Via Fermi come direct from the Italian Post Office or via the JRC internal post ?
A. It appears to be delivered by a man on a Vespa who looks like a postman; not by a man in a JRC van..

Q. How do I arrange to get luggage delivered to my apartment in the Residenza ?
A. Be very careful. Despite explicit instructions to go to the Residenza and wait for you, the local delivery agent (e. g. UPS) is quite likely to go to the main JRC customs delivery entrance "Dogana"(which is not the main entrance) instead. This is near the railway level crossing on Via Fermi down towards Ispra. Your packages may be signed for by an anonymous JRC official and they will then stay in the goods-inward building until you collect them. This building is shut and unmanned on some afternoons and you may get no notification at all of where the luggage is or that it has not been left on a pavement somewhere and then stolen. This is from personal experience.

Q. How do I leave a Residenza apartment ?
A. Like this:

1. Tell the Amministrazion Foresteria immediately you are sure you are leaving and give them a note in writing saying the day you are moving out. If you are giving them less than a month's notice you will be charged a penalty for every day less than a month. The penalty is slightly but significantly less than it would cost to actually stay in the apartment. They will inform DG-IX in Building 66 of the details which will take a few days.
2. When you are moving out, take the satellite box back to the Amministrazion Foresteria. They will have prepared a letter for you to take to Mr.Cobianchi in building 66.
3. Go to Mr.Cobianchi in building 66, give him the letter: he will go to the next office and get your bank deposit book (for the satellite box) out from a safe and give it to you.
4. >Mr.Cobianchi will then bring up your details on his PC and print out your final bill. You need to give him a copy of the previous month's bill and a copy of the bank note that confirms that you paid it which he will xerox. If there is a error in the final bill on the PC Mr. Cobianchi may discover that the software is not designed to allow him to edit it at this stage, and despite telephoning the software supplier in Genova he will have to print it out and make changes on the paper using a pen, recalculating the total with a calculator (incorrectly as it turned out, see >previous horror story).
5. Take the final bill to the bank and pay it. Get the cashier to rubber-stamp the bill. (Do not cash in your satellite deposit book yet.)
6. Take the stamped bill and bank payment note back to Mr. Cobianchi. He will give you a letter saying that everything has been paid.
7. Take the letter to Mrs. Rinaldi in building 6. She or a colleague will get your apartment deposit book out of a safe and give it to you. If you organised this deposit less than 6 weeks ago, they may not yet have caught up with their filing and may have trouble finding your deposit book.
8. Finally take the two deposit books (apartment and satellite box) to the bank and close the savings accounts.

If you start the procedure at step 2 after 10:00, you run the risk of not finishing everything before the offices close for lunch (12:00). The bank, however, is open until 13:30.

The penalty is calculated so that for every day less than a month, you pay 1/30th of the plain rent (no charges, electricity or gas). The final bill may look like this (note the mistakes which had to be taken off):

Furnishing and Utilities

Q. Are apartments near Ispra furnished or unfurnished ?
A. Both, and what you get in each case is highly variable. The Foresteria Residenza apartments have beds, bedding, chairs, cooker, washing machine (400 rpm spin, no tumble-drier), knives & forks, plates, pans, glasses and a "free" (i. e. obligatory, included in rent) weekly laundry wash. The pans are a basic collection only. When you arrive, be very careful how many blankets you get out of the plastic wrapping: you will pay for all opened blankets to be cleaned when you leave.

Q. What is missing in an unfurnished apartment or house in Lombardy ?
A. It is not at all unusual for the entire kitchen to be missing: no cooker, no sink, no cupboards, no light fittings or light switches !

Q. How old are the Residenza ?
A. The Residenza buildings must be about 30 years old, but the apartments are fairly new: the solid aluminium window frames were manufactured in 1994. They were comprehensively rennovated at that time. ?

Q. What appliances are supplied in the Residenza ?
A. The appliances were replaced during rennovation and are therefore new but unfortunately very cheap. Bring a thermometer to check that the fridge thermostat is not broken: it should run at 4 degrees C on setting '3', not 10 degrees. A 3 drawer freezer is supplied. If you call out the Whirlpool repair man to complain that your fridge never gets below 10 C he will tell you that it is meant to operate like that. We haven't yet written to the Whirlpool factory public relations office in Varese but we intend to. The oven has a lethal spring and door handle designed to pinch your fingers. The heating element at the top of the oven is just where you put your hand when getting anything out, so you get a collection of burn scars on your knuckles. No phone is supplied, but a phone socket, TV arial socket and a satellite socket (installed January 1998) are.

Q. Where will I hire furniture or a TV ?
A. Unlike many countries, in Lombardy there is no hire market to speak of for anything except videotapes. Unlike the UK, you can't hire a TV or VCR. Unlike the USA, you can't hire furniture, crockery, cutlery or a microwave. There is no established jumble sale, thrift store or garage-sale system so it is difficult to buy second-hand goods (except for Mercatini ). The JRC Club House has a notice board for second-hand items and there are notice boards in the lobbies to the Mense (canteens) which are inside the site wire. The internal newsgroups jrc. private. goods. xxxx (. wanted, . forsale etc. ) are not used much. Few of the 1700 people on site seem to use netnews regularly.

Q. Can I bring my electrical appliances: TV and VCR from the UK ?
A. Yes, but the TV will only work with the VCR. Italian PAL B/G system is a different flavour from UK PAL I system, so you can get Italian TV broadcast pictures but no sound. See FAQ soc.culture.italian Part 7 for detailed comparisons of Italian and Californian appliances. Some of this is in italian though. The electrical supply is much more badly regulated than in the UK - the lights flicker and dim in a Residenza apartment every 20-30 minutes every evening (but computers and stereos cope). In many apartments in Lombardy (not the Residenza), you cannot run more than one of washing machine, dishwasher or any electric kettle at the same time.

Q. What completely unexpected habits should I attempt to acquire with respect to my electronic appliances?
A. Unplug from the mains electricity and outside antennae whenever you stop using the video or TV in Spring/Summer. This includes transformers: disconnect the lot. Disconnect everything (including phone) when you go away for a weekend. Lightning strike is common, dramatic and expensive. Repairing stuff is very, very time-consuming.

Q. Where can I get lightning-fried appliences fixed ?
A. After much trouble with other places, Studio Alpha in Varese can be recommended. They will also fix electronics made by companies they are not officially agents for. They are fairly quick and effective. They are in Via Brunico 106 (an alley off Via Brunico in fact, opposite Viale Coni Zugna which conntects Via Brunico with Viale Belforte), 21100 (Varese). 0332-332723 tel.

Q. Can I bring my PC, monitor, printer and modem from the UK ?
A. Yes, all will work immediately except the modem will need a different plug which you will have to rewire yourself. Italian phone sockets take mostly a 3-round-pin that looks like a medieval torture instrument. The pins are in an isoceles triangle: the symmetric left and right pins are arbitrarily wired (according to CCITT standards) andthe bottom pin is the earth. All modems have a 4-wire socket and most western european modems use the two inner wires (2 & 3) but UK modems use the two outer wires (1 & 4). Thus an italian modem or phone cable won't work in your UK modem. The 3-pin plug is easily rewired with just a screwdriver. The legality of attaching non-italian equipment to your phone probably changed on Jan.1st 1998 when EU telecoms were liberalised.

Italian modem & phone cable cores are brown, red, white and blue whereas UK cables are yellow, green, red and black. UK modems thus use the yellow and black cores.

If you have a white-slider socket and not a 3-pin socket, then I am told that you "need to use 1,3 instead of 2,3".

Q. Where do I buy a TV and VCR ?
A. The cheapest TV seems to be at the large "GS" supermarket in Casteletto Tichino just outside Sesto Calende, towards the west side of Lago Maggiore. VCRs can be bought at several shops in Besozzo. Both TVs and VCRs are likely to be Samsung and made in the UK (and sold for less than they cost in the UK).

Q. Can I get satellite TV in the Residenza?
A. Yes! Each block has two dishes which are wired into a special TV socket in each appartment. Assuming that you already have a working TV, the procedure is like this:

1. Go to the bank and open a savings account (Libretto di Risparmio) for 150,000 Lire - there is a fee of 20,000 Lire to do this.
2. Take the savings account booklet to the Amministrazione Foresteria and they will give you a satellite receiver box and cable.
3. Go back to your appartment and plug it in.

The box handles about 250 channels, most of which have some kind of reception. About half are encoded and require you to buy a decoder and pay a monthly fee. In March 1998 "open" channels in English included Sky News, CNBC, BBC World, CNN, Deutsche Welle (all news channels), Animal Planet , The Cartoon Network. There are vast numbers of German channels, quite a few Polish, French and Italian, one Japanese and a few Arabic. Apparently you can only get a decoder card for Sky Movies if you arrange it through a UK address as it is illegal to receive it ouside the UK.

Q. How do I stop the cupboards in the Residenza apartments making such a horrible crash when they slam ?
A. You need to do two things (a) adjust the hinges and (b) put something soft on the frame, e. g. a felt pad. You use a screwdriver (preferably cross-head) to slacken off the hinge fixture, then slide it so that there is half a millimeter greater gap between the door and the frame, then re-tighten.

Q. How do I get a telephone installed ?
A. If you are an "agent" or official of the Commission, then Mrs. Faber of DG IX (Building 66) will arrange everything for you. As a Visiting Scientist, you are supposed to do it yourself. However, the clerk at Telecom Italia speaks only Italian, and asks Mrs. Faber to help, which she does excellently. You need a xerox of your passport, a xerox of your codice fiscale certificate, a xerox of an electricity bill for the appartment from the Fontanone Amministrazione. (An electricity bill for another apartment for a different resident works!) You also need an Atesttato from Mrs. Rabossi of Human Resources in italian which states that you live in the Residenza and that you are a visiting scientist (with the dates of your appointment, your date and place of birth and nationality). You will already have got something like this from her for the Scuola Europea (in english), but this one is different.

Q. How much do phone calls cost ?
A. 127 Lire a Unit. Normal urban rate is 3min 40sec a unit. Calls to England cost 1,060 Lire the first minute and 585 Lire for successive minutes in office hours, which reduces to 1,020 and 530 Lire between 22:00 and 08:00. Moderately heavy normal use will be costing you 200-250,000 Lire a month for unit charges. Plus VAT at 20%. You will also be paying many and various other charges, all of which carry value added tax ("IVA").

Q. What other charges will I be paying for my phone ?
A. 200,000 Lire for your first connection "contributo impianti principali et part." even if a socket already exists in the apartment, plus 8,000 Lire "apparecchi addizionali: spese installazione" for a telephone, even if you already own one! Plus VAT. This will come on a special bill of its own.

Q. How much do I pay if I move house ?
A. If you move out of the foresteria to another house you will pay 100,000 Lire "spese di trasloco impianto". Plus VAT.

Q. Any other special charges ?
A. On your first regular bill after you first register and after you move house, you get two more special charges 42,800 Lire "Linea urbana categoria B: rateo canone" and 6,667 Lire "apparecchi telephonici: rateo canone". Plus VAT.

Q. What to I pay every month ?
A. You actually pay a bill every two months. The units for your calls "traffico effettuato" (between specified dates), 32,600 Lire line rental "linea urbana categoria B: canone bimestrale", phone rental 5,000 Lire "apparecchi telefonici: canone bimestrale di noleggio". Plus VAT.

Q. Any other regular charges ?
A. Every regular bimonthly bill carries a charge of 600 Lire "spese di spedizione fattura": the cost of sending you the bill. Plus VAT. Every bill also carries a rounding error correction which is carried forward to the next month to make the bill up to an integral number of thousands of Lire. This is called "arrotondamento attuale", and the carried forward amount from last month is "arrotondamento precedente".

Q. How do I pay the Telecom Italia telephone bill ?
A. You can either take it to the bank, do a transfer, and pay an extra 6000 L. fee, or take it downstairs to the Post Office and pay it there with no fee. The Post Office does not accept cheques, so take plenty of cash.

Q. So, should I sign up with Telecom Italia ?
A. No. Get a mobile phone which is no more expensive and may even be cheaper in all respects (but not so good for modems).

European School (Scuola Europae)

Q. Is there a standard school information pack that tells me the basic information and tells me what other information is available ?
A. No. You have to guess and ask specifically for each item of information that you can think of. Even then, and even for some information that already exists in written form (e. g. books list), they will not send it to you however many times you ask.

Q. How do I talk to the school ?
A. Don't use the phone numbers in the yellow (blue) information booklet , they are out of date. The only numbers you will get a response on are +39 (332) 806111 tel. and +39 (332) 283782 fax. Neither of these numbers is in the booklet.

Q. What school books do I need to buy for my children ?
A. They will not tell you in advance. However many times you ask, by phone and by fax. , they refuse. Their system is that the lists are given directly from the individual teachers to the pupils when they arrive. All pupils have a "second language" teacher who is different from the class teacher and may have another list of books. The school secretariat do not collate and distribute these lists to parents. It may be possible to get the name of the class teacher for your child from the secretariat and you could then write to the teacher directly, but we have not tried this. The books required are, of course, english text books most easily acquired in England. The illogical nature of this way of operating seems does not seem to be appreciated by the European School.

Q. Where is the European School ?
A. The European School exists primarily for EU employees at Ispra and is "therefore" situated 40 minutes drive away in north Varese. This is really stupid. There used to be an annexe at Brebbia but it is no longer used - despite what it says in the yellow (blue) information booklet. Children as young as 6 have to take this journey by school bus. The school will tell you its address (118 Via Montello) but does not supply any map to tell you where that street is in Varese. The Varese website has very bad street maps which do not show it. There is a large toy shop close to the school and it is not far from the stadium. The school is marked on the Varese town map but the street plans for the school area given in the various maps diasagree: Via Montello is shown as disconnected at the west end when in fact it is a through road (though very steep and twisty).

Q. Is there a school bus ?
A. There are lots, and the school will fax you a schedule and price list if you ask. However there are no sketch maps to show you where the bus stops are. Most small towns around Ispra (including Ispra) have no obvious centre and have a complex street plan (on a hill) so finding the bus stop is hard. The rule that only children are allowed on the bus is strictly enforced, so you cannot accompany your child on the first day. Since you don't know where the school is, the only thing to do is to follow the bus in a car on the first day. If you don't have a car, getting to the school from the JRC takes about 3 hours by public transport (including changes and waits). There are no seat belts on the school buses and many parents are concerned about this, especially for the 6-year olds.There are bus monitors (usually the eldest child on the bus) and a perennial problem is bullying/"inappropriate behaviour" by children who are temporarily monitors.

Q. How do I book a bus place for my child ?
A. You just tell the school which bus route you want and at which stop your child will board. You must decide on this when when you don't know where you will be living or where the busstop is; otherwise your child will not have a reserved place and when you try to put them on the bus on the first day, there may be no room for them, i. e. you can't do this in advance.

Q. Do the school buses have seat belts ?
A. No. One parent at least began to investigate the possibility of buying removable selt-belts and giving the bus monitors (other school children) the responsibility to see that their child used it properly.

Q. Are there any school fees for children of Vising Scientists ?
A. No "fees", but there are "charges" which are not explained or even listed before you arrive with your child. You will get a constant stream of unannounced and unexpected bills from the school, e. g. "50,000 Lire: Fotocopie".

We have received an Aviso di Pagamento for the school year up to a specific date (i.e. it is not for the whole school year):

Child 2 (P1 English)
27.000 Assicurazione
120.000 Nuoto (Swimming)
20.000 Fotocopie

Child 1 (P3 English)
27.000 Assicurazione
32.000 Fogli di matematica
20.000 Fotocopie

Q. Do we have to pay for the bus ?
A. If you work at JRC, maybe. Circolare AG/cd 93/97 (27 June 1997) from Il Presidente, Cooperativa Gestione Transporti Alunni Scuola Europae Varese, clearly states: "per i figli dei genitori del CCR e della Scuola frequentanti il ciclo primario e secondario il pagamento sara' effecttuato direttamente dal CCR e dalla Scuola". That would appear to be unambiguous, but they will still send you the form requesting bus fares (which can be £645 a year per child, including VAT at 20%) because they send that form to everybody even though they know from all the other forms that you filled in that you work at the CCR.

You may get some way along the process of arranging to pay them before you discover that you are exempt if you did not understand the italian in circolare AG/cd 93/97. The rule which decides who is exempt is not publicised. 3 months after arriving at Ispra we still did not know for certain if Visiting Scientists' children have to pay for the bus or if Il Presidente's letter was correct. We had not paid, and we received a letter giving us an extra charge of 20,000L. for non-payment. Eventually, in the middle of the 4th month, the Human Resources department at the JRC told us that the "Education Allowance" covered the school bus and was described in the JRC offical regulations (which as a Visitng Scientist you do not get). This allowance is only given to statutory staff, so Visiting Scientists do have to pay for the school bus.

Q. What do I have to provide to register a child with the school?
A. 1. birth certificate (original, not copy), 2. Vaccination certificates or letter from doctor listing vaccinations. 3. medical certificate of fitness to attend school (or letter from doctor), 3. copy of health insurance policy, 4. last school report, 5. certificate of employment from JRC for parent, 6. passport photo of child. After you get to the school they will then additionally ask for a 'fitness for sports' certificate ( certificato di stato di buona salute ) to say that the child is fit to attend games and to go swimming, which will entail you paying money to a local doctor unless you get such a letter from your UK doctor first. It probably helps if you get your doctor in the UK to write 3 separate letters: vaccination history, fit for school, fit for games. Note that you are entitled to free health care in Italy since 1978 but the European School hasn't realised this yet.

Q. What vaccinations are required ?
A. Kindergarten/nursey children must have Hepatitis B vaccination: this is mandatory in Italy otherwise children are not allowed to attend. The full course of 3 jabs takes 6 months (so prepare well before you go!) but they allow children in who have had the first 2.

Q. Can the Scuola Europea doctor do the 'fitness for sports' certificate ( certificato di stato di buona salute ) ?
A. Yes. The child of another visiting scientist who started in December 1997 was examined in this way: the school sent the mother a bill, which she paid. The doctor returned her money with a note to say that this was part of his job and that there was no charge. The school then sent another letter requesting payment, the mother paid again, the doctor again returned her money. That was the state of play at the end of February 1998.

Q. How do I buy school books in English in Italy ?
A. The school parents association runs a book ordering system but apparently there is no second-hand book market. Contact Mrs. Thomas or Mrs. Garcia (tel. or fax. +39 (332) 978393). The school parents association also has an office onthe JRC site on Mondays and Thursdays, 08:30-12:30 only (in Building 1, which is the entrance block itself and so accessible from outside the site). Alternatively, try www. heffers. co. uk , www. bookpages. co. uk etc. Note that the Ginn "Reasons for Writing" coursebooks and anthologies are not easily purchased from bookshops except in multi-packs (6 or 30); so get these from Mrs. Thomas. There is a long lead time in buying books through the parents association.

Q. What are the books for Primary 1 (English) in 1997/8 ?
A. You only buy the French books if you select French as "language 2".
0199104212 My First Oxford Dictionary, OUP.
0003005070 Catchwords 1 "Yellow", Collins.
0174244231 New Nelson Handwriting 1 Pupils' Book, Nelson.
? Oxford Read 1, Oxford Reading Tree, OUP.
2190335000 Il etait . . . une petite grenouille 1. Livre de l'eleve. Cle International. (2190320100 ?)
2190335019 Il etait . . . une petite grenouille 1. activities. Cle International.
0521569931 Stage 1 Playtime Recorder course, CUP.

Q. What are the books for Primary 2 (English) in 1997/8 ?
A. You only buy the French books if you select French as "language 2".
0199104212 My First Oxford Dictionary, OUP.
Catchwords 2 "Blue", Collins.
New Nelson Handwriting 2 Pupils' Book, Nelson. £2.50
0199160503 A Very First Poetry Book, OUP. £3.99
0602254523 Reasons for Writing, Stage 1, coursebook, Ginn. £4.99
0602254566 Reasons for Writing, Stage 1, anthology, Ginn. £4.75
Those taking a religion instead of Moral Studies have to buy this:
014. 034448. 9 The Puffin Children's Bible, Penguin. £7.99

Q. What are the books for Primary 3 (English) in 1997/8 ?
A. You only buy the French/German books if you select French/German as "language 2". Mathematics and Moral Studies texts are supplied as photocopies.
0199103038 Oxford Junior Dictionary, OUP.
0199103224 Oxford Childrens' Thesaurus, OUP.
0602256836 Exploring Language Year 3 Pupils Book, Ginn.
0602256887 Exploring Language Year 3 Workbook Book, Ginn.
0602254523 Reasons for Writing, Stage 2, coursebook, Ginn.
0602254566 Reasons for Writing, Stage 2, anthology, Ginn.
0174244258 New Nelson Handwriting 3 Pupils' Book, Nelson.
2190335159 Il etait . . . une petite grenouille 2. Livre de l'eleve. Cle International.
2190335175 Il etait . . . une petite grenouille 2. lecture. Cle International.
2190335183 Il etait . . . une petite grenouille 2. ecriture. Cle International.
88. Eli. Facile C'est facile (Revue) Eli.
3411045817 Das Duden Bildwoerterbuch f. Kinder, Dudenverlag
3885323400 Deutsch mit Peter und Petra, Band I, Verlag f. Deutsch
88. Eli. Fertig Fertig Los-Fremdsprachen Comic GS Eli
019831833. 2 The Oxford First Atlas (hardback), OUP
019831842. 1 Oxford First Atlas activity book, OUP
Those taking a religion instead of Moral Studies have to buy this:
014. 034448. 9 The Puffin Children's Bible, Penguin. £7.99

Q. How much do the text books cost for a child in Primary 3 (English) ?
A. £92, including the cost of photocopies for mathematics, but excluding exercise books, stationary etc.

Q. Are school lunches provided ?
A. Yes, at a price. They are available all days but usually only taken by children who will be at school in the afternoon. Primary 3 and older get a choice at a canteen, younger children are served sitting down. Older shildren get water to drink and the younger ones can have milk instead. On days when most children leave at 13:00, parents can take lunches with their children if they want to spend the afternoon in Varese. Children also take lunches even on half days if they are attending after-school activities of various sorts.

Q. How much do school lunches cost ?
A. Lunches cost 5,000 L. per day for Primary 1 & 2, 5,700 L. for Primary 3 and older. The school will give you a form with all the dates highlighted that your child will take lunch and the total clculated. They ask you to pay by cheque or directly to one of two bank accounts - but the names of the children must be written on the cheque so that they know who has paid. Just take the form the school gives your to the bank and they will fill out the transfer form for you to sign.

Q. Which year will my child be in ?
A. Tricky. The school year begins on 1st September, but which year your child is in depends on the birthday relative to 1st January. If your child is born in Sep. -Dec. , he or she will be in with younger children than would be the case in the UK (or almost anywhere I have heard of). There is a "scale" of previous education which means that your child may be better placed in the year above that which the Scuola Europae would normally put him/her; this "scale" exists mostly because children start school earlier in the UK than they do most countries. This is especially true of year Primary 1 (English) which includes all the Scandinavians where some children do not know the alphabet and others from the UK can have had 1 year of nursery education and 2 years and 1 term of full-time primary education. (In some areas of the UK children start school at the beginning of the school year in which they become 5. )

Q. How can I arrange for my child to study Italian as a 2nd, 3rd, or even 4th language ?
A. You can't apparently but can in fact. Italian is not one of the languages taught at the Scuola Europea. Send your child to a local Italian school instead. However, although it is not available as 'a language', Italian is in fact taught in "international hour" which occurs regularly in Year 3 and older.

Q. What stationary and art equipment do I need to provide for a child in Primary 1 (English) ?
A. A shoe box for art materials, a pinafore or coverall to wear, a small box of wax crayons, three lead pencils, a few coloured felt-tip pens, some coloured pencils, a pencil sharpener, a 30cm ruler, a pair of scissors without points that cut easily. A school diary with durable cover. Also 4 A4 folders: envelope type and a recorder (musical instrument). Everything to be clearly labelled with the child's name.

Q. What swimming clothing do I need to provide for a child in Primary 1 (English) ?
A. Swimming is arranged every two weeks (excluding holidays). Please bring a swimming cap, costume, flip-flop shoes, towel (or bathrobe) all in a bag. .

Q. What physical education clothing do I need to provide for a child in Primary 1 or 3 (English) ?
A. A sports bag to put it in, a T-shirt, a pair of shorts, indoor shoes for gymnastics, outdoor shoes for sports, a track-suit top or jumper. Everything to be clearly labelled with the child's name.

Q. What stationary and general equipment do I need to provide for a child in Primary 3 (English) ?
A. A packet of 10 HB pencils, one ink pen or fine felt-tip pen. A small packet of good quality couloured felt-tip pens. 30cm ruler, eraser and pencil sharpener. Paper glue (stick form, e. g. Pritt). Adhesive labels (for labelling everthing), a name-stamp if you have one. Tracing paper. A4 plastic sleeves for holding papers. Two A4 copy books (exercise books) with durable covers. A4 block of lined paper. A4 block of squared paper. One 2-ring binder for EuroMath photocopies. A school diary with durable cover. Everything to be clearly labelled with the child's name. "Please do not buy your children large elaborate pencil cases or sets of felt-tip marker pens as they treat them as toys and waste time in class playing with them. " (Mac Aodhain, teacher).

Q. What is "a school diary" and why do they need it ?
A. This is any current diary. In Italy it is used as the main means of communication between parents and teachers: the teachers write notes to you in it, and you write things for hte teacher in it, e. g small children are put on the bus after school by their teacher but if you want to change the bus number or collect your child yourself one day, you write it in the diary. Anything bigger than a pocket diary would appear to do.

Q. What is a 'class rep' ?
A. Every class has one or two of these. They appear to be a parent (mother) of a child in the class. She is someone who takes some responsibility for helping the class teacher in organisational matters such as collecting money and distributing textbook lists.

Q. There is a lot of modern language teaching; are the teachers properly trained in teaching their own language "as a foreign language"?
A. No. For an English child, taking German or French as second language, they just get taught by the equivalent year teacher for the German or French stream. Unless your child starts at the first year of the school, he or she will be severely behind and not understand at all what is going on. The teacher probably cannot or will not speak anything other than German (or French) in that lesson. It is profoundly dispiriting, depressing and upsetting for the children.

Q. What "catch-up" teaching is provided in second language for the children ?
A. None. 9 months after the children started lessons, and almost a year after our first enquiries, we got a copy of the "General Rules of the European School (printed Sept. 1996 - 3 years previously). Article 61 states:
If a child's knowledge of a modern language is poor or non-existent because his former school foillowed a different programme, the parent or guardian shall undertake to send him to remedial courses, preferably any courses of this kind organized under the aegis of the School.
So not only are the teachers not trained, not only is there no provision whatsoever for children who do not start from scratch, but it's your fault!

Q. Who is responsible for the European School ?
A. Mr. Pedro de Miguel. DG IX, European Schools, Head of Unit. Rue de la Loi 200, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium. I got his full address and telephone details from the Europa website.

Bank and Accounts

Q. What bank accounts should I set up ?
A. You have to have an account at the site bank, a branch of Banco Nazionale di Lavoro (BNL). You can have a Lire account and, if you want, an ecu account. You can have your salary paid entirely into only one of these and you must decide the day you arrive at the JRC which it will be. If you get paid in ecu, you must tell the bank to transfer some money to the Lire account every month yourself without fail. The transfer between accounts apparently cannot be set up automatically and it takes 2-3 days. You need Lire to live on and to pay any automatic bills e. g. for rent.

Q. Is the bank any good ?
A. It depends on what you expect. The official site bank operates as if it were a branch of the civil service in the 1950s; not a commercial institution. It does not freely offer you anything or even try to sell you anything. If you want something, you will have to ask. Even if it is patently obvious that because you asked for one thing you will need another, it is not offered. You have to ask again explictly. The bank likes to think that a bank account is for sharing: you put the money in and the bank then shares it with you. There are an extraordinary number of charges and fees, and they are not small either.
In November 1998 my wife witnessed the following: A customer comes in and approaches a teller and says, in Italian, "Did you know that the bancomat machine outside is not working", the teller ignores her - pointedly. The woman repeats the question. The teller continues to ignore her. The woman is aghast, as are other customers. The teller stalks off in a huff.

Q. Can I have a bank account in two names ?
A. Yes, but only if both people are present, with their passports, when the account is set up which will almost always be the day you first report for work.

Q. Can I set up an account before I register in person at the JRC ?
A. No, unless you already have an Italian Finance Ministry Codice Fiscale or you have managed to get the JRC to send it to you in advance.

Q. How do I send money from the UK to Italy in advance of coming myself ?
A. You can't unless you have an Italian bank account already (see previous faq item). There is no way to send money from the UK to your JRC account Italy before you arrive in person. Use a UK ATM bank card to get Lire from your UK current account when you arrive instead.

Q. Can I send money back home at a profitable exchange rate ?
A. No. This seems to be a perk of statutory staff only: they can send money back to their home country with no charge and an exchange rate fixed at the beginning of the year. This means that on average, they can make a profit doing this by changing it back again to Lire about half the time.

Q. How long does it take to set up an account ?
A. Hah. You might expect that having done the paper work, you would get confirmation, initial statement, bank card etc. in the post. No, you get nothing unless you ask for it. After some time waiting (5 weeks in my case) you can personally ask and they will give you a cheque book but no other papers. You can then ask if they will give you a bancomat card and they will get you to fill out two forms (which I know I already did on first arrival) and tell you to come back in 5 days to collect your card. They do not offer you any any credit card unprompted. You get a separate statement for transactions for each Bancomat card, even if you have two operating from the same account.

Q. How do I add my spouse as a co-user of my account after it is set up
A. Your spouse will need an Italian Finance Ministry Codice Fiscale which the JRC will not offer to do for you. (Apparently they will do it for you if you specifically ask for it in advance.)Your spouse will have to go to the office in Gavirate to get it in person . Then both of you go to the bank, with your spouse's codice fiscale and passport, fill out a form and both sign. It's done.

Q. How do I get a card to get money out of an ATM (automated teller machine)?
A. You ask for a Bancomat card and they give you a form. For your spouse to get a bancomat card (two cards for the one Lire account), you fill out two forms and wait 5 working days. Go back after 4 working days and ask. You may well find that that they eventually find the application form at the bottom of a 10cm thick pile of paper (we did). Thus going a day earlier serves to kick them into action. The money comes from your Lire account. Each card has a different number and you get a statement for each card showing just the debits for that card. The ordinary bank statement comes every 3 months it seems. You can request a statement every month. This probably coists extra (everything seems to).

Q. How do I get a credit card ?
A. You ask and they give you a form. They are somewhat surprised that you should want such a thing. You have a choice of Mastercard or Visa. The form is long, technical and in Italian. It has 56 fields to be filled in. Credit cards and bancomat cards appear to be done by a company called "Topcard" in association with BNL. This is perhaps not surprising as BNL is one of 2000 italian banks. The first card (Visa) costs 50,000 Lire and a second costs 30,000 which is charged to your first statement. Your first statement will also have a debit of 2,000 Lire "spese estratto conto". This will be automatically debited from your Lire account.

Q. What is a Codice Fiscale ?
A. A little bit of card issued offcially by the Italian Ministero delle Finanze (Gavirate office) but actually given to you when you register on your first day at the JRC. Your numero di codice fiscale is a "number" of the form "SSS PPP 54M01 Z444K" where SSS is a 3-letter abbreviation of your surname, PPP your forename, 54 the year of your bith, M a letter denoting your birthmonth, 01 if you were born on the first of the month, and Z444K: some other letters and numbers. It will be dated some days before, whenever you had replied "yes" to the official invitation to take up a post at the JRC and the JRC internally sets up your JRC employee number. After 5 weeks or so you get a plastic card that has the same information as the little bit of card but also has a space for your signature.

Q. How do I get a Codice Fiscal e ?
A. If the JRC have not got one for you, go to the office in Gavirate to get it in person. The office is the "Ufficio Distrettuale Imposte Dirette" at 3 Via Largo Rodari, Gavirate tel. (0332) 743076 up the steps opposite the Unes supermarket's car park on the corner of the road to Laveno and Varese. The office sign on the building actually says "Uffici Finanzari". For issuing Codice Fiscale, the office is open Monday to Friday 09:00-12:00 only. They issue a Codice Fiscale over the counter, there and then, if presented with a passport. .

Q. What is the official designation of the site bank if I want to transfer money there from outside Italy ?
A. Banco Nazionale di Lavoro: "AB1 01005", Ispra branch: "CAB 50340". A UK bank will tell you that they need a 5-digit bank number, a 5-digit branch number and a 12 digit account number (with various dashes and spaces in it). The Italian branch has never heard of 12-digit numbers, they use 6-digit numbers (see next).

Q. Where are the nearest branches of BNL and BNL ATMs ?
A. It is important to know this as you get charged 3000L. for each ATM cash withdrawal you make from a non-BNL machine. There are branches at the JRC, in Varese and Gallerate (halfway to Milan). There are 2 ATMs at the JRC, one outside the wire on the outside of the bank office, the other inside the lobby to the "old" mensa (cafeteria).

Q. How do I send money from Italy home ?
A. You ask and they give you a form which is in both Italian and English. You write out the details and give it to them. Tick the box to record a "details number" so that in future you just need to quote that number to send money without having to fill out all the details each time.

Q. How do I transfer money from my ecu account to my lire account ?
A. You use a similar form to that used to transfer money out of Italy (see previous item). .

Q. What do bank account numbers look like ?
A. Accounts at all Italian banks are 6 digit numbers (with leading zeros) apparently in sequence as the account is set up. Lire accounts at the JRC branch were nearly in the 900,000s and ecu accounts are nearly in the 12,000s in December 1997.

Q. My Bancomat card has a "FastPay" logo on it, can I use it to pay motorway tolls if the booth displays the "FastPay" logo too ?
A. Do not be misled by the name of the bank (Banco Nazionale di Lavoro) into thinking that it is a national bank. You can pay with it leaving the motorway at the Vergiate exit, but you cannot pay with it leaving at the motorway exit at Chatillion in the Aosta Valley. It seems to operate only roughly in line of site from the JRC. This happened every time we went to the Aosta valley; we asked the toll-booth operator and she said that BNL had not paid its licence fee for FastPay for that region.

Q. How do I change my address for statements etc.?
A. Go in the bank and fill out a form. Note that this does not change the address that the VISA credit card statements are sent to. Come in on another occasion and ask them to change the address for your credit card: there is no form, they do it using a computer terminal. Alternatively use the change of address form on your credit card statement.. .

Q. What should I do if my bank statements don't arrive ?
A. This is quite important. You really, really should go into the bank and change the address. This usually happens after you move, when you have given them the new address, and they have continued to use the old one. This is not so easy to detect as you might think since the statements are often late anyway. You really must get this sorted out as soon as possible because they cannot re-do statements later. This especially applies to statements when you close the account. I have a "hole" in my Lire statements of 3 months when I have no record whatsoever of what happened, and no closing statement (despite asking them repeatedly, in writing). You cannot work out what has happened from other records because there are so many "spese" (charges) for various things.
When closing your account, under normal circumstances you get a double charge, account expenses and closing expenses!

Q. What happened when the Lire became a denomination of the Euro?
A. A charge was applied to all the Grant Holders illegally. There was a (legal) charge of 18.33 Euro (Italian state charge) but the bank then levied another illegal charge of 15 Euro:
"The news for all of us is that whatever your ECU balance was at time of closing, it should all be transferred to your lira/euro account except for ITL 6125, which is gov. taxes. Any other charges (I had one for 15 ECU and another for ITL 5000, both justified as unspecified "spese") should be refunded to you."
"I asked "il signor direttore" if this could be done automatically for everybody, but he said that no, the mess is theirs and the hassle yours. So if you had any other charges aside from the ITL 6125, whenever you happen to be at the bank for whatever reason, tell them about the extra charges and ask for refund. For those who care about "valuta", when reversing the charges you should be credited the amount with the same date as the account closing date, and not the current date."
However, some people were refused the refund. ANd people who had left the JRC did not get it at all.

Q. Why are there all these fees, can I avoid them ?
A. Yes! (Maybe). I heard this story: "A colleague told me that it is possible to have an account at the BNL which costs no (??!) fees. Okay, with a grant holder salary we can accept to get no interest...
I went to the bank and asked. The lady said: 'Oh, you want to have a "conto famigliare". Hmmmm. Hmmmmm. Okay. Sign this sheet. Arrivederci!' No information. Nothing."

Insurance

Q. Do I need health insurance ?
A. It is a written requirement on the application form that you, as a visiting scientist, have health and accident insurance, and they will not process your application without it. However, many grades of employee are actually covered by the Italian national insurance system though you are not told this before you arrive. Visiting scientists are not covered.Note that you are entitled to free health care in Italy since 1978 but the JRC hasn't realised this yet.

Q. Can I buy skiing accident insurance cover if I arrive at an Italian ski resort by car ?
A. Not in Cervinia. You can get everything else (equipment hire, accommodation, lift-pass) but not accident insurance. That's what the Cervinia Ski School says.

Tax, National Insurance and National Health

Q. What is the official definition of a Visiting Scientist post ?
A. Visiting Scientist positions are defined in "Commission Decision 85/593/Euratom of 20 November 1985, as ammended by Decision 93/95/Euratom and in particular Article 3(2) thereof". However, the UK Inland Revenue cannot use this information apparently as it means nothing to them.

Q. What is the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities ?
A. Chapter 5 of this sets out the tax and social security status of Commission employees. The UK Inland Revenue has an Explanatory Note explaining Article 14: Bootle sent me a copy. This states (para 6) that "the Article does not affect the treatment of Community pay and emoulements, which remain exempt from UK tax." which is in Article 13.

Q. As a visiting scientist at Ispra, will I pay UK income tax on my JRC salary ?
A. It is exceedingly difficult to get a straight "yes" or "no" answer to this question even though the JRC gets several UK visiting scientists every year. Three months of intense questioning to the Human Resourses Dept. did not result in any direct answer to this question, just a repetition of Article 11 of the Visiting Scientist Guidelines. It seems to depend on your personal situation though the Human Resources Dept. does not even tell you this in plain words.

Q. Do Commission officials pay UK income tax ?
A. No. "Commission officials" are explicitly exempt in UK law from UK income tax wherever they are employed and for whatever period as their salaries are considered to be "euro-income tax pre-paid".

Q. Do non-official ("non-statutory") Commission employees pay UK income tax ?
A. Only if they are out of the UK for less than a year. Any non-exempt employee is liable to pay UK income tax if they are "ordinarily resident" in the UK. By UK law, Commission employees who are UK nationals (possibly including visiting scientists, perhaps not - I did not get a definitive answer to this until more than a month after I finished being a Visiting Scientist), are considered to be ordinarily resident in the UK wherever in the EU they work. However, even if you are liable, and even if you are ordinarily resident in the UK, you still do not pay UK tax if you live outside the UK for a "qualifying period" of 365 days: which called the Foreign Earnings Deduction (FED). You can visit for brief periods; the precise definition of "qualifying period" for the FED is defined in UK leaflets IR58 and IR20 (all leaflets are now on the web). Note: the FED was eliminated on March 17th, 1998.

Q. What question should I ask of the Human Resources department to find out whether a Visiting Scientist is a statutory official or not ?
A. ' I know that "a visiting scientist shall comply with national tax laws applicable to him..." (Visiting Scientist Guidelines. Article 11, para.2). What I am trying to find out is how> the UK national tax laws apply to me. The question is: is a Visiting Scientist 'an official or other servant 'of the Community or not? That is, is a Visiting Scientist treated the same as other employees at JRC ? This is easy to determine. If Human Resources issue "written confirmation (normally in the form of a certificate" (see attached letter) to UK nationals working at Ispra as Officials, but do not issue such certificates to UK nationals working as Visiting Scientists, then that would be clear.' However, I received no letter answering this question this question and it was only after I arrived in Ispra that I discovered and was then told verbally that visiting scientists are indeed non-statutory.

Q. OK, is a JRC visiting scientist an exempt "Commission official" ?
A. You will not be told this in advance, however many time you ask. There is, however, indirect evidence. Your site pass does not have a european flag symbol on it and says "NON-DIPENDENTE" ("non employee") in capital letters on a yellow background. When arriving and registering, one of the dozens of forms you must sign says you are a "non statutory" employee but no explanation will be given. My repeated requests before coming to Italy to the Human Resources department for the tax exemption certificate (required by the UK Inland Revenue office) had no response whatsoever, not even a refusal: 'Please can you confirm to me, in writing, that the position of Visiting Scientist is "subject to Community Tax for the benefit of the Communities" ?'. 45 days after starting work I got a certifying letter from Human Resources which states that Visiting Scientists are not officials of the Community.

Q. OK, so a Visiting Scientist is not an "official", but is he an "other servant"?
A. This was still an open question with no official answer backed by legal decision or regulation. The UK Inland Revenue appeared to think so, but were in the process of checking. They were somewhat surprised that they are the ones who need to check this..

Eventually, after complaining to the Ombudsman - and nearly 16 months after my first query, I was informed that the status of who is an "official or other servant" is written in the "Conditions of Employment" for statutary staff. These "Conditions" are not given to Visiting Scientists (of course - because Visiting Scientists are not employees) and the Human Resources Department at JRC who look after Visiting Scientists did not know that this was where the information that I wanted resided. (Despite having these Conditions themselves personally, since they are all, of course, statutory employees...)

Q. What happens if you ask the Ombudsman to help you ?
A. This happens:

• Original complaint
• Acknowledgement
• Formal response from Commission via Ombudsman
• My reply
• Judgement from Ombudsman

Note that the Ombudsman is part of the Euroepean Commission.

Q. Where do I get authoritative advice from the UK tax office ?
A. From the Inland Revenue in Bootle, Merseyside: (0)151-472-6000 who will then refer you to your local tax office. Neither have ever heard of JRC visiting scientists and have no idea whether their rules for commission employees apply to you. Issues of this type are never properly answered by phone. Instead you must write to your local IR tax officer for a written reply to specific questions. Look in the UK phone book for the address. Allow 3 weeks for a reply.

Q. How does my UK pension system work when I am in Ispra ?
A. Well before you leave the UK, write to your local inspector of taxes to ask if you can continue to pay regualr pension contributions while you are abroad. This is necessary if you are "opted out" because you will be getting a UK contribution to your private pension. It is possible to just leave the matter entirely and pay it all in a lump sum when you get back to the UK. Your private pension scheme (e.g. Norwich Union) may well need to be re-started with a new policy simply becaue you are out of the UK (mine did), and your pension advisor may not know this until they actually tell the pension scheme operator. So give them lots of notice and prompt them regularly until they check properly.

Q. What happens if you write to your local tax office for advice ?
A. This (my italics):

Our ref. 126/1169/f/pjb, Date: 5 November 1997
Inland Revenue Cambridge, Block A
Government Buildings, Brooklands Avaneue, Cambridge CB2 2DT
+44 1223 462656 x6035 tel.
+44 1223 456083 fax. Office Services

Dear Sir,
Thank you for your letter of 20 October 1997.

I enclose booklet IR20 which gives general information on income taxable in the UK.

Detailed below is the procedure you have to follow to claim exemption from UK tax on your income from the European Communities Laboratories if it is covered by the exemption.

'Officials' and 'other servants' of the Communities are exempt from national (including United Kingdom) taxes on salaries, wages and emoluments and pension paid to them by the Communities. These are instead liable to a tax for the benefit of the Communities ('Community tax') which is deducted at source by the Community body which makes the payment. To obtain this exemption you need to submit written confirmation (normally in the form of a certificate) by the Community body that you are an 'official or other servant' and your emoluments are subject to Community tax for the benefit of the Communities. If certification in these terms is provided by the appropriate Personnel Section, then it exempts the official emoluments from UK tax.

The original reference to the Article is in the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities, 1965. In regard to visiting scientists decision I have been unable to find any reference except that the exemption may be extended to new Community bodies from time to time. You will need to contact DSS regarding NI contributions.

Yours sincerely, PJA Birch.

Q. Will I be entitled to the Foreign Earning Deduction ?
A. This UK facility (FED) means that if you are ordinarily resident in the UK but are outside the UK for a "qualifying period" of 365 days, you pay no tax for income earned outside the UK during that period. The FED was cancelled with immediate effect on Budget Day (March 17th) 1998, but anyone abroad at the time would be able to claim FED exemption on money received in their hands up to March 17th so long as they stayed out the whole 365 day period (which allows various 1/6 rules for brief visits to the UK) - but that is a non-official advice. It is possible that the 365-day period may have to have finished by March 17th 1998.

Q. What if my visiting scientist position runs from April 1st to March 30th ?
A. In this case you are not resident in the UK even if you are ordinarily resident, so long as you don't return before April 6th (this may be incorrect: you may need to be in foreign employment until after April 6th) and do not spend even a single day in the UK in that year. Theoretically you would be subject to Italian income tax, not UK income tax, but the JRC des not concern itself with things like that.

Q. Do I have to pay Italian income tax ?
A. (Does anyone?) The Human Resources Dept. did not answer this question despite being asked twice by letter. Once there in person, I was told verbally that I had a choice and could choose to be taxed either in the UK or Italy. I have not been able to confirm this from official sources. The UK has a bilateral agreement with Italy with special provisions for tax-free research grants - which I learned about from Bootle after being in Ispra for 8 months. I am still trying to find out if this can apply to visiting scientists.

Q. Butif a Visiting Scientist is a researcher, surely I don't pay tax because of the bilateral UK-Italian reciprocal agreement, Article 20 covering teachers and researchers for periods of less than 2 years ?
A. Possibly. The Inland Revenue is prepared to countenance this as an exemption to UK tax, but Article 20 relies on the research being done at an "approved educational institution" and although it is for UK tax purposes, the relevant certificate has to come from the Italian tax authorities in Rome. No authoratitive advice has yet been received concerning the status of the JRC. You will need to write to Ufficio Distrettuale Imposte Dirette, Via Largo Rodari 3, Gavirate (VA) in Italian. Telephone (0332)-743076. I wrote to them in English but received no reply (yet). However, they almost certainly have to refer to head office in Roma.

Q. Arethere any UK tax allowances I can claim?
A. The Visiting Scientist Guidelines Article 2 say that the salary of 5,500 ecu shall be reduced by 25% if you will be staying in the same country. I interpret this to mean that 25% of the total (0.25*12*5,500 = 16,500 ecu ~ £11,700) is to be interpreted as "relocation" expenses and therefore tax-free in the UK: "If you relocate for job purposes, the first £8,000 of any help you receive is exempt from tax [in that tax year]so long as certain conditions are met", see IR 134. You then also have to pay tax on the personal travel, luggage allowance and medical fees which Visiting Scientists do get reimbursed for by the JRC and I don't think you can present receipts to claim back that tax. Strictly speaking, you also have to pay tax on all your business travel (mission) allowances and then claim back tax by presenting receipts. So keep all those receipts, even if the JRC office doesn't want them! The Human Resources department at the JRC is unable to help you with any of this and is not even aware the issues exist.

Q. Will I be able to get an E-101 "Certificate of Continuing Liability" from the UK DSS while I am abroad.
A. If you ask far enough in advance. You have to write to your local DSS office and wait for a phone call - do not omit to get the name and phone number of the person who then calls you or you will have to write again and wait another 3 weeks.

Q. Will I and my family then be eligible for a form E-111 for health expenses ?
A. No. You have to be earning a UK salary, or rather, paying UK national insurance, to do this. Even so, an E-111 is only valid for 3 months. Note that you are entitled to free health care in Italy since 1978 but it is unknown whether this requires an E-111 or whether it is something entirely different..

Q. Is there a bilateral reciprocal arrangement between the UK and Italy, such as there is between the UK and many countries with National Health Services, so that health care is free ?
A. Yes, but only if you are an "employee". The JRC Human Resources department insists that Visiting Scientists are not employees, do not pay Italian Social Security, and so you cannot claim your health care entitlements. I believe that visiting scientists probably are legally employees, but it requires a proper legal investigation to find out. The legal department of the JRC will not initiate such an investigation except from a statutory official.Note that you are entitled to free health care in Italy since 1978 but this is apparently not a bilateral agreement..

Q. Surely the Commission must have someone responsible for us "migrant workers" ?
A. Yes, it is DG V, who have a comprehensive website includingsocial security aspects with many documents such as " Improving social protection for people moving within the Union" and an explanation of the E-XXX forms. There is a group of advisors called EURES with people across FFEurope: Contact EURES (European Employment Services), T&EA, Gloucester House, Chichester Street, Belfast BT1 4RA. Tel: 01232 252222. For further information on EURES services in the United Kingdom and for a full list of Euroadvisers, please contact :
Mr Ted Gunby
Employment Service
123, West Street - Rockingham House
UK-SHEFFIELD S1 4ER

Q. What happens if I finally manage to find the office in DG 5 that looks after "migrant workers" ?
A. The Coordination of social security schemes Unit at DG 5 will write to you:

Ref.014785, Date:12 October 1998
Directorate General V
Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs
Social Security and Social Integration
Coordination of social security schemes

Thank you for your email concerning your social security difficulties in Italy. I also received a copy of the documents you sent to Mr. Sturdy MEP.

I understand that you are not paying social security contributions and therefore that you are insured neither in Italy, nor in the UK. You explain that your difficulties derive from the refusal of the Joint Research Centre to recognise you as an employee.

The social security rights of migrant workers are protected by Community law, namely regulation 1408/71. According to article 1 a) of this Regulation, a "worker" is someone who is insured under a social security scheme in a Member State. Therefore you could not be considered a worker under Regulation 1408/71, since you are insured in neither country. In other words, Community rules only coordinate social security schemes, but Member States remain free to determine, in particular, who is to be insured under the legislation.

Consequently, it seems that the question relates more to your right to be insured inItaly, under Italian legislation, on the basis of your activity: this is a matter for the national authorities to determine.

However, I would like to inform you that according to Italian legislation (law n^o.833 of 23 December 1978) it seems that you could be entitled to healthg care on the only basis of your residence.

Yours sincerely, Vali Kolotourou, Head of Unit.

Q. How do I find an italian insurance company ?
A. In the office of the parents association of the Scuola Europea, in Building 1 of the JRC site, on the days when the parents association is not meeting, a series of insurance companies set up office in that room. This is not told to you on arrival, you find this out when your wife or husband attends the first meeting of the Club de la Donne (wives club) which meets in the Club House .The usual insurance is with a company called Van Breda. (Note that their standard contract has the insurance cover expiring at the end of the contract and it is possible to extend it only by 6 months.)

Roma, 10 dicembre 1998

DIREZIONE CENTRALE PRESTAZIONI
Convenzioni Internazionale - Regolamenti C.E.

28/4/22142/C.I.

Alla sede INPS di VARESE

Al dr P.M.Sargent
27, Greville Road, CAMBRIDGE CB1 3QJ, England

Oggetto: accertamenti ispettivi presso JRC di Ispra

Il dr Sargent con l'instanza che si allega ha denunciato l'omesso versamento dei contributi previdenziali ed assistenziale da parte dello JRC nei suoi confronti.

Permesso quanto sopra si interessa codesta Sede ad accertare se sussiste un reale rapporto di lavoro tra il denunciante e il Centro di Ricerche ovvero se le prestazioni rese dal predetto rientrano nelle attività di libero professionista.

In entrambi i casi codesta Sede è interessata a recuperare l'eventuale contribuzione omessa o a far conoscere, al più presto, le determinazioni che saranno adottate.

Il dr Sargent per ogni notiza relativa al suo caso èpregato di rivolgesi direttamente alla sede INPS di Varese.

IL DIRETTORE CENTRALE
<signature>
Allegati vari.

and another (following a request of mine for an English translation) the following March:

Al dr P.M.Sargent
27, Greville Road, CAMBRIDGE CB1 3QJ, England

Varese, 23 03 1999
e.p.c.
Alla DIREZIONE CENTRALE PRESTAZIONI
Convenzioni Internazionale
Via della Frezza, 17
00186 ROMA

Oggetto: accertamento presso il C.C.R. di Ispra - Istanza del dr Philip Sargent, Cambridge.

In riferimento all'instanza presentata per il tramite della Direzione Centrale di questo Istituto, si comunica che non si riscontrano elementi per comprovare obblighi assicurativi nei confronti dell'I.N.P.S. in relazione al rapporto di lavoro intercorso con il Centro Richerche di Ispra.

Tutto ciò si evince dal contenuto dell all'allegata relazione redatta dai funzionari addetti alla vigilanza esterna incaricati e dalla documentazione recuperata presso il C.C.R. di Ispra.

Il Capo Unita Operativa
(dr. Luigi Longo)
<signature>

21200 Varese
Via Volta, 3
Tel. 0332 / 25 81 11
Fax. 0332 / 25 82 81
C.F. 80 07 87 5 587
P.I. 021 211 51 001

Posizione n. Varie 99
RELAZIONE DEL 5-3-99
Ditta: Commissione Delle Comunità Europee - Centro Comune Di Ricerca - Ispra (Va)

Premesso che il Centro Ricerche è considerato territorio extranazionale ed è soggetto alla normativa comunitaria europea, si precisa che, nei vari accessi effettuati, si è provveduto ad acquisire elementi di fatto inerenti il rapporto instaurato tra la Commissione Europea - Centro Ricerca - Ispra ed il sig. Sargent Philip - residente a Cambridge (Gran Bretagna) nel periodo 1-12-97 / 30-11-98.

I1 sig. Sargent ha sottoscitto con il CCR di Ispra un accordo di collaborazione in qualità di 'Visitatore Scientifico" che, per definizione della Commissione, è un soggetto che nmane al Centro per un periodo ben preciso (massimo due anni) venendo associato ad un determinato programma di ricerca scientifica alle condizioni previste nell'allegato "regolamento" (testo originale in Francese).

Da una traduzione letterale dei punti salienti si evince che:

• il visitatore scientifico beneficia di un'indennità forfetaria mensile di 5500 Euro;
• tale indennità è ridotta del 25% quando lo stesso esercita le sue attività abituali nel paese dove si trova I'Istituto d'accoglienza;
• il visitatore scientifico deve dimostrare in materia di copertura sociale, la prova della sua affiliazione ad un regime assicurativo malattia ed incidente.

I1 rapporto di lavoro subordinato instaurato invece con i "funzionari" è regolato da un apposito statuto di cui si allega copia. In detto statuto è previsto anche il regime di assicurazione previdenziale (con esclusione, quindi, di quello vigente in Italia).

La Commissione Europea - Centro Ricerca - Ispra non ha, peraltro, operato alcuna ritenuta, quale sostituto d'imposta, sull'indennità erogata al sig. Sargent. Ciò in quanto i c.d. visitatoti scientifici hanno la facoltà di versare le tasse nel paese di provenienza. Non risulta, infatti, che il sig. Sargent abbia presentato la denuncia dei redditi e quindi versate le tasse in Italia.

La Commissione Europea - Centro Ricerche - Ispra ha esibito, inoltre, varia documentazione in cui risulta che il sig. Sargent per il periodo in cui ha collaborato presso il centro ricerche era ancora dipendente della Ltd Laser Scan di Cambndge. Di detta documentazione è stata consegnata agli scriventi solo la copia della "dichiarazione del datore di lavoro" (in lingua originale inglese e traduzione in italiano); altri documenti, per motivi di sicurezza, non sono stati consegnati in copia ma con riserva d'eventuale esibizione in altre sedi .

Per tutto quanto sopra evidenziato gli scriventi ritengono, salvo contrano avviso, che la Commissione Europea, per il sig. Sargent, non abbia obblighi assicurativi nei confronti dell' Istituto.

Gli Ispettori Di Vigilanza
Schiavo Franco e Paolini Nino
<signature>

So it looks as if the INPS just bounced the question to the JRC, rather than making a decision themselves, and the JRC came up with a new answer (different from the one given via the Ombudsman) that I was not entitled to be able to pay Social Security in Italy because the JRC was not legally in Italy! What I should have done was to pay UK social security the whole time: then I think I would have been a "real employee" in the eyes of the Italian law, and I would have had the right to ask DG V to apply pressure on the JRC to pay employer's contributions. I'm sure another reason would have been found though.

Q. What ?
A. How.

Cars and driving

Q. What do I need to be able to drive in Italy ?
A. When you first leave the UK, you will need a Green Card which extends your UK insurance cover to a list of european countries. This will be valid for a few weeks (90 days usually) depending on your UK insurance company. After that you need either to buy Italian insurance (not recommended) or to get an annual Green Card policy from General Accident or Guardian Royal Exchange. These annual policies do not require that you have a UK MoT certificate or that you have paid your UK road fund licence, but do require that the car is in roadworthy condition. Long-term, experienced UK residents in Italy keep their cars registered in the UK, continue to use UK driving licenses, and carry nothing in their cars to indicate that they live in Italy and are not tourists.

Q. Do I need anything special to drive in Switzerland ?
A. If you are going to drive on Swiss motorways, you need a special annual windscreen ticket (40 Swiss francs). The fines for not having one of these are severe. You buy it when you first go on to a Swiss motorway. You don't need it for the local roads from Ispra to Locarno. You also need to make sure that your Green Card from the UK covers Switzerland explicitly.

Q. What is the best motorway route to drive back to the UK ?
A. The usual advice is to follow this route: Ispra, Stresa, Gotthard Pass, Luzern, Basel, Freiburg, Strasbourg, Metz, Reims, Laon, Arras, Calais. From Ispra: Guntzen Nord is 3 hours, 161 miles, (between Luzern & Basel), Saverne (next town after Strasbourg) is 6 hours, 305 miles, Calais is 11 hours, 660 miles. Ispra-Saverne has interesting mountains etc. (the bit to Luzern is wonderful), thereafter it's a bit flat and boring. The French motorway costs money whereas an alternative route via Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany is free; but the cheap French motels compensate for this if you are goiing to spend a night on this leg of the journey.

Q. Where can I stay on the drive back to the UK ?
A. Saverne has a Formule1 hotel at 139 FF a night, bunk beds, open until 22:00 or telephone in advance to get an access code number. Laon has a hotel Gil Campanile 280 FF open until 22:00 on outskirts by motorway junction. Formule1 reservation centrale: 08 36 685 685.

Q. Can I buy a car in Italy or re-register my car in Italy ?
A. Yes, but if you only have a UK "European" driving licence rather than an Italian one, be prepared to be pulled over by the Carabiniere (police) and your license confiscated. Legally, Italy recognises that "European" driving licenses are valid for Italian-registered cars since last year but no one has told the Carabiniere. There is no problem around the JRC or in Rome, but other parts of Italy (e. g. Firenze) have not been informed yet.

Q. How do I register my car in Italy ?
A. Don't. I have not done it, so this advice is hearsay. The usual advice is to get an agent to do it for you; for which he will charge about 1. 5MLire (£517). You can do it yourself if you have an afternoon or so to spare. It costs approx. £400, but in several separate amounts for different stamps, forms etc. You can register a car in the UK in 6 hours if you know where to go - and you just need a permanent UK address. Note that it is illegal to have an Italian-registered car with mirror windows (an anti-mafia law).

Q. How do I buy a car ?
A. Today, you can buy a second-hand Italian-registered car with just your passport, codice fiscale and signing a form to state that you are a resident of Ispra (or wherever) when you get the car. Pay by cheque on your current account at BNL (takes 2 days to clear). You may need to buy annual road tax from the ACI in Besozzo (or Laveno). We bought the car from Galli the Opel dealer in Besozzo. We saw the car on a Monday, and drove it away on the Thursday. No problem. The ownership transfer certificate they give to you is valid for Italy only, the full certificate is available the next day and they will post it to you.
You used to need both a permesso di segiorno and after that you needed to get an Ispra residence certificate . Mrs. Rabossi in Human Resources (building 6A) knew all about it.

Q. How do I insure an Italian registered car ?
A. If your UK insurance broker won't do it, try Royal Insurance (Milan) who will also take into account your UK no-claims bonus (but you must transfer the no-claims bonus to them exclusively). Their fax. is (02) 66011760 and (free) telephone is 167 335599. Two people at least speak fluent English. 3rd party, fire & theft cost us 1.6 million Lire for a 1995 Fiat Tempra 1.8 SLX estate (without no claims bonus). You can pay by credit card by fax., and the faxed cover note is valid for 5 days. They send the full certificate by courier (next day or so) rather than local post or you can collect it from the Milan office yourself.

Q. How do I register my Italian car when I return to the UK ?
A. No problem. It costs £25, plus the cost of an MoT test and the number-plates. A bit cheaper and easier than taking a car in the other direction! You need to book an MoT test for the same day that you enter the UK so that you can legally drive there from the ferry or tunnel.

Shopping

Q. Where can I buy Blu-tak ?
A. Blu-tak and equivalents ("Buddies") are (or used to be) unknown in northern Italy or southern Switzerland. Buy a stash and bring it with you. "Il Globo" (the newsagent just outside the main JRC entrance) started to stock some yellow equivalent after I told him what it was and how useful it was.

Q. Where can I buy maps ?
A. Good maps are hard to find, they get more common in the Summer. There are a bewildering number of different companies publishing maps of Italy - all largely rubbish. If at all possible, buy Swiss maps instead: they cover much of North Italy and you can get a good selection in Cannobio (on the West side of Lago Maggiore near the Swiss border) at Cartolibreria del Lagao di Olsson on the lake front, just where the ramp goes up to the pedestrian area. There is a big Sunday market there too.

Q. Where can I buy fresh bread ?
A. This is surprisingly difficult. The english and italian tastes seem to differ: to the english palate, almost all bread sold in supermarkets in Lombady or Piemonte is stale or very stale. There are also not as many bakeries as you might expect (there is a good one in Cadrezzate). Esselungha is a supermarket in Varese near the sports stadium on the way to the Scuola Europae which has an excellent variety of fresh bread (and a better variety of all food than the supermarkets in or near Ispra). The Standa supermarket in Luino is also a "real" supermarket, like a French or english one. It is somewhat surprising that any branch of Tesco's or Sainsbury's has a better and fresher variety of Italian bread than you can find within most of an hour's drive from Ispra. This peculiar situation becomes more understandable when you learn about the "Walser" alpine culture who have a bread-baking festival where one family bakes all the bread for the village: an annual festival. Unsurprisingly, one of the distinctive Walser cultural artefacts was the lever-action bread-knife and board. Walser bread was eaten in small pieces soaked in broth or milk. You will also learn more about this when you bake bread using locally-available flour.

Q. How do I get to the "Iper" hypermarket in Varese I see on advertisments near Laveno and Monate ?
A. It is not marked on the Varese town map, but it is marked on the Kompass map. It is to the SE towards Malnate. Don't forget the maps showing all the supermarkets in the booklet that comes with the yellow pages . Unless you are already going to Varese, you may be better off going to the Standa in Luino instead. Don't confuse the main Standa (in Luino) with the Standa-superfresco (outside Luino and outside Laveno).

Q. Where are the closest decent shops in Switzerland ?
A. Drive to Serfontana centro commerciale in Chiasso. They take lire, but not your BNL bancomat card. Don't buy furniture from Ikea near Lugano, you may have to pay customs duty on it; and it's cheaper anyway at the Milano Ikea.

Q. Where can I buy second-hand things ?
A. Obscurely at the back of a building in an industrial estate on the North side of Besozzo is "Mercatini" a warehouse of amazing trash which they do not test before they sell it to you - not recommended. They do not take things back. They will also sell your stuff for you. Not to be confused with Mercatone (supermarket/mall/everything) near Vergiate.

Q. I have friends visiting from Britain. What should I ask them to bring that I can't easily buy in Lombardy?
A. A large bag of flour, as much Cheddar cheese as they can carry, baking powder, coffee filter papers, Blu-tack, Golden Syrup, Patak's lime pickle and a large jar of Marmite. Sainsbury's focaccia!

Q. Where can I buy Marmite in Lombardy?
A. You used to be able to get it from "Home from Home", a shop run by expatriots in Castigliona Olona to the South of Varese which sold golden syrup and Patak's pickles. It was not cheap and it closed in about March 1998.

Being a Visiting Scientist

Q. When will I get paid ?
A. If you start at the beginning of the month, you should get paid at the end of that month. However it is not at all uncommon for the first month's salary not to get paid if any of the complex and voluminous administrative actions when you arrive are not done properly and promptly (by the administration, not just by you). There has been at least one case of somone (not a visiting scientist it is believed) not getting paid for 6 months.

Q. How do I use the JRC Ispra library ?
A. Just go an use it. You can take out books without having to get any forms signed by anyone, just show your site pass card and fill out a registration form yourself. If you want to make inter-library loan requests, you will have to fill out another form to register yourself as a user of this service (despite the fact that the same information is written on every request form).

Q. What is a "mission" ?
A. Any trip outside the site, even for a day, is a "mission". The terms for a visiting scientist say ". . you will be exceptionally sent on a mission. " The JRC site was originally set up as a fairly closed Euratom site, and although Euratom effectively disappeared as an institution in 1987, the bureaucracy has not caught up with the idea that scientists go and visit other scientists to talk science fairly often. If someone else is paying, you still need to go through all the paperwork to get approval for a "mission sans frais" otherwise the day(s) off the site should be taken from your holiday allowance.

Q. How do I arrange a "mission" ?
A. Fill out a form 4 weeks in advance with your Section's secretary. On or just before your last day at the JRC before the mission, go to the travel agency and collect your travel plan and tickets. Go to the bank and show your travel plan: collect your giornaliera in the local currency of the place you are going to. Whether this occurs efficiently or not at all depends entirely on your Section's secretary.

Q. How do I account for expenses for a "mission" within Europe ?
A. The JRC pays a "per diem" (giornaliera) which depends on the country you visit, for Germany it is about 196DM (4225 Belgian Francs: rates are set in Brussels) and for Greece it is about half that. Giornaliera rates depend on whether it is a weekday or not, and whether you are working that day or not. Out of the giornaliera you pay all hotel and food expenses. Taxis in Europe are not allowed and will not be paid for, but non-local trains are. You must keep your airline tickets and boarding cards. Even though the JRC will have paid for your tickets in advance, you need them as proof that you went. Note that conference fees are not paid by the missions office: you have to arrange these separately through your Institute's administration. You must retain any air-ticket "passengers' copy" (red "carbon" paper copy) as well as the boarding cards. The mission office will not process your claim without them. If you have lost your air-ticket copy you will have to go to the travel agent for a xerox, which can take quite a time if they are busy.

Q. How do I account for expenses for a "mission" outside Europe ?
A. There are different giornaliera rate(s) for countries outside Europe, for the USA it is approx. 7760 Belgian Francs. Outside Europe you must retain hotel receipts as well as non-local transport tickets and these will be paid after you return (up to a maximum per hotel night, currently $125 in USA). You can use taxis to and from airports only, but you must justify each use as to why there was no alternative transport. You can theoretically claim telephone and fax and email charges (e. g. from a cybercafe) but in practice you cannot as the bureaucratic procedures are overwhelming. You must keep your airline tickets and boarding cards. Even though the JRC will have paid for your tickets in advance, you need them as proof that you went. You get given an advance of 90% of expected mission expenses in the local currency of the place you are going to.

Q. What is the difference between "missions" inside and outside Europe ?
A. For a mission outside Europe you get the hotel paid for at cost as well as getting a giornaliera. Mission's outside Europe require more signatures and take longer to arrange, but if your Section has a good secretary, and you have someone knowledgeable and persistent at the JRC arranging things for you, it is possible to leave on a mission to the USA on your second day as a Visiting Scientist if you asked several weeks beforehand. So far as anyone knows, this has been done only once (by me).

Q. How do I get any mission expenses repaid ?
A. It is vital that you discuss and understand what is and is not claimable before you go. There is no flexibility in the system at all, so it is easy to do "logically" the cheaper thing and then to discover that you don't get reimbursed at all, e.g. hiring a bike for a week to save on taxi fares in the USA. The missions office reconciles its accounts in Lire (changing to Euro eventually) so you will be repaid in Lire. If you go outside Europe your cash advance will have assumed that you are staying at the most expensive hotel you are allowed to stay at, so in all likelihood you will owe them money when the accounts are settled. They do this before you leave if you give them a week or so notice.

Q. Anything else I should watch out for ?
A. Expect the unexpected, do everything well in advance, and trust no one, e.g. with 12 days notice you can get the following notice:

Broadcast message from JRC-EMAIL-SERVICE
The accounting system Sincom2 will be closed from 14/10 to 30/10/1998. For this reason, we inform you that the Mission Office will not be able to effect payments and mission advances during that period. Therefore, we ask you to take into account this situation by introducing your mission orders in due time. B. DE BERNARDI

Also, the missions office had 5000 missions with payment outstanding recently, and payments for December 1997 were still not made in October 1998.

Q. What holidays do I get and what are the working hours ?
A. 2 days a month, plus days the JRC is shut. Working hours are unspecified, but "core hours" for "officials and other agents" are 09:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00 to a total of 37.5 hours per week.

Q. How do I stop being a visiting scientist?
A. Misbehave and they'll chuck you out! When it is time to go, Risorse Umane will give you a two-page list of stamps to get from various offices around the site:

• to say that you no longer have a personal dosimeter (which have not been given out for 2-3 years),
• no records/books/videos out of the club record/book/video library - even if you never joined any of them,
• no books from the JRC site library (even if you never registered),
• that you have closed your a/c at the bank,
• signature by administrator in your Unit,
• return of bus card to transport office (even if you never used the bus),
• cancellation of telephone number and payment of personal calls (even if you never had a telephone),
• stamp from Foresterie accomodation office (even if you never stayed there),
• stamp from medical office (after final medical)
• stamp from cashier (after you get stamps from Foresterie, missions, telephone etc.)
• return of site id card and car sticker (do this last).

They have been known to give VSs this form 2 days before they leave, when some of these offices are not open in those two days (happened to a VS at the end of March 1998). You will be called for two medicals: one where you just give blood and urine samples, and the other (final) a week later where you get to see the results.

The form says you must close your bank account, but Mrs.Moneta says explicitly that you must not do this as otherwise you will not get your final salary payment. It is OK to leave that space on the form blank.

You also have claim forms for final fares back home for you and your family and final luggage expenses. These will be repaid in Ecu (not Lire) to the account you get your salary paid into. You need to keep this account running after you leave for this purpose. But you do need to make advance arrangements with BNL to close the account at a set date, e.g. 3 months after leaving.

You have to submit a final report. Leave this with whoever was looking after you and the Evaluation Report form. He/she will fill in that form and send it and the report to Mrs. Moneta. I would recommend giving Mrs. Moneta another copy and ticking the box labelled "under review of institute".

There is also a Termination of Functions form which you sign yourself

Q. Should I be honest in my Final Report ?
A. Yes. However, JRC officials will, if they have an opportunity to meet him in person on friendly territory (i.e. in the JRC itself), make a sufficiently strong verbal protest to your employer back in the UK for you to be threatened with dismissal from your UK job if you do not submit a revised report.

Mirror Sites

You may be reading this at a mirror site or as an emailed copy in which case you may be reading an old version and some local links may be broken. Send an email to get a corrected and updated copy.

Important - If you disagree with anything here, or you find an error, you should send email directly . Unless you email me there is no way to ensure that your corrections will get to me promptly. In particular, if you attempt to report an error by going through any official JRC channels without also emailing me at the same time, in all likelihood nothing will happen immediately and the error will remain here for some time.

Please do email me if you find an error, I take every effort to ensure that this is factually correct.

Some eight weeks after it first appeared, I was ordered to remove this FAQ by the JRC administration. It took that long, apparently, for the complaint to work its way up and then down the hierarchy. Every month, I wrote a frank report to my employer in the UK. Just before I returned to the UK, I submitted my final JRC report - which consisted of these monthly reports, edited to remove anything not relevant to the JRC. This report was not public and destined for a life in a filing cabinet. At a personal meeting, some months later, my employer was intimidated by JRC staff (verbally) and threatened to sack me if I did not resubmit a revised, anodyne report. The original final report can be downloaded as a zipfile.

Note that it is a characteristic of FAQs to present a negative impression because the most important information is always that which is unpleasantly surprising.

Q. What ?
A. No. Non posso.

Other Ispra information | Global Vegetation Unit's Guide for JRC Visitors

See FAQ soc.culture.italian for comprehensive generic information on the differences between living in Italy and the USA. (The master is available by FTP).

See "Italian Neighbours - An Englishman in Verona" by Tim Parks, Published by Minerva, first published 1992. ISBN 0 7493 1102 9 for a true-to-life personal history of an Englishman coping (or not) with living in Italy, not too far from Ispra. I wish I had read this efore I went, but JRC visitors won't get to know Italians so well: your neighbours are entirely likely to be Dutch.

Go to the Official Information on Fellowship Opportunities at the JRC Sites .