If you fall ill on the day of your EPSO test: what force majeure really covers

If you are genuinely ill on the day of an EPSO test, there is a route — but it is narrow, it is documentary, and it has a deadline. EPSO does not let candidates move a test for convenience: in its communication on the AD5 testing it states flatly that "Rescheduling of tests will not be possible." What it does operate is a force majeure policy and a separate rescheduling policy for medical or family emergencies, and both turn on evidence that covers the test date and on contacting EPSO in time.

The three things to take away, before the detail:

• A medical issue or an emergency affecting a close relative can justify a new test date, with supporting documents.
• A work commitment or a trip — including a booked holiday — cannot. EPSO says so in terms.
• The window to act runs from the day you receive your invitation letter to the complaint deadline in your notice of competition, and "without delay" is the standard.

What happens if you fall ill on the day of your EPSO test?

You may ask for a new date, and you ask for it with documents rather than with an explanation. EPSO's Test Rescheduling Policy for Medical or Family Emergencies states that candidates unable to attend their scheduled online test because of a medical issue, or an emergency event affecting a close relative, "may request a new testing date by submitting valid supporting documents".

The policy describes the kind of situation it has in mind: unforeseen and unavoidable medical conditions, emergencies or events causing sudden or significant physical, cognitive or psychological impairment on or around the test day, making participation in the test impossible. Its indicative list includes severe acute illness such as high fever from a viral or bacterial infection, flu or Covid-19; acute gastroenteritis; severe allergic reactions, asthma attacks or respiratory distress; stroke, heart attack or hypertensive crisis; vertigo and acute balance disorders; seizures, migraines and panic attacks; post-operative recovery or immobilisation; hospitalisation after sudden illness, an accident or emergency surgery; and complications during pregnancy. EPSO states the list is indicative and not exhaustive, that each request is assessed case by case, and that it may ask for additional clarification or medical documentation.

What does EPSO count as force majeure, and what does it refuse?

The general rule sits in EPSO's "Force majeure" policy, and it is short enough to read in full. It covers "force majeure or unforeseen circumstances beyond candidate's control which prevents from testing", and it tells you what evidence it expects: the candidate "must provide their candidate number and present all pertinent documentary evidence, such as medical certificates, service provider's attestations to prove power or internet outages, or death certificates of a close relative, etc. This documentation should cover the test date."

So three evidence families are named explicitly by EPSO itself:

• a medical certificate;
• an attestation from your service provider proving a power cut or an internet outage;
• a death certificate of a close relative.

The list ends with "etc.", so it is not closed — but each item on it shares a shape: a third party, not the candidate, certifies in writing that something happened on a specific date. An email you wrote yourself, a screenshot of a speed test, or a description of how you felt is not evidence of that kind.

Does a work meeting, a conference or a trip count as force majeure?

No — and EPSO says so in capital letters. This is the single most-quoted sentence of the policy, and the one most candidates discover too late:

"It is important to note that professional commitments (meeting, conference, business trip) are NOT considered as exceptional circumstances or circumstances beyond the candidate's control. This principle also extends, by analogy, to any travel plans be that for private or for professional reasons, that may impede the candidate's participation in the exam."

Read the second sentence twice. The extension "by analogy" to "any travel plans be that for private or for professional reasons" is what closes the door on the request candidates most often intend to make: a holiday booked before the invitation arrived, a wedding abroad, a work trip that cannot be moved. None of that is a circumstance beyond your control in EPSO's sense, because a plan you made is not an event that happened to you.

There is a practical conclusion, and it is not a comfortable one: from the moment your invitation letter arrives, your test week is fixed and your own calendar has to yield to it. For AD5 candidates the first part of the testing — verbal, numerical and abstract reasoning — is planned to start in November 2026, the invitation letter reaches the Single Candidate Portal about three weeks before the first session and names the week, and the exact date and time appear on the testing platform at least two weeks before the test. That is the whole notice period you will get, so anything movable in November is better moved now than argued about later.

By when must you contact EPSO?

Without delay, and inside a window with two ends. The force majeure policy sets it out:

"the candidate must contact EPSO without delay, between the day of reception of the invitation letter in the candidate's EPSO account, and no later than the complaint deadline stipulated in the relevant Notice of Competition or Call for Expression of Interest."

Two things follow. First, the clock starts at the invitation letter, not at the test: if you already know that something will prevent you from sitting the test, the obligation to speak is immediate. Second, the outer limit is not a general appeal deadline but the complaint deadline written into your own notice of competition — so it is a date you have to look up in your notice rather than assume.

The rescheduling policy for medical and family emergencies points the same way and adds the channel: candidates who cannot attend a test must submit supporting documents via the contact form "as early as possible before the test date and no later than the deadline for submitting technical complaints specified in the Notice of Competition or Call for Expression of Interest". EPSO says it will make every effort to confirm acceptance of documents submitted before the test date by email, as promptly as possible, but that a timely confirmation cannot always be guaranteed if they arrive shortly before the scheduled test time. Early is not a courtesy here; it is the difference between an answer and a silence.

What if you cannot get the certificate in time?

There is an explicit allowance for that, and it exists because the most serious cases are precisely the ones where paperwork is impossible on the day. The force majeure policy provides that "in case of proven inability to provide certificates due to a medical condition within the period stipulated above (accident and/or hospitalisation), the candidate should provide the certificate as soon as possible", and that the certificate "must cover the test date and the delay between the deadline and the date the certificate was provided".

The rescheduling policy repeats the same construction: documents submitted late must cover the test date and the period between the technical-complaint deadline and the date they were submitted. In other words, a late certificate has to account for the lateness as well as for the absence.

What must a medical certificate actually say?

More than most certificates say by default, which is why this is the step that fails most often. Under the rescheduling policy a medical certificate must:

• confirm that a physician examined you before or on the day of the missed test;
• explicitly cover the test date — EPSO states that "certificates covering a vague period will not be accepted";
• state explicitly that you were medically unfit to take the test on the scheduled date, and clearly state the reason for the incapacity. EPSO states that vague statements, or sick-leave notes that do not refer to your incapacity to sit the test, will not be accepted.

A generic sick note naming a period, with no reference to the test and no statement of unfitness to sit it, meets none of those three conditions. If you are in a doctor's office because of a missed EPSO test, the useful thing to ask for is a certificate written against that wording. Documents must be issued in one of the 24 official EU languages, or be accompanied by a translation into one of them.

What if a close relative dies or is hospitalised?

That is covered, and it is defined tightly. The rescheduling policy accepts a serious medical emergency affecting a close relative requiring urgent hospitalisation or life-saving intervention on the day of the test or the day immediately before; hospitalisation or admission to intensive care of a close relative in a critical condition on those same days; the death of a close relative on the day of the test or the day immediately before; and the funeral of a close relative on the day of the test.

Supporting documents may include a hospital report, a death certificate, or any official document confirming the event. They must clearly show that the event occurred on the test date or the day immediately before it, and they must prove the legal family relationship. EPSO defines "close relative" for this purpose as an ascendant or descendant up to the second degree of consanguinity — parents, children, grandparents and grandchildren — plus siblings, a spouse, or a registered civil partner.

What if the power or the internet fails during your test?

That is the third evidence family, and it is the one candidates least expect to be admissible. The force majeure policy names "service provider's attestations to prove power or internet outages" among the pertinent documentary evidence — so an outage is not automatically your problem, provided your provider will certify it and the certification covers the test date.

EPSO also handles the collective case separately: disruptive events beyond the control of EPSO or the test provider, "which may include natural disasters, widespread internet outages, server failures, or other force majeure events that affect multiple candidates simultaneously, will be taken into consideration and the necessary corrective measures will be applied". You do not have to prove a nationwide outage yourself; you do have to prove one that happened only to you.

Worth separating from all of this: EPSO's testing instructions list situations in which a complaint does not automatically lead to a retest, and among them are a power loss because the device was not plugged in, an improper peripheral setup, the use of a corporate laptop or a device without administrator rights, and failing to complete the mandatory technical prerequisite check. A cut in the supply is an outage; a laptop that ran out of battery is a setup decision.

Can your test simply be rescheduled if the date does not suit you?

No. On the AD5 testing, EU Careers stated in its communication of 30 June 2026 that candidates will be scheduled on different dates throughout the testing period, that each candidate receives an individual invitation letter several weeks in advance, and that "Rescheduling of tests will not be possible" (EU Careers, EPSO apply-page news; the same page carries the update of 18 September 2026 in which Part 1 is planned to start in November 2026).

The two statements are not in conflict, and the distinction is the whole point of this article. "Rescheduling will not be possible" answers the request to move a date that is merely inconvenient. The force majeure policy and the medical-and-family-emergency policy answer a different question: what happens when a documented event outside your control makes sitting the test impossible. The first is closed. The second is open, narrow, and evidence-based.

What if you sit the test anyway while ill?

Then the matter is closed, and this is the rule candidates most need to know in advance, because it is decided by what you do on the day. The rescheduling policy states that a candidate who attends a test despite having submitted supporting documents "will be deemed fit to take the test", and that consequently "no retake will be granted on the basis that the illness or other emergency situation may have impacted their performance".

So the decision cannot be deferred. Sitting the test to see how it goes and appealing afterwards is not a strategy that exists: attendance is treated as a declaration of fitness. If you are unfit, you document it and you do not log in.

Who decides, and what can the outcome be?

Not the helpdesk, and not automatically a retest. The force majeure policy states that "the candidate's complaint will be submitted to the relevant evaluation body (EPSO Testing Operations unit and/or Selection Board) who will decide on further action to take". EPSO's testing instructions add that where a complaint meets the conditions of the relevant section, EPSO may offer a retake, and that accepting it will invalidate the original results — and that feedback on the testing experience is welcomed but is not treated as a formal complaint, so you should be explicit if you intend to lodge one.

Read together, the two policies describe a process with four moving parts: an event outside your control, a third-party document that covers the test date, a message to EPSO inside the window that opens with your invitation letter and closes at the complaint deadline in your notice, and a decision taken by the Testing Operations unit or the selection board. Missing any one of the four is what turns a legitimate case into a lost one.

Sources

• EU Careers — "Force majeure" policy (Complaints, section 5).
• EU Careers — Test Rescheduling Policy for Medical or Family Emergencies.
• EU Careers — EPSO apply-page news: "AD5 Graduates testing split into two parts", 30 June 2026 ("Rescheduling of tests will not be possible."), and the update of 18 September 2026 placing the start of Part 1 in November 2026 as a plan.
• EPSO — Instructions for online Testing (TAO), March 2026 (PDF), section 7.1 on complaints and retakes.

Nothing in these policies rewards improvisation, and the one variable entirely in your hands is how ready you are on a date you do not choose. Practising in the real test format, under the real clock, is what makes an ordinary bad morning survivable rather than decisive. You can start for free with the Score Predictor, and the rest of what EPSO has published about the competition is on the EPSO AD5 2026 page. What may and may not be on your desk on the day is set out in the official desk list.

PassEPSO is an independent preparation platform. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to EPSO, EU Careers or any European Union institution. This article summarises policies EPSO publishes; the binding versions are EPSO's own pages and your notice of competition, and any request must go to EPSO through the channels those documents name.