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Rules of procedure (EMOS Board)

RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE EMOS BOARD

as adopted in the EMOS Board meeting on 19 March 2015 and 5 March 2018

 

THE EUROPEAN MASTER IN OFFICIAL STATISTICS (EMOS) BOARD,

Having regard to the standard rules of procedure of expert groups[1],

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING RULES OF PROCEDURE:



Article 1

Chairmanship and convening a meeting

  1. The EMOS Board, hereinafter referred to as “the Board”, shall be chaired by a representative of Eurostat.
  2. A Board meeting is convened by the Chairperson, either on his or her own initiative, or at the request of a simple majority of Board members.
  3. Joint meetings of the Board with other groups may be convened to discuss issues falling within their respective areas of responsibility.


Article 2

Mandate

  1. Being part of the governance system of the European Statistical System, the Board shall be responsible for advising the European Statistical System Committee on matters relating to EMOS, thoroughly preparing all dossiers in the area of EMOS, prior to the decisions to be taken by the European Statistical System Committee.
  2. The shall be consulted in regard to the issues specified in its respective mandate.
  3. For the execution of this task, the calendar of meetings of the prior shall be aligned as necessary with the calendar of the ESS Committee.


Article 3

Agenda

  1. The EMOS secretariat shall draw up the agenda under the responsibility of the Chair and send it to the members of the Board.
  2. The agenda shall be adopted by the Board at the start of the meeting.


Article 4

Documentation to be sent to Board members

  1. The secretariat shall send the invitation to the meeting and the agenda to the Board members, as a general rule, no later than 28 calendar days before the date of the meeting.
  2. The secretariat shall send documents on which the Board is consulted to the Board members no later than 21 calendar days before the date of the meeting.
  3. In urgent cases, the Chairperson may, at the request of a Board member or on his or her own initiative, shorten the period laid down in the above paragraph to 5 calendar days before the date of the meeting.
  4. In cases of extreme urgency, the Chairperson may depart from the periods laid down in paragraphs 1 and 2 above. If the placing of another point onto the agenda is requested during the course of a meeting, the approval of a simple majority of Board members is required.


Article 5

Opinion of the Board

  1. As far as possible, the Board shall adopt its opinions, recommendations or reports by consensus.
  2. In the event of a vote, the outcome of the vote shall be decided by a two-thirds majority. A vote shall require a quorum of nine members.


Article 6

Representation

  1. The Board shall be composed of fourteen members: six members from universities, five members from National Statistical Institutes (NSIs), one member from a National Central Bank (NCB), one member from the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC), and one member from Eurostat, acting as Chairperson.
  2. Members from universities shall be individuals appointed in a personal capacity. The other members shall be representatives of NSIs, a NCB, ESAC, and Eurostat.
  3. Members from universities shall be appointed by the ESSC from specialists with competence in the areas referred to in Article 2 and who have responded to the call for applications. Representatives from the NSIs shall be appointed by the ESSC, the NCB representative shall be appointed by the ESCB, ESAC and Eurostat shall nominate their representatives.
  4. Members are appointed for three years. Their term of office may be renewed once.
  5. Members who are no longer capable of contributing effectively to the Board’s deliberations or who resign may be replaced for the remainder of their term of office. A representative from an NSI or NCB who resigns may be replaced by another representative from the same NSI or NCB.
  6. Members appointed in a personal capacity shall act independently and in the public interest.
  7. The reimbursement of travel expenses by the Commission shall be paid in accordance with the applicable rules, subject to budgetary funds provided for this purpose.


Article 7

Sub-groups

  1. The Board may create sub-groups, chaired by a representative of the Board to examine particular issues or serve as a bureau to the Board. A temporary (but renewable) mandate for the sub-group shall be agreed by the Board.
  2. The sub-groups must report back to the Board. To this end, they may appoint a rapporteur.


Article 8

Admission of third parties

  1. The Chairperson may decide to invite experts to talk on particular matters, at the request of a member or on his or her own initiative.


Article 9

Written procedure

  1. If necessary and justified, the Board's opinion on items previously discussed by the Board can be obtained by a written procedure. To this end, the Chairperson shall send to the members of the Board the documents on which the Board is being consulted. Any Board member who does not express his or her position before the deadline laid down in the letter is considered to have given his or her tacit agreement to what is proposed; the response period must not be less than 14 calendar days.
  2. In cases of urgency, the deadlines stated in Article 4(3) shall apply.
  3. However, if one third of Board members ask for the question to be examined at a meeting of the Board, the written procedure shall be terminated without result and the Chairperson shall convene a meeting of the Board as soon as possible.
  4. The Chairperson shall inform the Board members of the results of the written procedure within 14 calendar days after the expiry of the deadline laid down in the letter referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article.


Article 10

Secretarial support

  1. Eurostat shall provide secretarial support for the Board and, if necessary, the sub-groups created in accordance with Article 7 above.


Article 11

Summary minutes of the meeting

  1. The minutes of each meeting shall be drawn up under the auspices of the Chairperson. These minutes shall not mention the individual position of the members during the Board's deliberations.
  2. The minutes shall be sent to the members of the Board within 15 working days in English.
  3. The Board members shall send any written comments they may have on the minutes to the Chairperson. The Board shall be informed of this - if there are any disagreements, the proposed amendment shall be discussed by the Board. If the disagreement persists, the proposed amendment shall be annexed to the minutes.


Article 12

Attendance list

  1. At each meeting, the secretariat shall draw up, under the responsibility of the Chairperson, an attendance list specifying, where appropriate, the authorities, organisations or bodies to which the participants belong.


Article 13

Conflicts of interest

  1. Should a conflict of interest in relation to an expert arise, the Chair may exclude this expert from a particular meeting or decide that the expert in question shall abstain from discussing the items on the agenda concerned and from any vote on these items.
  2. At the start of each meeting, any expert whose participation in the Board’s work would raise a conflict of interest shall inform the Chair.
  3. Conflicts of interest shall be reported in writing in the minutes of the Board’s meeting.
  4. Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall also apply to deliberations taken by the Board in written procedure.


Article 14

Correspondence

  1. Correspondence relating to the Board shall be addressed to the Commission, for the attention of the Chairperson.
  2. Correspondence for Board members shall be sent to the email address which they provide for that purpose.


Article 15

Access to documents

  1. At the end of each meeting, the Chairperson, with the assistance of the Board, shall decide which documents are to be made public.
  2. Applications for access to documents held by the Board will be handled in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001[2] and detailed rules for its application[3].


Article 16

Confidentiality of deliberations

  1. The Board’s deliberations shall be confidential.
  2. In agreement with the Commission's services, the Board may, by unanimity of its members, decide to open its deliberations to the public.


Article 17

Protection of personal data

  1. All processing of personal data for the purposes of these rules of procedure shall be in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001[4].


[1] SEC(2010) 1360 final.

[2] Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ L 145, 31.5.2001, p. 43).

[3] Commission Decision 2001/937 of 5.12.2001. OJ L 345 of 29.12.2001, p. 94.

[4] Regulation (EC) 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1).

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