Independence and public interests
1. The Agency shall fulfil its tasks in complete independence.
2. The members and alternate members of the Management Board, the members of the Scientific Committee and the Director shall undertake to act in the public interest. For this purpose, they shall make a statement of interests indicating either the absence of any interests which might be considered prejudicial to their independence or any direct or indirect interests which might be considered prejudicial to their independence. The statement shall be made in writing when taking office and shall be revised if changes occur with regard to the interests. It shall be published by the Agency on its website.
Transparency and access to documents
1. The Agency shall develop good administrative practices in order to ensure the highest possible level of transparency concerning its activities.
Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall apply to documents held by the Agency.
2. The Management Board shall, within six months of the commencement of the Agency's operation, adopt specific rules for the practical implementation of paragraph 1. These shall include, inter alia , rules on:
(a)
openness of meetings;
(b)
publication of the work of the agency, including the work of the Scientific Committee; and
(c)
arrangements to implement Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
3. Where the Agency takes decisions under Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, a complaint may be lodged with the Ombudsman or an action may be brought in the Court of Justice of the European Communities, as provided by Articles 195 and 230 of the Treaty respectively.
Data protection
Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 shall apply to the Agency.
Review by the Ombudsman
The operations of the Agency shall be subject to the supervision of the Ombudsman in accordance with the provisions of Article 195 of the Treaty.
