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Administrative and management structure
The Agency's administrative and management structure shall comprise: (a) a Management Board, which shall exercise the functions set out in Article 51; (b) an Executive Board, which shall exercise the functions set out in Article 53; (c) an Executive Director, who shall exercise the duties set out in Article 54; (d) one or more Boards of Appeal, which shall exercise the functions set out in Articles 58 to 62.
Composition of the Management Board
1. The Management Board shall be composed of one representative from each Member State and two representatives of the Commission, all with a right to vote. The Management Board shall also include six representatives, without a right to vote, representing, at European level, the following stakeholders: (a) railway undertakings; (b) infrastructure managers; (c) the railway industry; (d) trade-union organisations; (e) passengers; (f) freight customers. For each of those stakeholders, the Commission shall appoint a representative and an alternate from a shortlist of four names submitted by their respective European organisations. 2. Board members and their alternates shall be appointed in light of their knowledge of the Agency's core business, taking into account relevant managerial, administrative and budgetary skills. All parties shall make efforts to limit turnover of their representatives on the Management Board, in order to ensure continuity of the Management Board's work. All parties shall aim to achieve a balanced gender representation on the Management Board. 3. Member States and the Commission shall appoint members of the Management Board and their respective alternates who shall replace the members in their absence. 4. The term of office of the members shall be 4 years and may be renewed. 5. Where appropriate, the participation of representatives of third countries and the conditions of such participation shall be established in the arrangements referred to in Article 75.
Chairperson of the Management Board
1. The Management Board shall elect, by a two-thirds majority of its members entitled to vote, a chairperson from among the representatives of the Member States and a deputy chairperson from among its members. The deputy chairperson shall replace the chairperson in the event of the chairperson being unable to attend to his or her duties. 2. The term of office of the chairperson and deputy chairperson shall be 4 years and may be renewed once. If, however, their membership of the Management Board ends at any time during their term of office, their term of office shall automatically also expire on that date.
Meetings
1. Meetings of the Management Board shall be conducted in accordance with its rules of procedure and convened by its chairperson. The Executive Director of the Agency shall participate in the meetings, except when his or her participation may lead to a conflict of interests, as decided by the chairperson, or when the Management Board is to take a decision relating to Article 70, in accordance with point (i) of Article 51(1). The Management Board may invite any person whose opinion may be of interest to attend specific agenda items of its meetings as an observer. 2. The Management Board shall meet at least twice a year. It shall also meet on the initiative of the chairperson or at the request of the Commission, of a majority of its members, or of one-third of the Member States' representatives on the Board. 3. When a matter of confidentiality or a conflict of interest arises, the Management Board may decide to examine specific items on its agenda without the members concerned being present. This does not affect the right of the Member States and of the Commission to be represented by an alternate or by any other person. Detailed rules for the application of this provision shall be laid down in the Management Board's rules of procedure.
Voting
Unless stated otherwise in this Regulation, the Management Board shall take its decisions by an absolute majority of its members entitled to vote. Each member entitled to vote shall have one vote.
Functions of the Management Board
1. In order to ensure that the Agency carries out its tasks, the Management Board shall: (a) adopt the annual report on the Agency's activities for the previous year, send it by 1 July to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, and make it public; (b) adopt each year, by a two-thirds majority of its members entitled to vote, after having received the opinion of the Commission and in accordance with Article 52, the programming document of the Agency; (c) adopt, by a two-thirds majority of its members entitled to vote, the annual budget of the Agency and exercise other functions in relation to the Agency's budget, in accordance with Chapter 10; (d) establish procedures for decision-making by the Executive Director; (e) adopt a policy, working methods and procedures in relation to visits, audits and inspections pursuant to Articles 11, 33 and 34; (f) establish its rules of procedure; (g) adopt and update the communication and dissemination plans referred to in Article 39; (h) subject to paragraph 2, exercise, with respect to the staff of the Agency, the powers conferred by the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the Union (‘Staff Regulations’ and the ‘Conditions of Employment of Other Servants’) laid down in Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 ( 23 ) on the appointing authority and on the authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment; (i) take duly reasoned decisions in relation to waiver of immunity in accordance with Article 17 of Protocol No 7 on the privileges and immunities of the European Union; (j) submit to the Commission, for its agreement, rules for the implementation of the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants if they are different from those adopted by the Commission, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 110 of the Staff Regulations; (k) appoint the Executive Director and, where appropriate, extend his or her term of office or remove him or her from the office, by a two-thirds majority of its members entitled to vote, in accordance with Article 68; (l) appoint the members of the Executive Board, by a two-third majority of its members entitled to vote, in accordance with Article 53; (m) adopt a mandate for the tasks of the Executive Board referred to in Article 53; (n) adopt decisions relating to the arrangements referred to in Article 75(2); (o) appoint and remove the members of the Boards of Appeal, by a two-thirds majority of its members entitled to vote, in accordance with Article 55 and Article 56(4); (p) adopt a decision laying down rules on the secondment to the Agency of national experts, in accordance with Article 69; (q) adopt an anti-fraud strategy proportionate to the risks of fraud, having regard to a cost-benefit analysis of the measures to be implemented; (r) ensure adequate follow-up to the findings and recommendations stemming from investigations of the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) and the various internal or external audit reports and evaluations, verifying that appropriate actions are taken by the Executive Director; (s) adopt rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest in respect of members of the Management Board and of the Boards of Appeal, and of participants in working parties and groups referred to in Article 5(2) and other staff not covered by the Staff Regulations. Such rules shall include provisions on declarations of interest and, where appropriate, post-employment; (t) adopt guidelines and the list of the main elements to be included in the cooperation agreements to be concluded between the Agency and the national safety authorities, taking into account the provisions of Article 76; (u) adopt a framework model for the financial apportionment of the fees and charges payable by applicants as referred to in Article 76(2), for the purposes of Articles 14, 20 and 21; (v) establish procedures for cooperation by the Agency and its staff in national judicial proceedings; (w) adopt rules of procedure of working parties and groups, and scales relating to travel and subsistence expenses of their members as referred to in Article 5(5) and (9); (x) appoint an observer from amongst its members to follow the selection procedure applied by the Commission for the appointment of the Executive Director; (y) adopt appropriate rules for the implementation of Regulation No 1 ( 24 ) , in accordance with the voting rules defined in Article 74(1). 2. The Management Board shall adopt, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 110 of the Staff Regulations, a decision in application of Article 2(1) of the Staff Regulations and of Article 6 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants delegating the relevant appointing authority powers to the Executive Director and laying down the conditions under which that delegation of powers may be suspended. The Executive Director shall be authorised to subdelegate those powers. The Executive Director shall inform the Management Board of such subdelegations. In application of the first subparagraph, where exceptional circumstances so require, the Management Board may, by way of a decision, suspend temporarily the delegation of appointing authority powers to the Executive Director and those subdelegated by the latter and exercise them itself or delegate them to one of its members or to a staff member other than the Executive Director. The delegate shall report to the Management Board on the exercise of such a delegation.
Programming document
1. The Management Board shall adopt the programming document containing annual and multi-annual programmes by 30 November each year, taking into account the opinion of the Commission, and shall forward it to the Member States, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission and to the networks referred to in Article 38. The annual work programme shall lay down the actions that the Agency is to perform during the coming year. The Management Board shall establish appropriate procedures to be applied for the adoption of the programming document, including for the consultation of relevant stakeholders. 2. The programming document shall become definitive after final adoption of the Union general budget and, if necessary, shall be adjusted accordingly. If, within 15 days of the date of adoption of the programming document, the Commission expresses its disagreement with such document, the Management Board shall re-examine the programme and adopt it, as amended if necessary, within a period of 2 months, in second reading either by a two-thirds majority of its members entitled to vote, including all Commission representatives, or by unanimity of the representatives of the Member States. 3. The Agency's annual work programme shall identify the objectives of each activity. As a general rule, each activity shall be clearly linked with the budgetary and human resources required to carry it out, in accordance with the principles of activity-based budgeting and management and the early impact-assessment procedure provided for in Article 8(2). 4. The Management Board shall, if necessary, amend the adopted programming document when a new task is assigned to the Agency. The inclusion of such a new task shall be subject to an analysis of the human and budgetary resources implications in accordance with Article 8(2), and may be subject to a decision to postpone other tasks. 5. The Agency's multi-annual work programme shall set out overall strategic programming, including objectives, expected results and performance indicators. It shall also set out resource programming, including the multiannual budget and staff. The European Parliament shall be consulted on the draft multi-annual work programme. The resource programming shall be updated annually. The strategic programming shall be updated where appropriate, in particular to address the outcome of the evaluation and review referred to in Article 82.
Executive Board
1. The Management Board shall be assisted by an Executive Board. 2. The Executive Board shall prepare decisions to be adopted by the Management Board. Where necessary, on grounds of urgency, it shall take certain provisional decisions on behalf of the Management Board, in particular on administrative and budgetary matters, subject to a mandate received from the Management Board. Together with the Management Board, the Executive Board shall ensure adequate follow-up to the findings and recommendations stemming from investigations by OLAF and the various internal or external audit reports and evaluations, including by means of appropriate actions of the Executive Director. Without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Executive Director, as set out in Article 54, the Executive Board shall assist and advise the Executive Director in the implementation of decisions of the Management Board, with a view to reinforcing supervision of administrative and budgetary management. 3. The Executive Board shall be composed of the following members: (a) the chairperson of the Management Board; (b) four of the other representatives of Member States on the Management Board; and (c) one of the representatives of the Commission on the Management Board. The chairperson of the Management Board shall act as the chairperson of the Executive Board. The four representatives of the Member States, and their alternates, shall be appointed by the Management Board on the basis of their relevant competence and experience. When appointing them, the Management Board shall aim to achieve a balanced gender representation on the Executive Board. 4. The term of office of members of the Executive Board shall be the same as that of members of the Management Board unless the Management Board decides that it is to be shorter. 5. The Executive Board shall meet at least once every 3 months and, where possible, not less than 2 weeks prior to the meeting of the Management Board. The chairperson of the Executive Board shall convene additional meetings at the request of its members or of the Management Board. 6. The Management Board shall lay down the rules of procedure of the Executive Board, shall be periodically informed of the work of the Executive Board, and shall have access to its documents.
Duties of the Executive Director
1. The Agency shall be managed by its Executive Director, who shall be completely independent in the performance of his or her duties. The Executive Director shall be accountable to the Management Board for his or her activities. 2. Without prejudice to the powers of the Commission, the Management Board or the Executive Board, the Executive Director shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government or from any other body. 3. Upon being requested to do so by the European Parliament or the Council, the Executive Director shall report on the performance of his or her duties to the institution concerned. 4. The Executive Director shall be the legal representative of the Agency and shall adopt decisions, recommendations, opinions and other formal acts of the Agency. 5. The Executive Director shall be responsible for the administrative management of the Agency and for the implementation of the tasks assigned to it by this Regulation. In particular, the Executive Director shall be responsible for: (a) the day-to-day administration of the Agency; (b) implementing the decisions adopted by the Management Board; (c) preparing the programming document and submitting it to the Management Board after consultation of the Commission; (d) implementing the programming document and, as far as possible, responding to requests for assistance from the Commission in relation to the tasks of the Agency in accordance with this Regulation; (e) preparing the consolidated annual report on the Agency's activities, including the declaration of the authorising officer stating whether he or she has a reasonable assurance in accordance with point (b) of Article 47(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013 and point (a) of Article 51(1) of this Regulation, and presenting it to the Management Board for assessment and adoption; (f) taking the necessary steps, in particular the issuing of internal administrative instructions and the publication of orders, to ensure that the Agency operates in accordance with this Regulation; (g) establishing an effective monitoring system enabling the Agency's results to be compared with its operational objectives and establishing a regular assessment system corresponding to recognised professional standards; (h) preparing on a yearly basis a draft general report on the basis of the monitoring and assessment systems referred to in point (g), and submitting it to the Management Board; (i) preparing the Agency's draft statement of estimates of the revenue and expenditure of the Agency pursuant to Article 64 and implementing the budget pursuant to Article 65; (j) taking the necessary steps to follow the work of the networks of national safety authorities, investigating bodies and representative bodies referred to in Article 38; (k) preparing an action plan following up on the conclusions of the internal or external audit reports and evaluations, as well as investigations by OLAF, and reporting on progress bi-annually to the Commission and regularly to the Management Board; (l) protecting the financial interests of the Union by the application of measures to prevent fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective checks and, where irregularities are detected, by the recovery of the amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by the imposition of effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties; (m) preparing an anti-fraud strategy of the Agency and presenting it to the Management Board for approval; (n) preparing the Agency's draft financial regulation for adoption by the Management Board under Article 66, and its implementing rules; (o) concluding, on behalf of the Agency, cooperation agreements with national safety authorities in accordance with Article 76.
Establishment and composition of the Boards of Appeal
1. By decision of the Management Board, the Agency shall establish one or more Boards of Appeal which shall be in charge of the appeals and arbitration procedures referred to in Articles 58 and 61. 2. Each Board of Appeal shall be composed of a chairperson and two other members. They shall have alternates to represent them in their absence, or where any conflicts of interest arise. 3. The establishment and composition of Boards of Appeal shall be decided on a case-by-case basis. Alternatively, a Board of Appeal may be established as a permanent body for a maximum period of 4 years. In both cases, the following procedure applies: (a) the Commission shall draw up a list of qualified experts based on relevant competence and experience, and following an open selection procedure; (b) the Management Board shall appoint the chairperson, the other members and their alternates from the list referred to in point (a). Where the Board of Appeal is not established as a permanent body, the Management Board shall take into account the nature and content of the appeal or arbitration, and avoid any conflict of interest in accordance with Article 57. 4. Where the Board of Appeal considers that the nature of the appeal so requires, it may request the Management Board to appoint two additional members and their alternates from the list referred to in point (a) of paragraph 3. 5. On a proposal by the Agency, and after consulting the Management Board, the Commission shall establish the rules of procedure of the Boards of Appeal, including the voting rules the procedures for filing an appeal and the conditions for reimbursement of expenses of their members. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 81(3). 6. The Boards of Appeal may request the opinion of experts from the Member States concerned, in particular with a view to clarifying the national legislation concerned, during the initial examination phase of the procedure.
Members of the Boards of Appeal
1. In the case of a permanent Board of Appeal, the term of office of its members and alternates shall be limited to 4 years and may be renewed once. In other cases, the term of office shall be limited to the duration of the appeal or arbitration. 2. Members of Boards of Appeal shall be independent from all parties involved in the appeal or arbitration and may not perform any other duties within the Agency. In their deliberations and decisions they shall not be bound by any instructions and shall be free from any conflict of interest. 3. Members of Boards of Appeal shall not be part of the Agency's staff and shall be remunerated for their actual involvement in a given appeal or arbitration. 4. Members of Boards of Appeal may not be removed from office during their term of office, unless there are serious grounds for such removal and the Management Board takes a decision to that effect. 5. Members of Boards of Appeal may not be removed from the list of qualified experts during their term of office, unless there are serious grounds for such removal and the Commission takes a decision to that effect.
Exclusion and objection
1. Members of Boards of Appeal may not take part in any appeal or arbitration proceedings if they have any personal interest in the proceedings, if they have previously been involved as representatives of one of the parties to the proceedings, or if they participated in the taking of the decision appealed against. 2. Where a member of a Board of Appeal considers that it is not appropriate for him or her or any other member to take part in any appeal or arbitration proceeding, on any of the grounds referred to in paragraph 1 or for any other reason, that member shall inform the Board of Appeal, which shall decide on the exclusion of the person concerned on the basis of the rules adopted by the Management Board pursuant to point (s) of Article 51(1). 3. Any party to the appeal or arbitration proceedings may object, in accordance with the rules of procedure established pursuant to Article 55(5), to any member of the Board of Appeal on any of the grounds referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, or if that member is suspected of partiality. No objection may be based on the nationality of the member concerned. 4. An objection under paragraph 3 shall only be admissible if it is made prior to the start of proceedings before the Board of Appeal, or, where the information constituting the grounds for the objection becomes known after the proceedings have started, within the deadlines laid down in the Board of Appeal's rules of procedure. The Board of Appeal member concerned shall be notified of the objection and shall state whether he or she agrees to be excluded. If he or she does not agree, the Board of Appeal shall take a decision within the deadlines laid down in its rules of procedure or, where there is no response, after expiry of the deadline set for issuing a response. 5. The Boards of Appeal shall decide as to the action to be taken in the cases specified in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4 without the participation of the member concerned. For the purpose of taking that decision, the member concerned shall be replaced on the Board of Appeal by his or her alternate. The Management Board shall be informed of the decisions taken by the Board of Appeal.
Appeals against decisions and failures to act
1. An appeal may be brought before a Board of Appeal against a decision taken by the Agency pursuant to Articles 14, 20, 21 and 22 or if the Agency fails to act within the applicable time limits, following completion of the interlocutory revision referred to in Article 60. 2. An appeal lodged pursuant to paragraph 1 shall not have suspensory effect. However, upon request by the parties involved, the Board of Appeal may decide that the appeal in question is to have suspensory effect, if it considers that circumstances, such as impact on safety, so permit. In such a case, the Board of Appeal shall provide a statement of reasons for its decision.
Persons entitled to appeal, time limit and form
1. Any natural or legal person may appeal against a decision of the Agency addressed to that person, or of direct and individual concern to that person, pursuant to Articles 14, 20 and 21, or if the Agency fails to act within the applicable time limits. 2. The appeal, together with the statement of grounds thereof, shall be filed in writing in accordance with the rules of procedure referred to in Article 55(5) within 2 months of notification of the measure to the person concerned, or, if the person is not notified of the measure, within 2 months of the day on which it came to the knowledge of that person. Appeals regarding a failure to act shall be filed at the Agency in writing within 2 months of the expiry of the time limit set out in the relevant Article.
Interlocutory revision
1. If the Agency considers the appeal to be admissible and well founded, it shall rectify the decision or failure to act referred to in Article 58(1). This shall not apply where the decision appealed against affects another party involved in the appeal proceedings. 2. If the decision is not rectified within 1 month after receipt of the appeal, the Agency shall forthwith decide whether or not to suspend the application of its decision and shall refer the appeal to one of the Boards of Appeal.
Arbitration procedure
In the event of a disagreement between the Agency and a national safety authority or authorities pursuant to Article 21(7) and Article 24 of Directive (EU) 2016/797 and Article 10(7) and Article 17(5) and (6) of Directive (EU) 2016/798, the Board of Appeal assigned to the matter shall act as an arbitrator upon request of the national safety authority or authorities concerned. In such a case, the Board of Appeal shall decide whether to uphold the Agency's position.
Examination and decisions on appeals and arbitration
1. The Board of Appeal shall decide within 3 months of the appeal being filed whether to grant or refuse that appeal. When examining an appeal or acting as arbitrator, the Board of Appeal shall act within the deadlines laid down in its rules of procedure. It shall, as often as necessary, invite the parties to the appeal proceedings to file, within specified time limits, observations on its notifications or on communications from other parties to the appeal proceedings. Parties to the appeal proceedings shall be entitled to make oral representations. 2. As regards arbitration, the Agency shall take its final decision in accordance with the procedures referred to in Article 21(7) of Directive (EU) 2016/797 and Article 10(7) of Directive (EU) 2016/798. 3. Where the Board of Appeal finds that the grounds for appeal are founded, it shall remit the case to the Agency. The Agency shall take its final decision in compliance with the findings of the Board of Appeal and shall provide a statement of reasons for that decision. The Agency shall inform the parties to the appeal proceedings accordingly.
Actions before the Court of Justice of the European Union
1. Actions for the annulment of Agency decisions taken pursuant to Articles 14, 20 and 21, or for failure to act within the applicable time limits, may be brought before the Court of Justice of the European Union only after the appeal procedure within the Agency in accordance with Article 58 has been exhausted. 2. The Agency shall take all necessary measures to comply with the judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
Articles on this page are reproduced verbatim from official open data. See the attribution line.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.