Appointment of the members of the Scientific Committees
Article 4
(1) The SCCS and the SCHEER shall each consist of a maximum of 19 members. The Director General of the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety shall determine the number of members of each Committee in accordance with the requisite needs. (2) The members of the Scientific Committees shall be appointed by the Director General of the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety on the basis of the proven scientific expertise and of experience demonstrated by the candidates for the defined range of disciplines, having regard to the need to ensure: (a) balanced representation of expertise in one or more of the fields of competence of the relevant Committee, in order to collectively cover the widest possible range of disciplines relevant for that Committee to fulfil its mission and to reflect the diversity of scientific problems and approaches; (b) independence and absence of conflict of interest; (c) balanced geographical origin representation; (d) balanced gender representation. (3) The members of the Scientific Committees shall be appointed from a list of suitable candidates established following publication on the Commission website of a call for expression of interest; a link from the Register of Commission Expert Groups and Other Similar Entities (hereinafter 'the Register of expert groups') to this website will also be provided. (4) Suitable candidates who have been included in the list referred to in paragraph 3, but who have not been appointed, shall be included on a reserve list. The reserve list may be used to find suitable candidates to replace members whose membership in the Committee has been terminated in accordance with Article 5(2) or due to death. (5) The list of members of the Scientific Committees shall be published in the Register of Expert Groups and be also made available on the relevant Commission's website.