Composition of the General Board
1. The General Board shall have either the supervisory composition laid down in paragraph 2 or the FIU composition laid down in paragraph 3.
2. The General Board in supervisory composition shall be composed of:
(a)
the Chair of the Authority, with the right to vote;
(b)
the heads of the supervisory authorities of obliged entities in each Member State, with the right to vote;
(c)
one representative of the Commission, without the right to vote.
The heads of the supervisory authorities referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), in each Member State shall share a single vote and shall agree on a single common representative, which shall be either a permanent representative or an ad hoc voting representative, for the purposes of each specific meeting or voting procedure. Where items to be discussed by the General Board in supervisory composition concern the competence of several supervisory authorities, the single common representative may be accompanied by a representative from up to two other supervisory authorities, without the right to vote.
Each supervisory authority that has a voting member under an ad hoc or permanent agreement shall be responsible for nominating a high-level alternate from its authority, who may replace the voting member of the General Board referred to in the second subparagraph where that person is unable to attend.
3. The General Board in FIU composition shall be composed of:
(a)
the Chair of the Authority, with the right to vote;
(b)
the heads of FIUs, with the right to vote;
(c)
one representative of the Commission, without the right to vote.
Each FIU shall nominate a high-level alternate from its unit, who may replace the head of the FIU referred to in the first subparagraph, point (b), where that person is unable to attend.
4. The General Board may decide to admit observers. In particular, the General Board in FIU composition may admit the representatives of OLAF, Europol, Eurojust and the EPPO as observers to meetings, where matters within the scope of their respective mandates are discussed. The General Board in supervisory composition shall admit a representative nominated by the Supervisory Board of the ECB and a representative of each of the ESAs as observers, where matters within the scope of their respective mandates are discussed.
The circumstances under which the Union institution, bodies, offices and agencies listed in the first subparagraph are to be invited to the meetings of the General Board shall be specified in the rules of procedure of the General Board and reflect an agreement reached between the Authority and each of those observers.
Other observers may be admitted on an ad hoc basis if approved by a two-thirds majority of the voting members of the General Board in the relevant composition.
5. The Executive Board members may participate in the meetings of the General Board, whether in supervisory composition or FIU composition, without the right to vote, where the items covered by their areas of responsibility as determined by the Chair of the Authority and referred to in Article 66(2) are discussed.
Delegation of tasks and decisions, and internal committees of the General Board
1. The General Board, on its own initiative or at the request of the Chair of the Authority, may establish internal committees for specific tasks attributed to it. The General Board may provide for the delegation of certain clearly defined tasks and decisions to internal committees, to the Executive Board or to the Chair of the Authority. The General Board may revoke such delegation at any time.
2. Internal committees shall report to the General Board, for decision, all conclusions reached by them.
3. The Executive Board members may participate in the meetings of internal committees in accordance with Article 57(5).
4. The General Board in FIU composition shall establish a standing committee composed of nine of its members or representatives with adequate expertise from their respective national FIU, to support it in performing its tasks pursuant to Article 60(3), including by submitting proposals and preparing draft decisions.
The standing committee shall have no decision-making powers. It shall execute its tasks in the interest of the Union as a whole and shall work in full transparency with the General Board in FIU composition.
The General Board in FIU composition shall adopt the rules of procedure of the standing committee. The composition of the standing committee shall ensure a fair balance and rotation between the members or representatives of national FIUs. Its nine members shall be appointed by the General Board in FIU composition.
Independence of the General Board
1. When carrying out the tasks conferred upon them by this Regulation, the Chair of the Authority and the members of the General Board in supervisory composition and in FIU composition shall act independently and in the general interest of the Union as a whole and shall neither seek nor take instructions from Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, nor from any government or any other public or private body.
2. Member States, Union institutions, agencies, offices and bodies, and other public or private bodies shall not seek to influence the members of the General Board in the performance of their tasks.
3. In its rules of procedure, the General Board shall lay down practical arrangements for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest.
Tasks of the General Board
1. The General Board in supervisory composition shall take the decisions relating to the tasks referred to in Articles 7 to 10 as well as any other decision which, pursuant to this Regulation, is to be taken by the General Board in supervisory composition.
2. The General Board in supervisory composition may provide its opinion on any draft decision prepared by the Executive Board in relation to selected obliged entities, in accordance with Chapter II, Section 3, and Article 64(2).
The General Board in supervisory composition and the Executive Board shall jointly agree on, and adopt, the procedures and timelines to be followed for the purpose of providing the opinion referred to in the first subparagraph.
3. The General Board in FIU composition shall perform the tasks and adopt the decisions referred to in Article 5(5) and Chapter II, Section 6.
4. The General Board shall adopt the opinions, recommendations, guidelines and decisions of the Authority referred to in Chapter II, Section 7, in the appropriate composition, having regard to the subject matter of the instrument. Where a given instrument concerns both supervision-related matters and FIU-related matters, the General Board in supervisory composition and the General Board in FIU composition shall each adopt separately those opinions, recommendations, guidelines and decisions. The opinions, recommendations, and guidelines shall be adopted based on a proposal of the relevant internal committee.
5. The General Board shall vote on the draft regulatory technical standards referred to in Article 49 and the draft implementing technical standards referred to in Article 53 and submit them to the Commission for adoption, in the appropriate composition, having regard to the subject matter of the standards.
6. The General Board in either composition shall be consulted on the draft decisions to be taken by the Executive Board pursuant to Article 64(4), points (a), (c), (e) and (m). Where the subsequent decision taken by the Executive Board deviates from the opinion of the General Board, the Executive Board shall provide the reasons thereof in writing.
7. The General Board shall adopt its rules of procedure and make them public.
8. Without prejudice to Article 63(3) and (4) and Article 68(1) and (2), the General Board shall exercise the powers conferred by the Staff Regulations on the appointing authority and by the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants on the authority empowered to conclude contracts of employment (‘the appointing authority powers’) with regard to the Chair of the Authority and the five full-time members of the Executive Board, throughout their mandate.
Voting rules of the General Board
1. Decisions of the General Board shall be taken by a simple majority of its members. Each voting member as determined by Article 57(2) and (3) shall have one vote. In the event of a tied vote, the Chair of the Authority shall have a casting vote.
2. By way of derogation from paragraph 1 of this Article, the General Board shall, with regard to the acts referred to in Articles 49, 53, 54 and 55 of this Regulation, take decisions on the basis of a qualified majority of its members, as provided for in Article 16(4) TEU.
The Chair of the Authority shall not vote on the decisions referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph, the opinions referred to in Article 60(2) or the decisions related to the evaluation of the performance of the Executive Board referred to in Article 63(5).
3. The members without the right to vote and the observers shall not attend any discussions held within the General Board in supervisory composition relating to individual obliged entities, unless otherwise provided for in the legislative acts referred to in Article 1(2) or otherwise decided upon by the members with the right to vote.
4. Paragraph 3 shall not apply to the Executive Board members and the ECB representative nominated by the Supervisory Board of the ECB.
5. The Chair of the Authority shall have the prerogative to call a vote at any time. Without prejudice to that prerogative and to the effectiveness of the Authority’s decision-making procedures, the General Board shall strive for consensus when taking its decisions.
Meetings of the General Board
1. The Chair of the Authority shall convene the meetings of the General Board.
2. The General Board shall hold at least two ordinary meetings per year. In addition, it shall meet on the initiative of its Chair, or at the request of at least one third of its members.
3. The General Board may invite any person whose opinion may be of interest to attend its meetings as an observer.
4. The members of the General Board and their alternates may, subject to its rules of procedure, be assisted at the meetings by advisers or experts.
5. The General Board shall be assisted by a secretariat provided by the Authority.
6. The Chair of the Authority and the five full-time members of the Executive Board shall not attend meetings of the General Board where matters concerning the performance of their mandate are discussed or decided upon.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
