Composition and appointment of the Executive Board
1. The Executive Board shall be composed of:
(a)
the Chair of the Authority;
(b)
five full-time members, including the Vice-Chair.
Where the Executive Board carries out the tasks referred to in Article 64(4), points (a) to (l), a representative of the Commission shall be entitled to participate in the debates and shall only have access to the documents pertaining to those tasks.
2. The Executive Director shall participate in meetings of the Executive Board without the right to vote.
3. Where the decisions referred to in Article 64(2) in relation to a selected obliged entity are deliberated upon, the member of the General Board in supervisory composition from the Member State where the concerned selected obliged entity is established may participate in the deliberations during the relevant meetings of the Executive Board.
That member of the General Board shall not be present during the vote following such deliberations.
4. The Executive Board members referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), shall be selected on the basis of merit, skills, knowledge, integrity, recognised standing and experience in the area of AML/CFT, and other relevant qualifications, following an open selection procedure which shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union .
The Commission shall prepare a shortlist of candidates for the position of the Executive Board members referred to in paragraph 1, point (b). The European Parliament may conduct hearings of the candidates on that shortlist.
The General Board shall submit a proposal for the appointment of the Executive Board members referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), to the European Parliament, based on the shortlist prepared by the Commission. Following the European Parliament’s approval of that proposal, the Council shall adopt an implementing decision to appoint those Executive Board members. The Council shall act by qualified majority.
Throughout the appointment process, the principles of gender and geographical balance shall be taken into account to the extent possible.
5. The term of office of the Executive Board members referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), shall be four years. In the course of the 12 months preceding the end of their four-year term of office, the General Board in both compositions or a smaller committee selected among General Board members, including a Commission representative, shall carry out an assessment of those Executive Board members. The assessment shall take into account an evaluation of each Executive Board member’s performance and the Authority’s future tasks and challenges. Based on the assessment, the General Board in both compositions may propose to the European Parliament to extend their term of office. Such extension may be granted only once. Following the European Parliament’s approval of the General Board’s proposal, the Council shall adopt an implementing decision to extend the term of office of the Executive Board member or members concerned. The Council shall act by qualified majority.
6. The Executive Board members referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), shall act independently and objectively in the interest of the Union as a whole and shall neither seek nor take instructions from Union institutions, bodies, offices or agencies, or from any government or any other public or private body. The Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, the governments of Member States and all other public or private bodies shall respect that independence.
7. If an Executive Board member referred to in paragraph 1, point (b), no longer fulfils the conditions required for the performance of that member’s duties or has been guilty of serious misconduct, the Council may, acting on its own initiative or following a proposal by the European Parliament or the General Board in either composition, adopt an implementing decision to remove that member of the Executive Board from office. The Council shall act by qualified majority.
8. During a period of 18 months after ceasing to hold office, the former Executive Board members, including the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Authority, shall be prohibited from engaging in a gainful occupational activity with:
(a)
a selected obliged entity;
(b)
any other entity, where doing so would or could lead to a conflict with the legitimate interests of the Authority.
In its rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest in respect of its members, referred to in Article 64(4), point (e), the Executive Board shall specify the circumstances under which such a conflict of interest exists or could be perceived to exist.
Tasks of the Executive Board
1. The Executive Board shall be responsible for the overall planning and execution of the tasks conferred on the Authority pursuant to Article 5. The Executive Board shall adopt all decisions of the Authority with the exception of the decisions that are to be taken by the General Board in accordance with Article 60.
2. The Executive Board shall adopt the decisions addressed to selected obliged entities for the purposes of the exercise of the powers referred to in Article 6(1), taking into account the proposal of the selected obliged entity’s joint supervisory team referred to in Article 16, the proposal of the independent investigatory team referred to in Article 27, and the opinion provided by the General Board on that proposed decision pursuant to Article 60(2). Where the Executive Board decides to deviate from such an opinion, it shall provide detailed reasons thereof in writing.
3. The Executive Board shall adopt the decisions addressed to individual public authorities pursuant to Articles 14, 30, and 32 to 36.
4. In addition, the Executive Board shall have the following tasks:
(a)
adopt, by 30 November of each year, on the basis of a proposal by the Executive Director, the draft single programming document in accordance with Article 65, and transmit it, for information to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission by 31 January of the following year, as well as adopt and transmit any other updated version of the document;
(b)
adopt the draft annual budget of the Authority and exercise other functions in respect of the Authority’s budget;
(c)
assess and adopt a consolidated annual report on the Authority’s activities, including an overview of the fulfilment of its tasks, transmit it, by 1 July of each year, to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, and make it public;
(d)
adopt an anti-fraud strategy, proportionate to fraud risks, taking into account the costs and benefits of the measures to be implemented;
(e)
adopt rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest in respect of its members, as well as the members of the Administrative Board of Review;
(f)
adopt its rules of procedure;
(g)
exercise, with respect to the staff of the Authority, the appointing authority powers;
(h)
adopt appropriate implementing rules for giving effect to the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants in accordance with Article 110(2) of the Staff Regulations;
(i)
appoint the Executive Director and remove him or her from office in accordance with Article 70(5);
(j)
appoint an accounting officer, who may be the Commission’s accounting officer, subject to the Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, who shall be fully independent in the performance of his or her duties;
(k)
ensure adequate follow-up to findings and recommendations stemming from the internal or external audit reports and evaluations, as well as from investigations of OLAF;
(l)
adopt the financial rules applicable to the Authority;
(m)
take all decisions on the establishment of the Authority’s internal structures and, where necessary, on their modification.
5. The Executive Board shall select a Vice-Chair of the Authority from among its voting members. The Vice-Chair shall automatically replace the Chair of the Authority if the Chair is unable to attend to his or her duties.
6. With respect to the powers referred to in paragraph 4, point (h), of this Article, the Executive Board shall adopt, in accordance with Article 110(2) of the Staff Regulations, a decision based on Article 2(1) of the Staff Regulations and Article 6 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants, delegating relevant appointing authority powers to the Executive Director. The Executive Director shall be authorised to sub-delegate those powers.
7. In exceptional circumstances, the Executive Board may, by way of a decision, temporarily suspend the delegation of the appointing authority powers to the Executive Director and any sub-delegation by the Executive Director and exercise them itself or delegate them to one of its members or to a staff member other than the Executive Director.
Annual and multiannual programming
1. By 30 November of each year, the Executive Board shall adopt a single programming document containing a multiannual work programme and an annual work programme, based on a draft put forward by the Executive Director, taking into account the opinion of the Commission and — regarding the multiannual work programme — after consulting the European Parliament. If the Executive Board decides not to take into account any elements of the opinion of the Commission, it shall provide a thorough justification for that decision. The obligation to provide a thorough justification shall also apply to any elements raised by the European Parliament when it is consulted. The Executive Board shall forward the single programming document to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.
The single programming document shall become final after the final adoption of the general budget and shall, if necessary, be adjusted accordingly.
2. The annual work programme shall comprise detailed objectives and expected results, including performance indicators. It shall also contain a description of the actions to be financed and an indication of the financial and human resources allocated to each action, in accordance with the principles of activity-based budgeting and management. The annual work programme shall be coherent with the multiannual work programme. It shall clearly indicate which tasks have been added, changed or deleted in comparison with the previous financial year.
3. The Executive Board shall amend the adopted annual work programme when a new task is given to the Authority.
Any substantial amendment to the annual work programme shall be adopted by the same procedure as the initial annual work programme. The Executive Board may delegate the power to make non-substantial amendments to the annual work programme to the Executive Director.
4. The multiannual work programme shall set out overall strategic programming including objectives, expected results and performance indicators. It shall also set out resource programming including multiannual budget and staff.
The resource programming shall be updated annually. The strategic programming shall be updated where appropriate.
Voting rules of the Executive Board
1. The Executive Board shall take decisions by a simple majority of its members. Each member of the Executive Board shall have one vote. The Chair of the Authority, or the Vice-Chair when replacing the Chair, shall have a casting vote in the event of a tied vote.
2. A representative of the Commission shall have a right to vote whenever matters pertaining to Article 64(4), points (a) to (l), are discussed and decided upon.
3. The Executive Board’s rules of procedure shall establish more detailed voting arrangements, in particular the circumstances in which a member can act on behalf of another member.
Fundamental Rights Officer
1. The Executive Board shall, upon a proposal of the Executive Director, designate a Fundamental Rights Officer. The Fundamental Rights Officer may be a member of the existing staff of the Authority.
2. The Fundamental Rights Officer shall perform the following tasks:
(a)
advise the staff of the Authority on any activity carried out by the Authority, where the Officer deems it necessary or where requested by the staff without impeding or delaying those activities;
(b)
promote and monitor the Authority’s compliance with fundamental rights;
(c)
provide non-binding opinions on the compliance of the Authority’s activities with fundamental rights;
(d)
inform the Executive Director and the Executive Board about possible violations of fundamental rights in the course of the Authority’s activities.
3. The Executive Board shall ensure that the Fundamental Rights Officer does not seek or take any instructions regarding the exercise of the Officer’s tasks.
4. The Fundamental Rights Officer shall report directly to the Executive Director and prepare regular reports on the performance of the tasks referred to in paragraph 2. Those reports shall be made available to the Executive Board.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
