Establishment and composition of the Administrative Board of Review
1. The Authority shall establish an Administrative Board of Review for the purposes of carrying out an internal administrative review of the decisions taken by the Authority in the exercise of the powers listed in Articles 21, 22, 23 and 77. The scope of the internal administrative review shall pertain to the procedural and substantive conformity of such decisions with this Regulation.
2. The Administrative Board of Review shall be composed of five individuals of high repute, having a proven record of relevant knowledge and professional experience, including supervisory experience in the area of AML/CFT, excluding current staff of the Authority, as well as current staff of AML/CFT supervisory authorities and FIUs or other national or Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies who are involved in the carrying out of the tasks conferred on the Authority by this Regulation. The Administrative Board of Review shall have sufficient resources and expertise to assess the exercise of the powers of the Authority under this Regulation.
3. The Administrative Board of Review shall decide on the basis of a majority of at least three of its five members.
Members of the Administrative Board of Review
1. The members of the Administrative Board of Review and two alternates shall be appointed by the General Board in supervisory composition for a term of five years, which may be extended once, following a public call for expressions of interest published in the Official Journal of the European Union . They shall not be bound by any instructions.
2. The members of the Administrative Board of Review shall act independently and in the public interest and shall not perform any other duties within the Authority. For that purpose, they shall make a public declaration of commitments and of interests indicating any direct or indirect interest which might be considered prejudicial to their independence or the absence of any such interest.
Decisions subject to review
1. A request for review may be brought before the Administrative Board of Review against decisions taken by the Authority pursuant to Article 6(1) and Articles 21, 22, 23 and 77 by any natural or legal person to whom the decision is addressed, or to whom it is of direct and individual concern.
2. Any request for review shall be made in writing, including a statement of grounds, and shall be lodged with the Authority within one month of the date of notification of the decision to the person requesting the review, or, in the absence thereof, of the day on which it came to the knowledge of the person requesting the review.
3. After ruling on the admissibility of the request for review, the Administrative Board of Review shall express an opinion within a period appropriate to the urgency of the matter and in any event no later than two months from the receipt of the request, and remit the case for preparation of a new decision to the Executive Board. The Executive Board shall take into account the opinion of the Administrative Board of Review and shall promptly adopt a new decision. The new decision shall abrogate the initial decision and replace it with either a decision of identical content or an amended decision.
4. A request for review pursuant to paragraph 2 may include a request to suspend the application of the decision subject to review proceedings. The Administrative Board of Review may, if it considers that the circumstances so require and taking into account the view of the Executive Board, order that application of the decision in question be suspended until the Executive Board adopts a new decision pursuant to paragraph 3. If the Administrative Board of Review does not decide on the request for suspension within 14 days, that request shall be deemed to be rejected.
5. The opinion expressed by the Administrative Board of Review, and the new decision adopted by the Executive Board pursuant to this Article, shall be reasoned and notified to the parties.
6. The Authority shall adopt a decision establishing the Administrative Board of Review’s rules of procedure.
Exclusion and objection
1. The members of the Administrative Board of Review shall not take part in any review 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 adoption of the decision under review.
2. If, for one of the reasons listed in paragraph 1 or for any other reason, a member of the Administrative Board of Review considers that he or she is not to take part in a review proceeding, he or she shall inform the Administrative Board of Review accordingly.
3. Any party to the review proceedings may object to any member of the Administrative Board of Review on any of the grounds listed in paragraph 1, or if the member is suspected of partiality. Any such objection shall not be admissible if the party to the review proceedings, while being aware of a ground for objecting, has taken a procedural step. No objection shall be permitted to be made based on the nationality of members.
4. The Administrative Board of Review shall decide on the action to be taken in the cases referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 without the participation of the member concerned. For the purposes of taking that decision, the member concerned shall be replaced on the Administrative Board of Review by his or her alternate.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
