European Research Council
Article 6
1. The Commission shall establish a European Research Council ("ERC"), which shall be the means of implementing the actions under Part I 'Excellent science' which relate to the specific objective "The European Research Council (ERC)", referred to in point (a) of Article 3(1) of this Decision. The ERC shall succeed the ERC set up by Decision 2007/134/EC. 2. The ERC shall be composed of the independent Scientific Council provided for in Article 7 and the dedicated implementation structure provided for in Article 8. 3. The ERC shall have a President who shall be chosen from among senior and internationally respected scientists. The President shall be appointed by the Commission following a transparent recruitment process involving an independent dedicated search committee, for a term of office limited to four years, renewable once. The recruitment process and the candidate selected shall have the approval of the Scientific Council. The President shall chair the Scientific Council and shall ensure its leadership and liaison with the dedicated implementation structure, and represent it in the world of science. 4. The ERC shall operate according to the principles of scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability. It shall ensure continuity with ERC actions conducted under Decision 2006/972/EC. 5. The activities of the ERC shall support research carried out across all fields by individual and transnational teams in competition at the European level. ERC frontier research grants shall be awarded on the sole criterion of excellence. 6. The Commission shall act as the guarantor of the autonomy and integrity of the ERC and shall ensure the proper execution of the tasks entrusted to it. The Commission shall ensure that the implementation of the ERC actions is in accordance with the principles set out in paragraph 4 of this Article as well as with the overall strategy for the ERC, referred to in point (a) of Article 7(2), established by the Scientific Council.