29.12.2012

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 402/13

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Rules of Procedure of the Management Committee of the Publications Office of the European Union

2012/C 402/05

THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OF THE PUBLICATIONS OFFICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Management Committee’),

Having regard to Article 6(4) of Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom of 26 June 2009 on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office of the European Union (1) (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Office’), as amended by Decision 2012/368/EU, Euratom (2),

HEREBY ESTABLISHES ITS RULES OF PROCEDURE AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Composition

1.   The Management Committee shall comprise full members, one of whom shall be appointed by each of the institutions defined in Article 2(7) of Decision 2009/496/EC, Euratom which have signed the Decision on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office (hereinafter referred to as ‘the institutions’).

2.   Each full member may appoint its own representative(s) and shall communicate their name(s) in writing to the Publications Office, which shall act as the secretariat for the Management Committee.

3.   The European Central Bank shall participate in the work of the Management Committee as an observer. It shall communicate the name(s) of its representative(s) in writing to the Publications Office.

Article 2

Chairperson

1.   The Management Committee shall be chaired by a representative of the following institutions:

—	the European Parliament,

—	the European Council,

—	the Council of the European Union,

—	the European Commission,

—	the Court of Justice of the European Union,

—	the European Court of Auditors,

—	the European Economic and Social Committee,

—	the Committee of the Regions.

2.   The institutions represented on the Management Committee shall appoint a full member to chair the Committee for a period of two years. The Chairperson’s mandate shall take effect on 1 August.

Article 3

Invitation to meetings

1.   The Management Committee shall meet at least four times a year. Members shall be invited to attend by or on the initiative of the Chairperson, or at the request of one of the members or of the Director of the Publications Office.

2.   Meetings shall be held at the Office’s headquarters, unless the Management Committee decides otherwise.

3.   The meetings of the Management Committee shall not be open to the public.

Article 4

Agenda

1.   The Chairperson shall draw up the draft agenda upon a proposal of the Director. Any matter which a member of the Management Committee would like to see discussed shall be included as an agenda item.

2.   The agenda shall make a distinction between draft measures to be taken for which the opinion/approval of the Management Committee is required and points submitted for information or simply for discussion.

3.   The agenda shall be approved by the Management Committee at the start of the meeting, by a simple majority of its members.

4.   A matter may be added to the agenda at the meeting, subject to the agreement of all the members of the Management Committee present at the meeting.

Article 5

Transmission of documents

1.   The Director of the Office shall send the invitation, the draft agenda and any working documents to the members of the Management Committee.

2.   The documents mentioned in the previous paragraph shall, as a rule, be received by the members of the Management Committee two weeks before the date of the meeting.

3.   In urgent cases and if the measures to be adopted have to be applied quickly, the Chairperson may, at the request of a member of the Committee or of the Director of the Office or on his own initiative, shorten the period mentioned in the above paragraph to no fewer than three calendar days before the date of the meeting.

4.   In cases of extreme urgency, the Director may ignore the periods laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3 above.

Article 6

Representation and quorum

1.   In order for the Committee to be able to make decisions, each institution shall be represented by its full member or, failing this, by another representative or representatives duly appointed pursuant to Article 1(2).

2.   However, the Committee may, with the prior consent of the members, hold a meeting exceptionally even if the full members or representatives of no more than two institutions are unable to attend. In such a case, the absent members shall be required to give the Chairperson advance written notice of the Committee member to whom they have granted their proxy. A member present at the meeting may not act as proxy for more than one absent member.

3.   A majority shall be obtained if five members of the Management Committee have approved a decision submitted to the Committee.

4.   Abstentions shall not prevent the adoption of decisions requiring unanimity.

Article 7

Working groups

1.   In order to examine specific issues, the Management Committee may, unless the Committee decides otherwise, create working groups in which the Director of the Office or his or her representative participates.

2.   The working groups shall report to the Management Committee, to which end they may appoint a rapporteur.

Article 8

Admission of third parties to meetings

1.   Unless the Management Committee decides otherwise, the Director of the Office shall attend the meetings.

2.   The Chairperson of the Management Committee may invite a representative of the Commission’s Directorate-General for Human Resources and Security to attend meetings of the Management Committee in order to answer any questions falling within its remit.

3.   The Management Committee may, at the request of a member or the Director of the Office or on the initiative of the Chairperson, decide to invite experts to address it concerning specific issues.

4.   Such experts shall not participate in the discussions of the Management Committee.

Article 9

Written procedure

1.   The Management Committee shall, as a rule, adopt decisions at its meetings. However, the agreement of the members of the Management Committee on a proposal made by one of them or by the Director of the Office may, alternatively, be obtained by way of a written procedure.

2.   In order to do this, the Director of the Office shall, in agreement with the Chairperson, send the proposal to the members of the Management Committee. Any member who does not raise an objection or suggest changes to the proposal by a deadline set out in the communication shall be considered to have given their tacit agreement. The deadline shall be 10 working days, which may be extended once at the request of a member of the Management Committee up to a maximum of 10 working days. For urgent issues, this deadline shall be reduced to five working days.

3.   However, if a member of the Management Committee requests that the proposal be examined at a meeting, the written procedure shall be concluded without a result, and the Chairperson shall invite the members of the Management Committee to a meeting as soon as possible.

4.   Any proposal with regard to which no member of the Management Committee has raised or maintained an objection by the original or extended deadline shall be deemed to have been approved by the Committee.

Article 10

Secretariat

The secretariat of the Management Committee and, if relevant, of the working groups created pursuant to Article 7 above shall be provided by the management of the Office.

Article 11

Minutes of meetings

1.   Draft minutes of each meeting containing, in particular, opinions expressed on proposals and decisions made by the Management Committee shall be drawn up under the responsibility of the Chairperson. The minutes of any discussions relating to personnel issues or other subjects of a confidential nature shall be in a separate annex.

2.   The draft minutes shall be submitted to the members of the Committee for approval at a subsequent meeting or by means of the written procedure referred to in Article 9 above. The members shall send any comments to the Chairperson in writing. The Committee shall be informed and, in the event of any disagreement, the proposed amendment shall be discussed by the Committee. If the disagreement persists, this amendment shall be annexed to the minutes.

Article 12

Transparency

1.   The principles and conditions concerning public access to documents shall be those already applicable to Commission documents.

2.   If a request concerns a document of the Management Committee, the request shall be referred to the members of the Committee.

Article 13

Implementation of the decisions of the Management Committee

1.   Decisions made by the Management Committee shall be communicated either by the Chairperson or by the Director of the Office, acting on behalf of the Committee, to the institutions or persons concerned.

2.   A unanimous decision shall be required for the Management Committee to delegate powers to the Director of the Office. Where necessary, the Director of the Office shall seek the opinion of relevant officials in the institutions and shall report back to the Committee on the decisions made.

Article 14

Annual management report

1.   The Director of the Office shall propose to the Management Committee, by no later than 31 March of each year, a draft annual management report under the conditions provided for in Article 7(1)(c) of the Decision on the organisation and operation of the Publications Office.

2.   The draft annual management report shall contain detailed information on:

—	the work of the Management Committee,

—	relations with the institutions and other organisations,

—	the activities of the Office,

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staffing,

—	budgetary and financial management,

—	infrastructure,

—	risk analysis,

—	a summary of internal audit work,

—	a summary of evaluation work.

A foreword by the Chairperson, an executive summary and a summary of the main indicators shall be placed at the beginning of the document.

Article 15

These Rules of Procedure shall take effect on the day following their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

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(1)  OJ L 168, 30.6.2009, p. 41.

(2)  OJ L 179, 11.7.2012, p. 15.

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