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on the measures aiming to reduce the administrative burden and simplify existing legislation, with a particular focus on the needs of small businesses,

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on its simplification rolling programme, focusing on acts with a high potential for reducing the administrative burden,

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on the basis of the roadmaps, concerning potential administrative burden placed on business, in particular on SMEs and micro companies when applying EU legislation,

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on measures that can be taken at national level to help Member States apply the EU legislation adopted under the administrative burden reduction programme in the least burdensome way,

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on measures that can be taken at national level to make administrations more responsive to the concerns of SMEs and more responsive to the needs and the imperative on growth when applying EU legislation;

(a)

in paragraph 2, the second sentence is replaced by the following:

‘The members of the group shall then be appointed by the Secretary-General in consultation with the Chairperson.’;

(b)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   Members shall be individuals appointed in a personal capacity or individuals appointed to represent a common interest shared by stakeholders having expertise in administrative burden reduction.’;

(c)

in paragraph 4, the first sentence is replaced by the following:

‘The terms of office of the members of the group are extended until 31 October 2014.’;

(d)

paragraph 5 is replaced by the following:

‘5.   Members who are no longer capable of contributing effectively to the group's deliberations, who resign or who do not comply with the conditions set out in paragraph 3 of this Article, or Article 339 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, may be replaced for the remainder of their term of office.’;

(e)

paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

‘6.   Members appointed in a personal capacity shall act independently and in the public interest.

Members appointed to represent a common interest shared by stakeholders shall not represent an individual interest.’;

(f)

paragraph 7 is replaced by the following:

‘7.   The names of individuals appointed in a personal capacity and the names of individuals representing an interest shall be published in the Register of Commission expert groups and similar entities (“the Register”). In addition, the names of members shall be published on the Internet site of the Secretariat-General of the European Commission.’;

(g)

the following new paragraph 8 is inserted after paragraph 7:

‘8.   Personal data shall be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.’

(a)

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3.   The members of the group and their representatives, as well as invited experts and observers, shall comply with the obligations of professional secrecy laid down by the Treaties and their implementing rules, as well as with the Commission's rules on security regarding the protection of EU classified information, laid down in the Annex to Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom (4). Should they fail to respect these obligations, the Commission may take all appropriate measures.

(b)

paragraph 6 is replaced by the following:

‘6.   The Commission publishes all relevant documents on the activities carried out by the group (such as agendas, minutes and participants' submissions) either directly in the Register or via a link from the Register to a dedicated website where information can be found. Exceptions to publication should be foreseen where disclosure of a document would undermine the protection of a public or private interest as defined in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.’