1.   A European Police College (CEPOL) is hereby established. It shall be regarded as the successor of CEPOL, as established by Decision 2000/820/JHA.

2.   Without prejudice to future developments, CEPOL shall function as a network, by bringing together the national training institutes in the Member States whose tasks include the training of senior police officers, which shall cooperate closely to that end.

3.   CEPOL’s task shall be to implement the programmes and initiatives decided upon by the Governing Board.

1.   CEPOL shall have legal personality.

2.   CEPOL shall enjoy in each Member State the most extensive legal and contractual capacity available to legal persons under national law. CEPOL may in particular acquire and dispose of movable or immovable property and be a party to legal proceedings.

3.   The Director shall represent CEPOL in all legal acts and obligations.

1.   CEPOL may cooperate with relevant bodies of the European Union in the field of law enforcement and other related areas and with relevant training bodies in Europe.

2.   CEPOL may cooperate with national training institutes of non-member States of the European Union, in particular with those of the candidate countries, as well as with those of Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

3.   The Governing Board may authorise the Director of CEPOL to negotiate cooperation agreements with any of the bodies mentioned in paragraphs 1 and 2.

Such cooperation agreements may be concluded only with the authorisation of the Governing Board.

Cooperation agreements with bodies of non-member States of the European Union can only be concluded after the approval of the Council has been obtained.

4.   CEPOL may take into account recommendations made by Europol and/or the Task Force of Chiefs of Police of the Member States of the EU, without prejudice to the rules governing the adoption of the CEPOL work program.

1.   The Governing Board shall be made up of one delegation from each Member State. Each delegation shall have one vote.

2.   The members of the Governing Board shall preferably be directors of national training institutes. Where there are several directors from a single Member State, they shall together form a delegation. The Governing Board shall be chaired by the representative of the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

3.   Representatives of the Commission and of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and Europol shall be invited to attend meetings as non-voting observers.

4.   Members of the Governing Board may be accompanied by experts.

5.   The Director of CEPOL shall participate in the meetings of the Governing Board, without the right to vote.

6.   The Governing Board shall meet at least twice a year.

7.   Except when otherwise indicated in this Decision, the Governing Board shall act by a two-thirds majority of its members.

8.   The Governing Board shall establish its rules of procedure.

9.   The Governing Board shall adopt:

10.   The Governing Board may decide, in cases of strict necessity, to establish working groups to make recommendations, to develop and propose strategies, training concepts and tools, or to perform any other advisory task deemed necessary by the Governing Board. The Governing Board shall draw up the rules governing the creation and functioning of the working groups.

11.   The Governing Board shall exercise the powers laid down in Article 13(3) in respect of the Director.

12.   Without prejudice to paragraph 9(d) and (e), the work programme, the annual report on CEPOL’s activities and the CEPOL five-year report shall be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Commission for information and shall be made public.

1.   The Director shall be appointed by the Governing Board from a list of at least three candidates presented by a selection committee, for a four-year period extendable once.

The Governing Board shall establish rules regarding the selection of the candidates. Such rules shall be approved by the Council prior to their entry into force.

2.   The Governing Board may decide to extend the term of office of the Director.

3.   The Governing Board may remove the Director from his/her office.

4.   The Director shall be responsible for the day-to-day administration of CEPOL’s work. He or she shall support the work of the Governing Board. He or she shall:

5.   The Director shall be accountable for his/her activities to the Governing Board.

6.   If the Council so requests, the Director shall report on the carrying out of his/her duties. The Director may do the same if the European Parliament so requests.

7.   The Director shall negotiate a headquarters agreement with the government of the host Member State, and submit it for approval to the Governing Board.

1.   The Staff Regulations of officials of the European Communities, the Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities and the rules adopted jointly by the institutions of the European Communities for the purposes of the application of those Staff Regulations and Conditions of employment shall apply to the Director of CEPOL and the staff of CEPOL’s Secretariat recruited after the entry into force of this Decision.

2.   For the purpose of implementing Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 of the Council of 29 February 1968 laying down the Staff regulations of officials and the Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities and instituting special measures temporarily applicable to officials of the Commission (3), CEPOL is an agency within the meaning of Article 1a, paragraph 2, of the Staff regulations of officials of the European Communities.

3.   The powers conferred on the appointing authority by the Staff regulations and on the authority authorised to conclude contracts by the Conditions of employment of other servants shall be exercised by CEPOL in respect of the staff of its Secretariat in accordance with the provisions of Articles 10(11) and 11(4)(a) of this Decision.

4.   The staff of CEPOL’s Secretariat shall consist of officials seconded by an institution within the meaning of the Staff regulations of officials of the European Communities, of experts seconded by Member States, and of other servants recruited by CEPOL as necessary to carry out its tasks, all on a temporary basis.

5.   The secondment of national experts from the Member States to the CEPOL Secretariat shall be in accordance with Council Decision 2003/479/EC of 16 June 2003 concerning the rules applicable to national experts and military staff on secondment to the General Secretariat of the Council (4), which shall apply by analogy.

1.   The revenues of CEPOL shall consist, without prejudice to other types of income, of a subsidy from the Community entered in the general budget of the European Union (Commission section).

2.   The expenditure of CEPOL shall include the staff, administrative, infrastructure and operational expenses.

3.   The Director shall draw up an estimate of the revenues and expenditure of CEPOL for the following financial year and shall forward it to the Governing Board together with a provisional establishment plan.

4.   Revenue and expenditure shall be in balance.

5.   The Governing Board shall adopt the draft estimate, including the provisional establishment plan accompanied by the preliminary work programme, and forward them by 31 March of each year, at the latest, to the Commission. If the Commission has objections to the draft estimate, it shall consult the Governing Board within 30 days following receipt thereof.

6.   The estimate shall be forwarded by the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council (hereinafter referred to as the budgetary authority) together with the preliminary draft budget of the European Union.

7.   On the basis of the estimate, the Commission shall enter in the preliminary draft general budget of the European Union the estimates it deems necessary for the establishment plan and the amount of the subsidy to be charged to the general budget, which it shall place before the budgetary authority in accordance with Article 272 of the Treaty.

8.   The budgetary authority shall authorise the appropriations for the subsidy to CEPOL. The budgetary authority shall adopt the establishment plan for CEPOL.

9.   The Governing Board shall adopt the CEPOL budget and the establishment plan. They shall become definitive following the final adoption of the general budget of the European Union. Where appropriate, they shall be adjusted accordingly.

10.   Any modification to the budget, including the establishment plan, shall follow the procedure laid down in paragraphs 5 to 9.

11.   The Governing Board shall, as soon as possible, notify the budgetary authority of its intention to implement any project that may have significant financial implications for the funding of its budget, in particular any projects relating to property such as the rental or purchase of buildings. It shall inform the Commission thereof.

12.   Where a branch of the budgetary authority has notified its intention to deliver an opinion, it shall forward its opinion to the Governing Board within a period of six weeks from the date of notification of the project.

1.   The Director shall implement CEPOL’s budget.

2.   By 1 March at the latest following each financial year, CEPOL’s accounting officer shall communicate the provisional accounts to the Commission’s accounting officer together with a report on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year. The Commission’s accounting officer shall consolidate the provisional accounts of the institutions and decentralised bodies in accordance with Article 128 of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (5) (Financial Regulation).

3.   By 31 March at the latest following each financial year, the Commission’s accounting officer shall forward CEPOL’s provisional accounts to the Court of Auditors, together with a report on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year. The report on the budgetary and financial management for that financial year shall also be forwarded to the European Parliament and the Council.

4.   On receipt of the Court of Auditors’ observations on CEPOL’s provisional accounts, pursuant to Article 129 of the Financial Regulation, the Director shall draw up CEPOL’s final accounts under his/her own responsibility and forward them to the Governing Board for an opinion.

5.   The Governing Board shall deliver an opinion on CEPOL’s final accounts.

6.   By 1 July of the following year at the latest, the Director shall send the final accounts, together with the opinion of the Governing Board, to the Commission, the Court of Auditors, the European Parliament and the Council.

7.   The final accounts shall be published.

8.   The Director shall send the Court of Auditors a reply to its observations by 30 September at the latest. He or she shall also send this reply to the Governing Board.

9.   Upon a recommendation from the Council, the European Parliament shall, before 30 April of year n + 2, give a discharge to the Director of CEPOL in respect of the implementation of the budget for year n.

1.   In order to combat fraud, corruption and other unlawful activities, the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) (7) shall apply without restriction.

2.   CEPOL shall accede to the Inter-institutional Agreement of 25 May 1999 concerning internal investigations by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) and shall issue, without delay, the appropriate provisions applicable to the Director of CEPOL and the staff of CEPOL’s Secretariat.

3.   The decisions concerning funding and the implementing agreements and instruments resulting from them shall explicitly stipulate that the Court of Auditors and OLAF may, if necessary, carry out on-the-spot checks among the recipients of CEPOL’s funding and the agents responsible for allocating it.

1.   Within five years after this Decision takes effect, and every five years thereafter, the Governing Board shall commission an independent external evaluation of the implementation of this Decision as well as of the activities carried out by CEPOL.

2.   Each evaluation shall assess the impact of this Decision and the utility, relevance, effectiveness and efficiency of CEPOL and its working practices.

3.   The Governing Board shall receive the evaluation and issue recommendations regarding CEPOL’s structure and its working practices to the Commission. Both the evaluation findings and recommendations shall be part of the five-year report, to be established in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 10(9)(e).

1.   CEPOL, as established by this Decision, shall be the general legal successor in respect of all contracts concluded by, liabilities incumbent on, and properties acquired by CEPOL, as established under Decision 2000/820/JHA.

2.   Without prejudice to Article 11(7), the Headquarters Agreement, concluded on the basis of Article 4(1) of Decision 2000/820/JHA, shall remain in force for CEPOL, established by this Decision, until repealed.

1.   The Director, appointed on the basis of Article 4(2) of Decision 2000/820/JHA shall, for the remaining period of his/her term, be the Director within the meaning of Article 11 of this Decision.

2.   In the event that he/she is unwilling or unable to act in accordance with paragraph 1, the Governing Board shall appoint an interim Director for a maximum period of 18 months, pending the appointment procedure as provided for in Article 11(1) of this Decision.

3.   Employment contracts concluded before the adoption of this Decision shall be honoured.

4.   The seconded national experts who are posted to CEPOL, established on the basis of Decision 2000/820/JHA, shall be entitled to continue their secondments to CEPOL in accordance with the rules referred to in Article 13(5) of this Decision.

1.   The discharge procedure in respect of the budgets, established on the basis of Article 5(3) of Decision 2000/820/JHA, shall be carried out in accordance with the financial regulation adopted on the basis of Article 5(3) of Decision 2000/820/JHA.

2.   All expenditure resulting from commitments made by CEPOL in accordance with the financial regulation adopted on the basis of Article 5(3) of Decision 2000/820/JHA before the entry into force of this Decision which has not yet been paid at that time shall be covered by the budget of the CEPOL, as established by this Decision.

3.   Before the expiry of a period of nine months after the entry into force of this Decision, the Governing Board shall unanimously establish the amount covering the expenditure referred to in paragraph 2. A corresponding amount, financed from the accumulated surplus of the budgets approved on the basis of Article 5(3) of Decision 2000/820/JHA, shall be transferred into the 2006 budget established by this Decision and shall constitute an assigned revenue to cover this expenditure.

If the surpluses are not sufficient to cover the expenditure referred to in paragraph 2, the Member States shall provide the financing necessary on the basis of Decision 2000/820/JHA.

4.   The remainder of the surpluses of the budgets approved on the basis of Article 5(3) of Decision 2000/820/JHA shall be paid back to the Member States. The amount to be paid to each of the Member States shall be calculated on the basis of the annual contributions from the Member States to the CEPOL budgets, established on the basis of Article 5(2) of Decision 2000/820/JHA.

The remainder shall be paid back to the Member States within three months after the amount referred to in paragraph 3 has been established and the discharge procedures regarding the budgets approved on the basis of Article 5(3) of Decision 2000/820/JHA have been completed.

5.   CEPOL shall continue to implement the Community financed projects in which CEPOL, established on the basis of Decision 2000/820/JHA, is participating, including projects adopted under the CARDS and MEDA programs.

1.   The annual continuing education programme, adopted on the basis of Article 3 of Decision 2000/820/JHA, shall be regarded as the work programme referred to in Article 10(9)(d), subject to any amendments adopted in accordance with the provisions of this Decision.

2.   The annual report on CEPOL’s activities for the year 2005 shall be established in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 3 of Decision 2000/820/JHA.

1.   For the purpose of implementing the transitional provisions of this Decision, the Governing Board set up on the basis of Article 10 of this Decision shall substitute itself for the Governing Board set up on the basis of Decision 2000/820/JHA.

2.   Notwithstanding Article 28 of this Decision, the relevant provisions of Decision 2000/820/JHA, and all rules and regulations adopted for their implementation, shall remain in force for the purpose of implementing the transitional provisions of this Decision.