1982D0043 — EN — 01.01.1996 — 001.001 — 1
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►B COMMISSION DECISION
of 9 December 1982
relating to the setting up of an Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men
(82/43/EEC)
(OJ L 20, 28.1.1982, p. 35)
Amended by:
OfficialJournal
No page date
►M1 Commission Decision 95/420/EC of 19 July 1995 L 249 43 17.10.1995
Amended by:
►A1 Act of Accession of Spain and PortugalL 302 23 15.11.1985
►A2 Act of Accession of Austria, Sweden and Finland C 241 21 29.8.1994
(adapted by CouncilDecision 95/1/EC, Euratom, ECSC) L 1 1 1.1.1995
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▼B
COMMISSION DECISION
of 9 December 1982
relating to the setting up of an Advisory Committee on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men
(82/43/EEC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community,
Whereas the application in practice of the principle of equal treatment
for women and men must be encouraged by improved cooperation andexchanges of views and experience between those bodies which havespecial responsibility in the Member States for promoting equality ofopportunity, and the Commission;
Whereas the full implementation in practice of Council Directives 75/
117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of theMember States relating to the application of the principle of equal payfor men and women (
1), 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the imple-
mentation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women asregards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, andworking conditions (
2) and 79/7/EEC of 19 December 1978 on the
progressive implementation of the principle of equal treatment for menand women in matters of socialsecurity (
3) will be speeded up consider-
ably as a result of the assistance of national bodies with a network ofspecialized information at their disposal;
Taking account of Directive 72/161/EEC of 17 April1972 concerning
the provision of socio-economic guidance for and the acquisition ofoccupational skills by persons engaged in agriculture (
4);
Whereas the preparation and implementation of Community measures
concerning the employment of women, the improvement of the positionof women who are self-employed and those engaged in agriculture, andthe promotion of equalopportunities require cl ose cooperation with thespecialized bodies in Member States;
Whereas, therefore, an institutionalframework shoul d be set up for the
purpose of regular consultations with those bodies,
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:
Article 1
The Commission hereby establishes an Advisory Committee on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men, hereinafter called ‘the Committee'.
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Article 2
1. The Committee shall assist the Commission in formulating and
implementing the Community’s activities aimed at promoting equalopportunities for women and men, and shall foster ongoing exchangesof relevant experience, policies and practices between the MemberStates and the various parties involved.
2. To achieve the aims referred to in paragraph 1 above, the
Committee shall:
(1) OJ No L 45, 19. 2. 1975, p. 19.
(2) OJ No L 39, 14. 2. 1976, p. 40.
(3) OJ No L 6, 10. 1. 1979, p. 24.
(4) OJ No L 96, 23. 4. 1972, p. 15.
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(a) assist the Commission in the development of instruments for
monitoring, evaluating and disseminating the results of measurestaken at Union l evelto promote equalopportunities;
(b) contribute to the implementation of Community action programmes
in the field, mainly by analysing the results and suggestingimprovements to the measures taken;
(c) contribute, through its opinion, to the preparation of the Commis-
sion’s annualreport on progress made towards achieving equal ity ofopportunity for women and men;
(d) encourage exchanges of information on measures taken at all levels
to promote equalopportunities and, where appropriate, put forwardproposals for possible follow-up action;
(e) deliver opinions or submit reports to the Commission, either at the
latter’s request or on its own initiative, on any matter of relevanceto the promotion of equalopportunities in the Community.
3. Procedures for the circulation of the Committee’s opinions and
reports shall be determined in agreement with the Commission. Theymay be published as an annex to the Commission’s annual report onequalopportunities for women and men
Article 3
1. The Committee shall comprise 40 members, i.e.:
(a) one representative per Member State from ministries or government
departments responsible for promoting equal opportunities; therepresentative shall be designated by the Government of eachMember State;
(b) one representative per Member State from nationalcommittees or
bodies set up by officialdecision, having specific responsibil ity forequalopportunities between women and men through representationof the sectors concerned. Where there are severalcommittees orbodies dealing with these matters in a Member State, the Commis-sion shall determine which body, by its objectives, structure, repre-sentativeness and degree of independence, is best qualified to berepresented on the Committee. Any country without such commit-tees shall be represented by members of bodies deemed by theCommission to perform analogous duties; the representative shallbe appointed by the Commission, acting on a proposalfrom therelevant national committee or body;
(c) — five members representing employers’ organizations at
Community level;
— five members representing workers’ organizations at
Community level.
The representatives shall be appointed by the Commission, acting on a
proposalfrom the socialpartners at Community l evel .
2. Two representatives of the European Women’s Lobby shall attend
meetings of the Committee as observers.
3. Representatives of internationaland professionalorganizations and
other associations making duly substantiated requests to the Commis-sion may be given observer status.
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B
Article 4
An alternate shall be appointed for each member of the Committee
under the same conditions as those laid down in Article 3. Withoutprejudice to the provisions of Article 7, the alternate shall not attendmeetings of the Committee nor participate in its work unless the rele-vant member is prevented from doing so.
Article 5
The term of office of members of the Committee shall be three years
and shall be renewable.
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At the end of the three-year period, the members of the Committee shall
continue in office untila repl acement is provided or their term of officeis renewed.
A member’s term of office shall come to an end before the expiry of the
three-year period in the event of her/his resignation, the termination ofher/his membership of the organization which she/he represents, orher/his death. A member’s terms of office may also be terminated if theorganization which nominated her/him requests her/his replacement.
The member shall be replaced for the remainder of the term of office in
accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4.
No remuneration shall be attached to member’s duties; travelling and
subsistence expenses for meetings of the Committee and the workingparties set up under Article 8 shall be met by the Commission inaccordance with the administrative rules in force.
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Article 6
The Committee shall elect a chairperson, with a one-year term of office,
from among its members. Election shall be by a majority of two-thirdsof the members present; a minimum of half the total votes in favourshall, nevertheless, be required.
Two vice-chairpersons shall be elected by the same majority and under
the same conditions. They shall be required to stand in for the chair-person in the absence of the latter. The chairperson and vice-chairper-sons must belong to different Member States. They shall constitute theBureau of the Committee, which shall meet before each meeting of theCommittee.
The Commission shall organize the work of the Committee in close
cooperation with the chairperson. The draft agenda for meetings of theCommittee shall be set by the Commission in agreement with thechairperson. The Secretariat of the Committee shall be provided by theCommission’s EqualOpportunities Unit. The minutes of the Commit-tee’s meetings shall be drawn up by the Commission and submitted tothe Committee for approval.
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B
Article 7
The chairperson may invite any person who is specially qualified in a
particular subject on the agenda to take part in its work as an expert.
Experts shall only take part in the work on the particular subject for
which their attendance is requested.
Article 8
1. The Committee may set up working parties.2. For the preparation of its opinions, the Committee may entrust a
rapporteur or an outside expert with the task of drawing up reports inaccordance with procedures to be determined.
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3. One or more members of the Committee may participate as obser-vers in the activities of other advisory committees of the Commission,and shall inform the Committee accordingly.
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Article 9
Measures adopted under Article 7 and 8 having financial implications
for the budget of the European Communities shall be submitted for theprior agreement of the Commission and shall be implemented in accord-ance with the administrative rules in force.
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Article 10
The Committee shall be convened by the Commission and shall meet on
its premises. It shall meet at least twice a year.
Article 11
The Committee’s deliberations deal with the requests for opinion
presented by the Commission or with the opinions which the Committeedelivers on its own initiative. They are not followed by a vote.
The Commission, when requesting the Committee’s opinion, may set a
deadline within which the opinion should be delivered.
The views expressed by the different categories represented in the
Committee are recorded in the minutes, which are transmitted to theCommission.
Where the opinion requested has been agreed unanimously by the
Committee, it will draft common conclusions which are annexed to theminutes.
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B
Article 12
Without prejudice to the provisions of Article 214 of the Treaty,
members of the Committee are required not to disclose informationobtained in the course of their work on the Committee or its workingparties when informed by the Commission that the opinion requested orquestion asked concerns a confidentialmatter.
In such cases, only members of the Committee and representatives of
the Commission departments shall attend meetings.
Article 13
This Decision shall enter into force on 1 January 1982.