EN Official Journal of the European Union C 425/8

COMMISSION DECISION

of 16 December 2015

Appointment of Members of the Stakeholder group of the REFIT Platform

(2015/C 425/06)

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Decision C(2015) 3261 final of 19 May 2015 establishing the REFIT Platform,

Whereas:

(1) The Commission Decision (1) (hereinafter ‘the Decision’) establishing the REFIT platform (hereinafter ‘the Platform’) provides for the Platform to have the mandate to (i) invite and collect suggestions from all available sources on regulatory and administrative burden reduction, arising from Union legislation and its implementation in Member States; (ii) assess the merits of the collected suggestions in terms of their potential to reduce regulatory and administrative burden without endangering the achievement of the objectives of the legislation and, where appropriate, provide supplementary remarks on the suggestions; (iii) forward for comments those suggestions considered to merit most attention, as well as any supplementary remarks, to the Commission services concerned or, as the case may be, to the Member State concerned; and (iv) respond to each person making a suggestion and render public the suggestions it receives, the supplementary remarks and the comments received from the Commission services or Member State concerned.

(2) The Decision provides that the Platform will comprise a Government group and a Stakeholder group and that the members of the ‘Stakeholder group’ shall consist of up to 20 experts, two of them representing the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions and the rest from business, including from SMEs, and from social partners and civil society organisations having direct experience in the application of Union legislation. The experts in the stakeholder group shall be appointed in their personal capacity or to represent a common interest shared by a number of stakeholders.

(3) The Decision provides that the Commission, on a proposal from the First Vice-President of the Commission, shall appoint members of the stakeholder group selected from applicants having direct experience in the application of Union legislation, who have responded to the call for applications. The appointments shall ensure, to the extent possible, a balanced representation of the various sectors, interests and regions of the Union and gender. Members shall be appointed until 31 October 2019.

(4) All applications received on the basis of the aforesaid criteria have been carefully examined.

(5) Should any Member of the Stakeholder group cease to be a Member during the term of office of the Platform, the First Vice-President should be empowered to nominate a replacement on the basis of the criteria set by the Decision creating the Platform in order to avoid delay in the replacement of any Members of the Stakeholder group, or imbalance in its membership,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

1. The Members of the Stakeholder group of the REFIT Platform are listed alphabetically in the Annex to this Decision.

2. Should any Member of the Stakeholder group cease to be a Member during the term of office of the Platform, the First Vice-President may nominate a replacement from the initial list of candidates who responded to the Call for expressions of interest to become Member of the Stakeholder group.

Article 2

This Decision shall apply until 31 October 2019.

Done at Brussels, 16 December 2015. For the Commission The President Jean-Claude JUNCKER

(1) C(2015) 3261 final.