Act of the Management Board of Europol of 1 October 1998 laying down its rules of procedure
Date: 1998-10-01
Institutions: Europol
Subjects: Europol, rules of procedure

C 26/82

EN

Official  Journal  of  the  European  Communities

30.1.1999

ACT  OF  THE  MANAGEMENT  BOARD  OF  EUROPOL

of  1  October  1998

laying  down  its  rules  of  procedure

(1999/C 26/08)

THE  MANAGEMENT  BOARD,

Having regard to the Convention based on Article K.3 of
the Treaty on European Union, on the establishment of a
European  Police  Office  (Europol  Convention) (1),  and  in
particular  Article  28(7)  thereof,

Whereas 
unanimously,  to  lay  down  its  rules  of  procedure,

is  for  the  Management  Board,  acting

it 

HAS  ADOPTED  THESE  RULES  OF  PROCEDURE:

Article  1

Composition  of  the  Management  Board

1.
In  accordance  with  Article  28(2)  and  (3)  of  the
Europol  Convention,  full  or  alternate  members  of  the
as
Management  Board, 
‘members’), shall enjoy the requisite authority in the areas
in  which  the  Management  Board  has  competence.

(hereinafter 

referred 

to 

At  Management  Board  meetings,  members,  the
2.
Director  of  Europol  and  the  representative  of  the
Commission  of  the  European  Communities  (hereinafter
referred  to  as  ‘the  Commission’)  may  be  accompanied
and  advised  by  experts,  the  maximum  number  of  which
shall  be  laid  down  by  the  chairman  of  the  Management
Board.

3.
Each  Member  State  shall  notify  the  Director  of
Europol and the Secretary of the Management Board of a
member’s  appointment  and  cessation  of  duties.

Article  2

Administrative  support  for  the  Management  Board

shall 

The  Management  Board 

the
1.
administrative  support  necessary  for  it  to  carry  out  its
duties.  Such  support  shall  be  provided  by  Europol.  To
guarantee  its  efficient  operation,  the  Management  Board
shall  appoint  a  Secretary  from  among  the  staff  of
Europol,  who  is  not  part  of  its  management  team  and

enjoy 

(1) OJ  C  316,  27.11.1995,  p.  1.

who  fulfils  the  requirements  laid  down  by  the  Board,  in
accordance  with  the  following  criteria:

(a) ability  to  perform  the  duties  involved;

(b) administrative 

level 
Management  Board;

to  be 

laid  down  by 

the

(c) availability  to  fulfil  the  duties  required.

The  Secretary  shall  carry  out  duties  as  instructed  by  the
Management  Board  and  shall  be  responsible  to  it  for
their  fulfilment.  However,  with  the  approval  of  the
Management Board and under its authority, the Secretary
may  carry  out  other  duties.

The duration of the Secretary’s service shall be decided by
the  Management  Board,  which  may  revoke  or  renew  the
appointment.

new 

Each 

Presidency 

2.
the
documentation  of  the  Management  Board,  drawing  up
for that purpose a document which it shall submit to the
Board  for  approval  at  the  first  ordinary  meeting.

oversee 

shall 

Article  3

Chairman  of  the  Management  Board

The  Chairman  of  the  Management  Board  shall  draw  up
the  provisional  agenda  for  meetings  and  shall  chair
them.

Article  4

Proceedings  of  the  Management  Board

1.
The  Management  Board  shall  hold  at  least  one
ordinary meeting during each Presidency, convened by its
Chairman.

2. When the Chairman considers that circumstances so
dictate,  he/she  may  call  a  meeting  of  the  Management
Board,  either  on  his/her  own  initiative  or  on  that  of  a
third of the members. Should a meeting be requested by a
Member  State,  by  the  Commission  or  by  the  Director  of
Europol,  the  Chairman  shall  consult  the  other  members
and,  if  a  third  of  them  agree,  shall  call  a  meeting.

In  the  cases  mentioned  in  the  previous  paragraph,  the
Chairman  must  convene  the  meeting  within  30  days  of
receiving  the  request.

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The  Management  Board  may 

call  persons
3.
particularly  qualified  in  the  matters  to  be  examined  to
speak  on  a  particular  agenda  item.

4. On  matters  for  which  the  Management  Board  does
not consider a plenary meeting necessary, it may appoint
an  ad  hoc  committee  or  committees  with  as  many
members  as  it  considers  necessary  to  perform  the  tasks
involved.  Such  committee(s)  shall  be  chaired  by  the
Chairman  of  the  Management  Board  and  shall  be
dissolved  upon  completion  of  the  tasks  for  which  it
was/they  were  set  up.

Article  5

Agenda

1.
The  Chairman  of  the  Management  Board  shall
draw up the provisional agenda for each meeting. It shall
be  sent  by  the  Secretary  to  the  other  members,  the
Commission and the Director of Europol at least 14 days
before 
the  meeting.  Where  an
extraordinary  meeting  is  called,  the  agenda  shall  be
forwarded  during  the  week  prior  to  the  meeting.

the  beginning  of 

2.
The  provisional  agenda  shall  contain  the  items
requested  by  a  member,  the  Commission  or  the  Director
of Europol, provided that the relevant documents arrived
at  Europol  headquarters  at  least  16  days  before  the  start
of  that  meeting.

3. Only  items  for  which  the  relevant  documents  have
been forwarded to the members, the Commission and the
Director  of  Europol  no  later  than  the  date  on  which  the
agenda  is  sent  out  may  be  included  on  the  provisional
agenda.

At  the  beginning  of  the  meeting  the  Management

4.
Board  shall  adopt  the  agenda  by  simple  majority.

Article  6

Deliberations  of  the  Management  Board

1.
The  presence  of  three-quarters  of  the  Board’s
members  shall  constitute  a  quorum.  In  the  absence  of  a
quorum,  the  Chairman  shall  terminate  the  meeting  and
convene  another  as  soon  as  possible.  Two-thirds  of  the
members  of  the  Management  Board  shall  constitute  a
quorum  for  the  second  meeting.

3. Other  than  by  a  unanimous  decision  of  the
Management  Board  on  grounds  of  urgency,  the  Board
shall  take  decisions  only  on  the  basis  of  documents  and
drafts drawn up in the official languages of the European
Union.

Article  7

Voting  at  Management  Board  meetings

1.
The  Management  Board  shall  proceed  to  a  vote  on
the  initiative  of  its  Chairman,  who  shall  also  be  required
to  put  a  matter  to  the  vote  at  the  request  of  any  of  the
members,  provided  a  majority  of  the  members  agree.

A  vote  may  be  delegated  only  to  the  alternate

2.
member  representing  the  relevant  State.

3.
The distribution of votes shall be indicated for each
decision  which  the  Management  Board  adopts.  The
decision  shall  be  accompanied  by  a  note  setting  out  the
opinions  of  the  minority  should  the  minority  so  request.
Votes  shall  be  cast  by  a  show  of  hands  or  by  roll  call  if
the  result  of  a  show  of  hands  is  disputed.

4.
Votes  on  decisions  and  appointments  shall  be  by
secret  ballot  at  the  request  of  one  of  the  members  or  if
the  Chairman  so  decides.  When  a  secret  ballot  takes
place,  the  Chairman,  assisted  by  two  other  members  of
the  Management  Board,  shall  count  the  votes  and
immediately  announce  the  results.  The  Chairman  may
permit  any  member  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  reason
for  his/her  vote.

Article  8

Adoption  of  agreements

1.
Agreements  which  come  before  the  Management
Board  and  for  which  the  Europol  Convention  or  its
implementing  rules  do  not  require  unanimity  or  a
two-thirds qualified majority may be approved by simple
majority.

Decisions  or  agreements  adopted  by  the  Management
Board  shall  record  the  distribution  of  the  votes  cast,
unless  the  vote  was  secret  in  accordance  with  Article  7.

2.
The  setting  up  of  ad  hoc  committees  by  the
Management  Board  shall  require  the  agreement  of
two-thirds  of  the  members  present.

2.
The  Chairman  shall  conduct  the  meeting,  giving
priority  to  members  wishing  to  raise  a  question  of
procedure  or  a  preliminary  matter.

3. Motions to submit or not to submit a matter to the
Management  Board  for  its  approval  shall  be  subject  to  a
vote  before  the  substance  of  the  matter  is  examined.

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4. Motions  relating 
subdivided  when  so  requested.

to  several  matters  must  be

5. Where  several  motions  relate  to  the  same  matter,
the  broadest  one  shall  be  voted  on  first.  In  the  case  of
amendments,  the  amendment  which  most  extensively
alters the basic text shall be voted on first. In the case of
an amendment to an amendment, thze most extesive shall
be  voted  on  first.  The  final  vote  shall  be  cast  on  the
version  of  the  text  resulting  from  the  previous  votes.

Article  9

Article  10

Annual  report

1.
The annual report on the activities of Europol shall
be  unanimously  approved  by  the  Management  Board
during  the  first  half  of  the  following  calendar  year.

During  the  previous  six  months  the  Management  Board
shall  approve  the  report  on  Europol’s  future  activities
referred  to  in  Article  28(10)  of  the  Europol  Convention.

Both  reports  shall  be  drawn  up  by  the  Europol
Directorate  in  sufficient  time  to  comply  with  the  time
limits  laid  down  in  the  previous  paragraphs.

Minutes  of  the  meetings

2.

The  report  shall  contain  the  following  sections:

1. Minutes of each meeting of the Management Board
shall  be  drawn  up,  and  shall  include:

A.

Introduction.

B. Extent  to  which  objectives  have  been  met  during  the

— a  list  of  those  present,

— a  report  on  the  discussions,

— decisions  adopted  by  the  Management  Board  with  an
indication  of  the  distribution  of  votes  for  each  vote
held.

The  Management  Board  shall  approve  the  minutes

2.
at  its  next  meeting.

The  draft  minutes  shall  be  submitted  for  the  approval  of
the  Management  Board  only  if  the  draft  text  has  been
sent  to  the  members  at  least  four  weeks  before  the  next
meeting.  The  draft  minutes  shall  also  be  sent  to  the
Director  of  Europol 
the  Commission
and 
representative in respect of meetings at which he/she was
present.  Minutes  of  meetings  at  which  the  Commission
representative was not present shall be sent to the latter if
the  Management  Board  so  decides.

to 

year.

— Activities  carried  out.

— Budgetary  costs.

— Human  and  technical  resources  needed.

C. Study  of  future  objectives.

— Short-term  costs.

— Medium-term  costs.

D. Conclusions.

In  accordance  with  Article  34  of  the  Europol
3.
Convention, the Management Board shall approve within
the  first  quarter  of  each  year  a  special  annual  report
including  a  summary  of  sections  A  and  B  referred  to  in
paragraph  2,  which  shall  be  forwarded  by  the  Council
Presidency  to  the  European  Parliament.

3.
If the draft has not been sent in due time, approval
shall  be  postponed  until  the  following  meeting  of  the
Management  Board.

Article  11

Correspondence

Where there is a very long interval between two meetings
of  the  Management  Board,  the  members  of  the  Board
may  make  their  comments  or  signify  their  agreement  by
written  procedure.

Correspondence  addressed  to  the  Management  Board
shall be forwarded to the headquarters of Europol for the
attention  of  the  Chairman  of  the  Management  Board.
Such  correspondence  shall  be  dealt  with  by 
the
Secretary.

Proposals for amendments to the draft minutes shall
4.
be  submitted  in  writing  to  the  chairman  no  later  than
two  hours  before  the  beginning  of  the  meeting  at  which
the  minutes  are  to  be  approved.

Article  12

Management  Board  expenses

5. Once  approved,  the  minutes  shall  be  signed  by  the
Chairman  of  the  Management  Board  and  by  the
Secretary.

1.
Europol  shall  meet  the  travel  expenses  of  members
of  the  Management  Board  and  up  to  two  experts  per
Member  State  attending  meetings.  Each  Member  State

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shall pay for the accommodation expenses of its members
and  experts.  The  expenses  of  other  experts  shall  be  met
by  the  Member  States.

Article  14

Revision  of  the  rules  of  procedure

In  accordance  with  Article  4(3)  of  these  rules  of
2.
procedure,  the  expenses  of  experts  invited  to  advise  the
Management  Board  shall  be  met  by  Europol.

If  these  rules  are  revised,  the  Secretary  shall  forward  the
updated  version  to  all  members,  to  the  Director  of
Europol  and  to  the  Commission.  The  new  rules  shall
enter  into  force  on  the  day  following  their  approval.

Article  13

Entry  into  force  of  the  rules  of  procedure

Done  at  The  Hague,  1  October  1998.

These  rules  shall  enter  into  force  on  the  day  following
their  approval  by  the  Management  Board.

For  the  Management  Board

The  Chairman

K.  RUSO