2007/134/EC: Commission Decision of 2 February 2007 establishing the European Research Council (Text with EEA relevance )

24.2.2007 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 57/14
COMMISSION DECISION
of 2 February 2007
establishing the European Research Council
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2007/134/EC)
THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Decision No 1982/2006/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 18 December 2006 concerning the seventh framework programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007-2013) (1) and in particular Articles 2 and 3 thereof,
Having regard to Council Decision 2006/972/EC of 19 December 2006 concerning the Specific Programme: ‘Ideas’ implementing the seventh framework programme (2007-2013) of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2), and in particular Article 4(2) and (3) thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Under the seventh framework programme, the Specific Programme ‘Ideas’ has the objective of supporting investigator-driven frontier research across all fields of science, engineering and scholarship carried out by researchers on subjects of their choice.
(2) Decision 2006/972/EC provides that the Commission should establish a European Research Council (hereinafter referred to as the ERC) which should be the means for implementing the Specific Programme ‘Ideas’.
(3) According to Article 4(3) of Decision 2006/972/EC the ERC should consist of an independent Scientific Council (hereinafter referred to as the Scientific Council), to be supported by a dedicated implementation structure.
(4) The Scientific Council should be composed of scientists, engineers and scholars of the highest repute, appointed by the Commission, and acting in their personal capacity, independent of any outside influence. It should act according to the mandate provided for it in Article 5 of Decision 2006/972/EC and exclusively in the interest of achieving the scientific, technological and scholarly objectives of the Specific Programme ‘Ideas’.
(5) The Scientific Council should independently select a Secretary-General who will act under its authority. The Secretary-General will, inter alia, assist the Scientific Council in ensuring its effective liaison with the dedicated implementation structure and with the Commission, an in monitoring the effective implementation of its strategy and positions as carried by the dedicated implementation structure.
(6) The Scientific Council should operate according to the principles of scientific excellence, autonomy, efficiency and transparency. The Commission should act as the guarantor of the Scientific Council's autonomy and integrity and should ensure its proper functioning.
(7) Rules on disclosure of information by members of the Scientific Council should be provided for, without prejudice to the rules on security annexed to the Commission’s Rules of Procedure by Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom (3).
(8) Personal data relating to members of Scientific Council should be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (4).
(9) An independent high level expert committee was set up to identify the founding members of the Scientific Council. Following wide consultation within the scientific and scholarly community, this committee made recommendations first on the factors and criteria to be applied in the identification of the Scientific Council members and second on the founding members themselves.
(10) A dedicated implementation structure should be set up as an external structure in the form of an executive agency to be established by a separate act in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes (5).
(11) Pending the establishment and operability of this executive agency, its implementation tasks should be executed by a dedicated service of the Commission.
(12) The budgetary impact of this decision will be taken into account in the financing decision in the framework of the Specific Programme ‘Ideas’ and in the Legislative Financial Statement of the Commission proposal for the external structure,