Article 1 Establishment of a Joint Undertaking
1. In order to manage the activities of the development phase of the project to modernise air traffic management in Europe and to enhance safety, (the SESAR project), a Joint Undertaking is hereby established, known as ‘SESAR Joint Undertaking’ (the Joint Undertaking). 2. The Joint Undertaking shall cease to exist on 31 December 2016 or eight years after an endorsement by the Council of the European Air Traffic Management Master Plan (the ATM Master Plan) resulting from the definition phase of the SESAR project, whichever is the earlier. The Council shall decide on such endorsement acting on a proposal from the Commission. 3. The ATM Master Plan shall be communicated to the European Parliament. 4. The scope, governance, funding and duration of the Joint Undertaking shall, where appropriate, be reviewed by the Council on the basis of a proposal from the Commission according to the development of the project and of the ATM Master Plan, taking into account the evaluation referred to in Article 7. 5. The aim of the Joint Undertaking shall be to ensure the modernisation of the European air traffic management system by coordinating and concentrating all relevant research and development efforts in the Community. It shall be responsible for the execution of the ATM Master Plan and in particular for carrying out the following tasks: — organising and coordinating the activities of the development phase of the SESAR project, in accordance with the ATM Master Plan, resulting from the definition phase of the project managed by Eurocontrol, by combining and managing under a single structure public and private sector funding, — ensuring the necessary funding for the activities of the development phase of the SESAR project in accordance with the ATM Master Plan, — ensuring the involvement of the stakeholders of the air traffic management sector in Europe, in particular: air navigation service providers, airspace users, professional staff associations, airports, and manufacturing industry; as well as the relevant scientific institutions or the relevant scientific community, — organising the technical work of research and development, validation and study, to be carried out under its authority while avoiding fragmentation of such activities, — ensuring the supervision of activities related to the development of common products duly identified in the ATM Master Plan and if necessary, to organise specific invitations to tender. 6. The Joint Undertaking shall be operational at the latest when the ATM Master Plan has been transferred to the Joint Undertaking. 7. The seat of the Joint Undertaking shall be located in Brussels.
Article 2 Legal status
The Joint Undertaking shall be a Community body and shall have legal personality. In every Member State, it shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under the law of that State. It may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings.
Article 2a Staff
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 purpose of applying these Staff Regulations and the Conditions of Employment shall apply to the staff of the Joint Undertaking and its Executive Director. 2. Without prejudice to Article 7(2) of its Statutes, the Joint Undertaking shall exercise the powers conferred on the appointing authority by the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and on the authority empowered to conclude employment contracts by the Conditions of employment of other servants of the European Communities in respect of its staff. 3. The Administrative Board shall, in agreement with the Commission, adopt the appropriate implementing rules referred to in Article 110(1) of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and the Conditions of Employment of other Servants of the European Communities. 4. The staff resources shall be determined in the establishment plan of the Joint Undertaking that will be set out in its annual budget. 5. The staff of the Joint Undertaking shall consist of temporary agents and contract agents engaged for a fixed period that may be renewed once and for a fixed period only. The total period of engagement shall not exceed eight years and shall not in any case exceed the duration of the Joint Undertaking. 6. All costs related to the staff shall be borne by the Joint Undertaking.
Article 2b Privileges and immunities
1. The Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities shall apply to the Joint Undertaking and, insofar as they are subject to the rules referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 2a, to its staff and its Executive Director. Insofar as taxes and customs duties are concerned, that Protocol shall apply to the Joint Undertaking as from 15 October 2008. 2. An administrative agreement shall be concluded between the Joint Undertaking and Belgium concerning privileges and immunities and other support to be provided by Belgium to the Joint Undertaking.
Article 2c Liability
1. The contractual liability of the Joint Undertaking shall be governed by the relevant contractual provisions and by the law applicable to the agreement or contract in question. 2. In the case of non-contractual liability, the Joint Undertaking shall, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused by its staff in the performance of their duties. 3. Any payment by the Joint Undertaking in respect of the liability referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 and the costs and expenses incurred in connection therewith shall be considered as expenditure of the Joint Undertaking and shall be covered by its resources. 4. The Joint Undertaking shall be solely responsible for meeting its obligations.
Article 2d Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice and applicable law
1. The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction: (a) in any dispute between the members, which relates to the subject matter of this Regulation and/or the Statutes referred to in Article 3; (b) pursuant to any arbitration clause contained in agreements and contracts concluded by the Joint Undertaking; (c) in actions brought against the Joint Undertaking, including decisions of its bodies, under the conditions provided for in Articles 230 and 232 of the Treaty; (d) in disputes related to compensation for damage caused by the staff of the Joint Undertaking in the performance of their duties. 2. For any matter not covered by this Regulation or by other acts of Community law, the law of the State where the seat of the Joint Undertaking is located shall apply.
Article 3 Statutes of the Joint Undertaking
The Statutes of the Joint Undertaking, as set out in the Annex hereto constitute an integral part of this Regulation and are hereby adopted.
Article 4 Sources of financing
1. The financing of the Joint Undertaking shall come from contributions from its members, including private undertakings, in accordance with Articles 1 and 12 of the Statutes. 2. The maximum Community contribution shall be EUR 700 million of which EUR 350 million shall be paid from the budget appropriation allocated to the theme ‘Transport (Including Aeronautics)’ of the Specific Programme Cooperation of the Seventh Framework Programme for research and technological development and EUR 350 million from the budget of the Framework Programme on Trans-European networks for the period 2007-2013. The Community contribution shall be paid in accordance with Article 54(2)(b) 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 ( 7 ) (hereinafter referred to as the Financial Regulation). The arrangements for the Community contribution shall be established by means of a general agreement and annual financial implementation agreements, which shall be concluded between the Commission, on behalf of the Community, and the Joint Undertaking. The general agreement shall provide for a right for the Commission to oppose the use of the Community contribution for purposes it considers to be contrary to the principles of the Community programmes mentioned in the first subparagraph or to its Financial Regulation or detrimental to the interests of the Community. In the event of the Commission’s opposition, the Community contribution cannot be used by the Joint Undertaking for those purposes. 3. All Community financial contributions to the Joint Undertaking shall cease upon expiry of the 2007-2013 financial perspectives unless otherwise decided by the Council on the basis of a Commission proposal.
Article 4a Financial Rules
1. The Joint Undertaking shall adopt specific financial rules in accordance with Article 185(1) of the Financial Regulation. They may depart from the rules laid down in Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 23 December 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of the Financial Regulation ( 8 ) where the specific operating needs of the Joint Undertaking so require and subject to prior consent of the Commission. 2. The Joint Undertaking shall have its own internal audit capability.
Article 4b Discharge
Discharge for the implementation of the budget of the year n of the Joint Undertaking shall be given by the European Parliament, upon recommendation from the Council, before 15 May of the year n + 2 . The Administrative Board shall, in the financial rules of the Joint Undertaking, provide for the procedure to be followed when giving discharge, taking into account the particular characteristics resulting from the nature of the Joint Undertaking as public-private partnership, and in particular from the private sector contribution to the budget.
Article 5 Committee
1. The Single Sky Committee, established by Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 549/2004, (the Committee), shall be informed on a regular basis about the work of the Joint Undertaking. To this end, the Commission shall put the Sesar project as an item on the agenda of the Committee's meetings. 2. The Commission shall adopt the Community position in the Administrative Board. 3. However, the position of the Community in the Administrative Board as regards decisions concerning the appointment of the Executive Director, strategic financial issues or decisions taken under Article 23 of the Statutes shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 6(2) of this Regulation. 4. The position of the Community in the Administrative Board as regards decisions concerning the accession of new members and significant modifications of the ATM Master Plan shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 6.3.
Article 6 Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by the Committee referred to in Article 5. 2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 4 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply. The period referred to in Article 4(3) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at one month. 3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Articles 5 and 7 of Decision 1999/468/EC shall apply. The period laid down in Article 5(6) of Decision 1999/468/EC shall be set at one month. 4. The Commission may consult the Committee on any other matter concerning the application of this Regulation. 5. The Committee shall adopt its Rules of Procedure.
Article 7 Evaluation
Every three years from the start of the activities of the Joint Undertaking and at least one year before expiry of the term of the Joint Undertaking, the Commission shall carry out evaluations on the implementation of this Regulation, the results obtained by the Joint Undertaking and its working methods, as well as on the general financial situation of the Joint Undertaking. The Commission shall present the results of these evaluations to the European Parliament and to the Council.
Article 8 Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union . This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.