Article 1 Establishment
A Social Protection Committee (‘the Committee’) with advisory status is hereby established to promote cooperation on social protection policies between Member States and with the Commission, in full compliance with the Treaty and with due regard for the powers of the Union institutions and bodies.
Article 2 Tasks
1. The tasks of the Committee shall be: (a) to monitor the social situation and the development of social protection policies in the Member States and the Union; (b) to promote exchanges of information, experience and good practice between Member States and with the Commission; (c) without prejudice to Article 240 of the Treaty, to prepare reports, formulate opinions or undertake other work within its fields of competence, at the request of either the Council or the Commission or on its own initiative. 2. For the purposes of paragraph 1, the Committee shall, in particular, endeavour: (a) to make use of the open method of coordination, including by applying jointly agreed monitoring instruments and implementing mutually agreed evaluation arrangements in the implementation of common objectives agreed by the Council; (b) to contribute to all aspects of the European Semester within its field of competence and report on them to the Council; (c) to work, as appropriate, in cooperation with other relevant bodies and committees dealing with social and economic policy matters, such as the Employment Committee, the Economic and Financial Committee, the Economic Policy Committee and the Working Party on Public Health at Senior Level. 3. Each year, the Committee shall adopt a work programme, taking into account the policy priorities of the Council and the Commission. The work programme shall be transmitted to the Council. 4. In fulfilling its mandate, the Committee shall cooperate with the social partners. It shall, in this context, establish contacts with the social partners represented at the Tripartite Social Summit for Growth and Employment established by Council Decision 2003/174/EC ( 6 ) . The Committee shall establish appropriate contacts with social non-governmental organisations, account being taken of their respective roles and responsibilities in the social protection sphere. The European Parliament shall also be informed of the activities of the Committee. 5. The Committee may call on external experts where its agenda so requires. 6. The Committee shall establish contacts with representatives of the candidate countries.
Article 3 Membership
1. Each Member State and the Commission shall appoint two members of the Committee. They may also appoint two alternate members. 2. Member States and the Commission shall use their best endeavours to achieve a gender balance in the composition of the Committee.
Article 4 Operation
1. The Committee shall elect its Chairperson from among the members appointed by the Member States for a term of 2 years. The Chairperson may be re-elected once for a further term of 2 years. The Committee may decide to extend the Chairperson's term by up to 8 months in duly justified cases, to ensure the efficiency and continuity of its work. The Chairperson may serve up to a total of 4 years and 8 months. 2. The Chairperson shall be assisted by four Vice-Chairpersons of whom two shall be elected by the Committee from among its members for a term of 2 years, which shall be renewable once. The third Vice-Chairperson shall be a representative from the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council. The fourth Vice-Chairperson shall be a representative from the Member State that will hold the next Presidency. 3. The Chairperson shall delegate his voting right to his alternate. 4. Meetings of the Committee shall be convened by the Chairperson, either on his own initiative or at the request of at least half of the members of the Committee. 5. The Committee shall establish its own rules of procedure. 6. Expenses shall be reimbursed in accordance with the administrative rules in force. 7. The Commission shall provide adequate analytical and organisational support for the Committee. The Commission shall designate a member of its staff as Secretary. The Secretary and the staff assisting him shall act on the instructions of the Committee when assisting the Committee in carrying out its tasks. The Secretary shall liaise with the General Secretariat of the Council with regard to the holding of meetings.
Article 5 Working groups
1. The Committee may entrust the study of specific questions to its alternate members or may establish working groups to this end. The Chair of such a working group shall be taken by either a Vice-Chairperson of the Committee, a member or an alternate member of the Committee, a Commission official, or a member of the working group itself appointed by the Committee. 2. The Commission shall provide adequate analytical and organisational support for the working groups. 3. The working groups may call upon experts to assist them. 4. The Committee may equally establish joint working groups with other committees or bodies, the establishment and governing rules of which shall be determined jointly.
Article 6 Transitional provisions
The term of any member elected in accordance with Article 3 of Decision 2004/689/EC shall continue until the end of that term as determined in accordance with Article 4 of this Decision. The date of the beginning of such a term shall be considered to be the date of the election having taken place in accordance with Article 3 of Decision 2004/689/EC.
Article 7 Repeal
Decision 2004/689/EC shall be repealed as from the date of the first meeting of the Committee following the entry into force of this Decision. That meeting of the Committee shall take place no later than 4 months after the date of adoption of this Decision.
Article 8 Entry into force
This Decision shall enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .