Executive Board

1. The Management Board shall be assisted by an Executive Board. The Executive Board shall supervise the necessary preparatory work for the decisions to be adopted by the Management Board. In particular, it shall scrutinise budgetary and human resources matters.

2. The Executive Board shall also:

review the Agency’s programming document referred to in Article 5a, based on a draft prepared by the Director, and submit it to the Management Board for adoption;

review the Agency’s draft annual budget and submit it to the Management Board for adoption;

review the draft annual report on the Agency’s activities and submit it to the Management Board for adoption;

adopt an anti-fraud strategy for the Agency, proportionate to the fraud risks, taking into account the costs and benefits of the measures to be implemented and based on a draft prepared by the Director;

ensure adequate follow-up to the findings and recommendations stemming from the internal or external audit reports and evaluations, as well as from investigations of the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) or of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO);

without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Director set out in Article 15(4), assist and advise him or her in the implementation of the decisions of the Management Board with a view to reinforcing the supervision of administrative and budgetary management.

3. Where necessary, for reasons of urgency, the Executive Board may take provisional decisions on behalf of the Management Board, including on the suspension of the delegation of the appointing authority powers in accordance with the conditions referred to in Article 12(7a) and (7b) and on budgetary matters.

4. The Executive Board shall be composed of the Chairperson and the Vice-Chairperson of the Management Board, two other members of the Management Board elected by the Management Board in accordance with Article 12(5) and one of the representatives of the Commission in the Management Board.

The person appointed by the Council of Europe in the Management Board may participate in the meetings of the Executive Board.

5. The Executive Board shall be convened by the Chairperson. It may also be convened at the request of one of its members. It shall adopt its decisions by a majority of its members present. The person appointed by the Council of Europe may vote on items related to the decisions on which that person has a right to vote in the Management Board in accordance with Article 12(8).

6. The Director shall take part in the meetings of the Executive Board, without voting rights.’;

Article 14 is amended as follows:

paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

‘1. The Scientific Committee shall be composed of 11 independent persons, highly qualified in the field of fundamental rights, with adequate competences in scientific quality and research methodologies. The Management Board shall appoint the 11 members and approve a reserve list established by order of merit following a transparent call for applications and selection procedure and after having consulted the competent committee of the European Parliament. The Management Board shall ensure even geographical representation and shall endeavour to achieve an equal representation of women and men on the Scientific Committee. The members of the Management Board shall not be members of the Scientific Committee. The rules of procedure referred to in Article 12(6), point (g) shall lay down the detailed conditions governing the appointment of the Scientific Committee.’;

paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3. The members of the Scientific Committee shall be independent. They may be replaced only at their own request or in the event of their being permanently prevented from fulfilling their duties. However, where a member no longer meets the criteria of independence, he or she shall resign forthwith and shall notify the Commission and the Director. Alternatively, the Management Board may declare, on a proposal of one third of its members or of the Commission, a lack of independence and revoke the appointment of the person concerned. The Management Board shall appoint the first available person in line on the reserve list for the remaining term of office. Where the remaining term of office is less than two years, the term of office of the new member may be extended to a full term of five years. The list of members of the Scientific Committee shall be made public and shall be updated by the Agency on its website.’;

in paragraph 5, the following subparagraph is added:

‘The Scientific Committee shall in particular advise the Director and the Agency on the scientific research methodology applied in the Agency’s work.’;

Article 15 is amended as follows:

paragraphs 3 and 4 are replaced by the following:

‘3. The Director’s term of office shall be five years.

In the course of the 12 months preceding the end of that five-year period, the Commission shall carry out an evaluation in order to assess in particular:

the performance of the Director;

the Agency’s duties and requirements in the coming years.

The Management Board, acting on a proposal from the Commission, taking into account the evaluation, may extend the term of office of the Director once for no more than five years.

The Management Board shall inform the European Parliament and the Council about its intention to extend the Director’s term of office. Within a period of one month before the Management Board formally takes its decision to extend that term of office, the Director may be asked to make a declaration before the competent committee of the European Parliament and to answer questions from its members.

If his or her term of office is not extended, the Director shall remain in office until the appointment of his or her successor.

4. The Director shall be responsible for:

the performance of the tasks referred to in Article 4 and in particular the preparation and publication of the documents drawn up in accordance with Article 4(1), points (a) to (h) in cooperation with the Scientific Committee;

the preparation and implementation of the Agency’s programming document referred to in Article 5a;

matters of day-to-day administration;

the implementation of decisions adopted by the Management Board;

the implementation of the Agency’s budget, in accordance with Article 21;

the implementation of effective monitoring and evaluation procedures relating to the performance of the Agency against its objectives in accordance with professionally recognised standards and performance indicators;

the preparation of an action plan to follow up on the conclusions of retrospective evaluations assessing the performance of programmes and activities that entail significant spending, in accordance with Article 29 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715;

reporting annually to the Management Board on the results of the monitoring and evaluation system;

the preparation of an anti-fraud strategy for the Agency and its presentation to the Executive Board for approval;

the preparation of an action plan to follow up on the conclusions of internal or external audit reports and evaluations, as well as investigations by OLAF and reporting on progress to the Commission and the Management Board;

cooperation with national liaison officers;

cooperation with civil society, including coordination of the Fundamental Rights Platform in accordance with Article 10.’;

paragraph 7 is replaced by the following:

‘7. The Director may be dismissed before his or her term has expired by the decision of the Management Board, on the basis of a proposal of two thirds of its members or of the Commission, in the event of misconduct, unsatisfactory performance or recurring or serious irregularities.’;

in Article 17, paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

‘3. Where the Agency takes decisions under Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001, a complaint may be lodged with the Ombudsman or an action may be brought in the Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice), as provided for in Articles 228 and 263 TFEU respectively.’;

Article 19 is replaced by the following:

COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) 2022/555 of 5 April 2022 amending Regulation (EC) No 168/2007 establishing a European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights