Rules of the Administrative Commission on social security for migrant workers attached to the Commission of the European Communities

(Adopted by the Administrative Commission at its meeting of 13 and 14 October 2004)

(2005/C 119/04)

The government representatives forming the Administrative Commission set up under Article 80 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to member of their families moving within the Community,

Having regard to Article 80(3) of the abovementioned Regulation,

In order to enable the Administrative Commission to fulfil the tasks conferred upon it by Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 and Council Regulation (EEC) No 574/72, and in particular by Article 81 of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71,

Have unanimously adopted the following rules of the Administrative Commission:

Article 1

The Administrative Commission is a specialized body of the Commission of the European Communities and has the same seat.

Article 2

1. When a member of the Administrative Commission is prevented from attending, he/she shall be replaced by the alternate designated for this purpose by his/her government.

2. Alternate members may accompany members at the meetings of the Administrative Commission.

3. Where this is necessary in view of the subjects to be dealt with or the measures to be taken at national level, each member may furthermore be accompanied by one or several expert advisers.

4. Each delegation may, as a rule, consist of not more than four persons.

5. The representative of the Commission of the European Communities may be accompanied by his/her alternate.

The meetings may furthermore be attended by a representative of the Legal Service and, where this is relevant to the question to be dealt with, a representative of another department of the Commission of the European Communities.

6. The secretary-general of the Administrative Commission shall attend all meetings of the Administrative Commission and its working parties; he/she shall be accompanied by members of the secretariat designated by him/her.

If he/she is prevented from attending, he/she shall be replaced by the member or members of the secretariat designated by him/her.

Article 3

1. The office of chairman of the Administrative Commission shall be held by the member belonging to the State whose representative to the Council of the European Communities holds, for the same period, the office of President of the Council in accordance with Article 203 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

The chairman shall represent the Administrative Commission within the Advisory Committee set up under Article 82 of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71, and on any other occasion.

2. If the chairman in office is prevented from attending, the alternate shall act as chairman.

3. When a member of the Administrative Commission holds the office of chairman, the alternate may vote in the chairman's place.

4. The Administrative Commission shall be convened by a letter of convocation sent at least, 10 days before the meeting, by the secretary-general in consultation with the chairman to members and to the persons mentioned in Article 2(5) above.

5. The Administrative Commission documents shall be signed by the chairman.

6. The chairman may give the secretary-general of the Administrative Commission any instructions for meetings to be held and for the performance of activities that are within the scope of the tasks of the Administrative Commission.

Article 4

1. The Administrative Commission may set up working parties and study groups for special problems.

The meetings of the working parties and study groups may be attended by the persons mentioned in Article 2(5) above.

2. The working parties and study groups shall be presided over by a person designated by the chairman of the Administrative Commission in consultation with the representative of the Commission of the European Communities.

3. The chairman of the working party shall be summoned to the meeting of the Administrative Commission in the course of which the report of that working party is discussed.

4. The Administrative Commission may when setting up a working party, mandate the Working Party to carry out its tasks in such a way that its findings can be accepted by the Administrative Commission, without further deliberations.

5. The Administrative Commission may set up ad-hoc groups consisting of a limited number of persons to prepare and present the Administrative Commission with proposals for adoption on specific issues.

The Administrative Commission shall for each ad-hoc group decide who is to be the rapporteur, the tasks to be carried out and the time limit within which the group has to present the result of its work to the Administrative Commission.

Article 5

1. The Administrative Commission shall meet at least four times a year.

2. Every year one of its meetings shall be devoted to the examination of the statement of claims provided for in Article 101(1) of Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 in the presence of the chairman in office of the Audit Board who shall, at the same time, report to the Administrative Commission in accordance with Article 102(1)(b) of Regulation (EEC) No 574/72.

3. The Administrative Commission shall convene for an extraordinary meeting if at least five members or the representative of the Commission of the European Communities so request. The request should specify the purpose of the meeting.

4. By way of exception, the Administrative Commission may hold meetings away from its seat, in one of the Member States of the European Union or on the premises of an international organization.

Article 6

1. The provisional agenda of each meeting shall be drawn up by the secretary-general in consultation with the chairman of the Administrative Commission and the representative of the Commission of the European Communities.

Before proposing to include an item in the agenda, the secretary-general may, where this appears necessary, ask the delegations concerned to make their views on this question known in writing.

The provisional agenda shall be sent, at least 10 days before the beginning of each meeting, to the members and to the persons mentioned in Article 2(5) above.

The documents relating to the items on the agenda shall be sent to them as soon as they are available.

2. The provisional agenda shall, in principle, comprise items for which a request submitted by a member or by the representative of the Commission of the European Communities and, where appropriate, notes relating to it have been received by the secretariat at least 20 days before the beginning of the meeting.

3. The agenda shall be approved by the Administrative Commission at the beginning of each meeting.

A unanimous vote of the Administrative Commission is required for the inclusion in the agenda of any items other than those appearing on the provisional agenda.

4. Unless the Administrative Commission expressly decides to fix a different period, the notes requested from the delegations should be sent to the secretariat within a period of not longer than two months. If, at the expiry of this period, the secretariat has not received all the notes, the question concerned must be discussed at the first meeting of the Administrative Commission following the expiry of the said period.

5. Any member of the Administrative Commission and the representative of the European Commission shall have the right to submit specific questions to the Administrative Commission on the interpretation of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 and Regulation (EEC) No 574/72 where differing interpretations by the Member States or by one or more Member States and the European Commission may prejudice the rights of persons.

The question shall be considered at the first meeting after it was submitted in accordance with paragraph 2.

The minutes of the meeting shall record the views of the Member States and the representative of the European Commission on the questions submitted.

Article 7

1. Subject to the provisions of Article 8, a decision can only be valid if it is adopted by 20 members or their alternates.

2. The Administrative Commission may decide to adopt a decision by the use of written procedure. To this end the Chairman shall communicate the text to be adopted to the members of the Administrative Commission. The Members shall be given a set time limit within which to respond stating whether they accept or reject the proposed text. Failure to respond shall be considered as abstention to vote.

The Chairman shall, at the expiry of the set time limit, inform the members of the result of the voting. A decision having received the required number of affirmative votes shall be considered adopted on the last day set for the period within which members were asked to respond.

3. If a member of the Administrative Commission in the course of the written procedure, proposes that the text shall be amended, the Chairman shall either:

(a) recommence the written procedure by communicating the proposed amendment to the members in accordance with the procedure in paragraph 2, or

(b) cancel the written procedure in order to have the matter discussed at the next meeting,

depending on which procedure the Chairman considers appropriate for the matter in question.

4. If a member of the Administrative Commission before the expiry of the time limit set for responding, requests that the proposed text shall be examined at a meeting with the Administrative Commission, the written procedure shall be cancelled.

The matter shall then be examined at the following meeting of the Administrative Commission.

Article 8

1. Decisions shall be taken either by a unanimous vote of the members forming the Administrative Commission or by a unanimous vote of the members present or by an affirmative vote of at least 20 members of the Administrative Commission.

2. A unanimous vote of the members forming the Administrative Commission shall be required for:

(a) decisions concerning the interpretation of regulations and made to implement Article 81(a) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71;

(b) decisions concerning the revision of the rules.

3. A unanimous vote of the members present shall be required for:

(a) decisions relating to the implementation of Article 81(e) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 and of Articles 94 and 95 of Regulation (EEC) No 574/72;

(b) decisions on proposals for a revision of the Regulations.

4. The abstention of members present or represented shall not preclude the adoption of the decisions referred to under paragraph 3 above if they receive at least 20 affirmative votes.

5. Where the written procedure in Article 7 is followed, abstentions shall not preclude the adoption of the decisions referred to in paragraph 3 provided that they receive at least 20 affirmative votes.

Article 9

1. Any member present when a vote is taken who abstains from voting shall be invited by the chairman after the roll-call to state his/her reasons for abstaining, should the member so desire.

2. When the majority of members present abstain, the proposal put to the vote shall be considered as not having been taken into consideration.

Article 10

1. Decisions taken to implement Article 81(a) of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 shall state the reasons on which they are based and shall be published in the Official Journal of the European Union, save where a majority of the members of the Administrative Commission decide otherwise.

2. The secretary-general shall take the necessary steps for the publication of these decisions in the Official Journal of the European Union.

3. The members of the Administrative Commission shall see to it that appropriate instructions are given at national level to ensure that the published and unpublished decisions of the Administrative Commission are duly implemented.

4. An original copy of each decision of the Administrative Commission, drawn up in the languages of the Community and signed by the chairman, shall be kept in the archives of the secretariat.

5. Each decision shall apply from the date specified therein or, if no such date is mentioned, from the first day of the second month following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Article 11

1. For each meeting minutes are recorded which are, in principle, to be approved at the following meeting.

Members who have not received the minutes in their own language may reserve their final approval until they have received the minutes in that language.

2. For decisions of particular urgency, a declaration holding their definitive adoption may be drawn up in the course of the meeting in which they are taken.

Article 12

Each incoming Presidency shall present its programme of work and the plans for its implementation.

Article 13

The Administrative Commission shall periodically draw up a general report on its activities and on the implementation of the regulations on social security for migrant workers. The report shall be presented to the Advisory Committee on Social Security for Migrant Workers set up under Article 82 of Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71.

Article 14

Where the provisions of these rules require interpretation, such interpretation shall be given by the Court of Justice in accordance with Article 234 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

Article 15

The languages of the Administrative Commission shall be the same as those determined as official languages of the Community institutions in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

Article 16

To the rules is attached a Code of Conduct which aims to improve the efficiency of the preparation and conduct of the meetings of the Administrative Commission.

Article 17

These rules shall be communicated to the member of the Commission of the European Communities responsible for employment and social affairs and supplemented with an exchange of letters between him and the chairman of the Administrative Commission.

The rules and the exchange of letters shall enter into force three days after their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and shall replace the analogous documents published in the Official Journal of the European Communities of 29 June 1995.

Done at Brussels, on 14 October 2004.

Chairman

of the Administrative Commission

C. J. van den Berg

--------------------------------------------------

Exchange of Letters

between the chairman of the Administrative Commission on social security for migrant workers and the member of the Commission of the European Communities responsible for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities

COPY

Administrative Commission on social security for migrant workers

Brussels, 22 November 2004

Mr Vladimir SPIDLA,

Member of the Commission responsible for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities

Dear Sir,

Please find enclosed the revised text of the rules of the Administrative Commission set up by Article 80 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 of 14 June 1971 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to member of their families moving within the Community.

These rules, drawn up by mutual agreement among the members of the Administrative Commission pursuant to the provisions of Article 80(3) of the abovementioned Regulation, lay down the basic internal organisation of the Administrative Commission and its proceedings.

The revision of the rules has been rendered necessary by the enlargement of the European Union on 1 May 2004.

I would appreciate it if you could inform me of any observations you may wish to make.

Yours faithfully,

The Chairman

of the Administrative Commission

C. J. van den Berg

COPY

Commission of the European Communities

Brussels, 22 November 2004

To the Chairman of the Administrative Commission on Social Security for migrant workers

C. J. van den Berg

Dear Sir,

I am in receipt of your letter of 22 November 2004 in which you sent me the revised rules of the Administrative Commission drawn up in accordance with the provisions of Article 80(3) of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1408/71 on the application of social security schemes to employed persons, to self-employed persons and to members of their families moving within the Community.

These rules do not give rise to any observations from the Commission of the European Communities and will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union.

Yours faithfully,

Vladimir Spidla

Member of the Commission

--------------------------------------------------