RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE COMMUNITY/SWITZERLAND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE

Article 1

Chair

1. The Chair of the Community/Switzerland Statistical Committee (hereinafter referred to as the Joint Committee) shall be held in turn for a period of one calendar year by a representative of the Commission of the European Communities (hereinafter referred to as EC Commission), on behalf of the European Community, and by a representative of the Swiss Confederation. It shall be held by the European Community during the year of entry into force of the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on cooperation in the field of statistics (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement).

2. The Head of Delegation of the party which holds the Chair or, where appropriate, his or her alternate, shall be Chair of the Joint Committee.

Article 2

Delegations

1. The Contracting Parties shall each appoint their Head of Delegation.

2. The Joint Committee may decide to admit other persons to its meetings as observers.

3. The Contracting Parties shall inform each other, no later than 15 working days before the meeting, of the composition of their delegation.

Article 3

Secretariat

1. A representative of the EC Commission and a representative of the Swiss Confederation shall jointly provide the Secretariat for the Joint Committee. The Secretaries shall be designated by their Head of Delegation and shall continue to perform their duties until a new Secretary is appointed. Each party shall send the name and address of its Secretary to the other party.

2. The Secretaries shall be responsible for communication between the delegations, including transmission of documents, and shall supervise the duties performed by the Secretariat.

3. The Secretariat of the Joint Committee shall be under the direction of the party which holds the Chair.

Article 4

Meetings

1. The Joint Committee shall meet as and when necessary. The Head of Delegation of either Contracting Party may request the convening of a meeting.

2. The Joint Committee and the Statistical Programme Committee (SPC) shall organise their tasks for the purposes of the Agreement in combined meetings, whenever necessary.

3. The Chair shall send the notification of the meeting, together with the draft agenda and the documents for the meeting, to the other Head of Delegation no later than 15 working days before the meeting.

4. The other Head of Delegation may ask the Chair to shorten the period indicated in paragraph 3 and in Article 2(3) in order to take account of the urgency of a particular matter.

Article 5

Agenda

1. The Chair shall draw up the provisional agenda for each meeting in agreement with the other Head of Delegation. Any item requested by any of the delegations shall be put on the provisional agenda, provided the item was requested 30 working days ahead of the scheduled meeting.

2. The Joint Committee may decide to include on the agenda an item which does not appear on the provisional agenda.

3. The agenda shall be adopted by the Joint Committee at the beginning of each meeting.

Article 6

Subcommittees and working groups

1. The Joint Committee may decide to establish subcommittees and working groups for specific tasks.

2. The composition and procedures of the subcommittees and working groups shall be agreed upon in accordance with the rules applicable to the Joint Committee.

3. The subcommittees and working groups shall report directly to the Joint Committee and work under its authority. They shall not be authorised to take decisions but may make recommendations.

4. The Joint Committee shall decide on amendment or termination of the mandate of the subcommittees and working groups.

Article 7

Recommendations and decisions

1. The recommendations and decisions of the Joint Committee within the meaning of Article 3(1) of the Agreement shall be adopted by mutual agreement between the two delegations.

2. The recommendations and decisions of the Joint Committee shall be entitled ‘楻ecommendation‘�or ‘楧ecision‘� followed by a serial number, the date of adoption and an indication of the subject matter.

3. Decisions shall be divided into articles. Each decision shall commence with a preamble and shall end with the words ‘楧one at‘� followed by the place where and date on which it was adopted by the Joint Committee. Decisions shall contain the date of their entry into force and shall be binding on the Contracting Parties.

4. The decisions and recommendations of the Joint Committee shall be drawn up in duplicate and signed for the Joint Committee by both Heads of Delegation.

5. Each party may decide to publish any recommendation or decision adopted by the Joint Committee.

6. The recommendations and decisions of the Joint Committee may be adopted by written procedure if the two Heads of Delegation so agree.

To this end, the Chair shall send the draft to the other Head of Delegation. The deadline laid down in the written procedure must be not less than 15 working days.

Article 8

Minutes

1. Draft minutes of each meeting of the Joint Committee shall be drawn up within 15 working days under the responsibility of the Chair.

2. As a general rule, for each item on the agenda the minutes shall indicate:

3. The draft minutes shall be submitted for the approval of both delegations by written procedure in accordance with Article 7(6). If this procedure is not completed, the minutes shall be adopted by the Joint Committee at its next meeting.

4. The approved minutes shall be drawn up in duplicate and signed by the Secretaries. An original copy shall be kept by each party.

Article 9

Confidentiality

1. Meetings of the Joint Committee shall not be public unless the Joint Committee decides otherwise.

2. Without prejudice to other applicable provisions, the deliberations of the Joint Committee and its working groups shall be covered by the obligation of professional secrecy, unless the Joint Committee decides otherwise.

3. Unless the delegations decide otherwise, the minutes shall constitute publicly accessible documents.

Article 10

Expenses

1. Each Contracting Party shall bear any expenses it incurs in relation to its participation in meetings of the Joint Committee and of the working groups.

2. The Joint Committee shall agree on the breakdown of expenses relating to any mission assigned to experts.

Article 11

Correspondence

All correspondence to or from the Chair of the Joint Committee shall be sent to the Secretariat of the Joint Committee. The Secretariat shall send a copy of all correspondence concerning the Agreement to the Heads of Delegation, to the Swiss Mission to the European Union and to the Delegation of the Commission to Switzerland.