Commission Decision of 26 June 2012 setting up a group of experts on value added tax

The group shall be composed of a maximum of 40 members.

Members shall be organisations and individuals appointed in a personal capacity, with competence in the areas referred to in Article 2.

The Director-General for Taxation and Customs Union shall appoint the members from among the organisations and individuals that have responded to a call for applications.

Organisations shall nominate their representative and an alternate to replace the representative when absent or indisposed. The Director-General for Taxation and Customs Union may refuse a representative or an alternate proposed by an organisation if he or she does not meet the profile required in the call for application. In such cases, the organisation concerned shall be asked to nominate another representative or alternate.

In the case of individuals appointed in a personal capacity, provision may be made for each member to have an alternate. The alternate shall be appointed in accordance with the same conditions as the member, and shall automatically replace the member if he or she is absent or indisposed.

Members shall be appointed for three years. They shall remain in office until the end of their term of office. Their term of office may be renewed if they respond again to a call for applications.

Applicants who have been deemed suitable but who have not been appointed may be placed on a reserve list (‘the list’) kept for two years, which the Commission shall use to appoint replacements.

Members appointed in a personal capacity shall act independently and in the public interest.

All members and their representatives shall play a very active and high-quality role in the meetings, and in preparing them and following them up if necessary.

Members who resign or who do not comply with the conditions set out in paragraphs 2, 8 and 9 of this Article, or Article 339 of the Treaty, may be replaced for the remainder of their term of office by a member appointed by the Commission. The Commission shall use the list to appoint replacements.

The names of the individuals appointed in a personal capacity and of the organisations shall be published in the register of Commission expert groups and other similar entities (‘the Register’) and on the website of the Directorate-General for Taxation and Customs Union.

Personal data shall be collected, processed and published in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.

The group shall be chaired by a representative of the Commission.

In agreement with the Commission services, the group may set up sub-groups to examine specific questions on the basis of terms of reference defined by the group. Such sub-groups shall be disbanded as soon as their mandate has been fulfilled.

The Commission’s representative may invite outside experts to participate in the work of the group or sub-group on an ad hoc basis if they have a specific expertise that would benefit the group. In addition, the Commission’s representative may give observer status to certain individuals or organisations as defined in Rule 8(3) of the horizontal rules on expert groups.

All members of the group and their representatives, as well as invited experts and observers, shall comply with the obligations of professional secrecy laid down by the Treaty and its implementing rules, as well as with the Commission’s rules on security regarding the protection of EU classified information, laid down in the Annex to Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom ([^E0001]). Should they fail to comply with these obligations, the Commission may take any appropriate measures.

The meetings of the group and sub-groups shall normally be held on Commission premises, in the form and according to the timetable determined by the Commission. The Commission shall provide secretarial services. Other Commission officials with an interest in the proceedings may attend meetings of the group and its sub-groups.

The group shall adopt its rules of procedure on the basis of the standard rules of procedure for expert groups.

The Commission shall publish relevant information on the activities carried out by the group either by including it in the Register or via a link from the Register to a dedicated website.

Participants in the activities of the group shall not be remunerated for the services they render.

Travel and subsistence expenses incurred by participants in the activities of the group shall be reimbursed by the Commission in accordance with the provisions in force within the Commission.

Those expenses shall be reimbursed within the limits of the available appropriations allocated under the annual procedure for the allocation of resources.