EUROPEAN COMMISSION

DIRECTORATE-GENERAL DEFENCE INDUSTRY AND SPACE

Security Action for Europe Task Force

Rules of Procedure of the Special Group on the Implementation of Security Action for Europe

THE SPECIAL GROUP REPRESENTATIVES ON SECURITY ACTION FOR EUROPE (SAFE) (the ‘special group’ or the ‘special group representatives’),

Having regard to the creation of the group by DG ‘Defence Industry and Space’ of the European Commission, DG DEFIS, SAFE Taskforce

Having regard to the informal character of the special group,

Having regard to the standard rules of procedure of expert groups1.

HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING RULES OF PROCEDURE:

Point 1

Operation of the special group

The special group shall act at the request of DG DEFIS, SAFE Taskforce, in accordance with the ‘Minimum Standards and Guiding Principles for a Special Group on the Implementation of Security Action for Europe (‘Guiding Principles’).

Point 2

Convening a meeting

1. Meetings of the special group are convened by the Chair either on its own initiative, or at the request of a simple majority of members and its acceptance by the Chair.

2. The Chair of the secretariat shall be the Deputy Director-General of DG DEFIS and Head of the SAFE Taskforce. In the event of the Chair’s absence, the role shall be assumed by the Deputy Head of the SAFE Taskforce.

3. Joint meetings of the special group with other groups may be convened to discuss matters falling within their respective areas of responsibility.

4. In principle, meetings of the special group shall be held on Commission premises, virtually, or in hybrid form, depending on the circumstances.

Point 3

Agenda

1. The secretariat (DG DEFIS, SAFE Taskforce) shall draw up the agenda under the responsibility of the Chair and send it to the members of the special group.

2. The agenda shall be adopted by the special group at the start of the meeting.

Point 4

Documentation to be sent to group members

1. The secretariat shall send the invitation to the meeting and the draft agenda to the group members no later than seven calendar days before the date of the meeting.

2. In urgent or exceptional cases, the time limit for sending the documentation mentioned above may be reduced to three calendar days before the date of the meeting.

Point 5

Members of the special group

The representative and their four respective alternates designated by the Member States shall be considered members of the group and may attend the meetings of the group.

Point 6

Invited experts

DG DEFIS, SAFE Taskforce may invite experts with specific expertise with respect to a subject matter on the agenda to take part in the work of the special group on an ad hoc basis. This also includes experts from the Commission, the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Defence Agency (EDA).

Point 7

Observers

1. The Chair may appoint as four observers each the relevant national representatives participating in common procurement under SAFE from: EEA and EFTA States, Ukraine, acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates, and other third countries with whom the Union has entered a Security and Defence Partnership.

2. The Chair’s appointment of the observers in the aforementioned paragraph (Point 7, paragraph 1) shall be made in coordination with the national authorities and relevant ministries of the respective countries.

3. The special group representatives and their alternates designated by the Member States may respectively propose four observers each from their own national administration which can also be of a different ministry or agency. The Chair holds the final responsibility to approve the attendance of the observers to the meetings of the group.

4. Observers and their representatives may be permitted by the Chair to take part in the discussions of the special group and provide expertise.

Point 8

Secretariat

DG DEFIS, SAFE Taskforce shall provide secretarial support for the special group with respect to the organisation of meetings set up by the secretariat.

Point 9

Minutes and summary records of the meetings

Minutes of the discussion on each point on the agenda of the group meetings shall be drafted by the secretariat under the responsibility of the Chair. Summary reports shall be published on the dedicated DG DEFIS web page.

Point 10

Attendance list

At each meeting, the secretariat shall draw up, under the responsibility of the Chair, an attendance list also specifying, where appropriate, the organisations, Member States’ authorities or other public entities to which the participants belong.

Point 11

Correspondence

1. Correspondence relating to the special group shall be addressed to DG DEFIS at DEFIS-SAFE@ec.europa.eu.

2. Correspondence to group members shall be sent to the e-mail addresses which they have provided following their nomination.

Point 12

Transparency

1. The special group shall ensure an equivalent degree of transparency to that applicable to expert groups, through the dedicated DG DEFIS webpage

2. As concerns the group composition, the following data of the special group representatives shall be published on this dedicated webpage: relevant ministry/national organisation, country.

3. DG DEFIS, SAFE Taskforce shall make available relevant documents, including the summary records, on this dedicated webpage. Exceptions to publication shall only be possible where it is deemed that disclosure of a document would undermine the protection of a public or private interest as defined in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) Nº 1049/20012.

Point 13

Access to documents

Applications for access to documents held by the special group shall be handled in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1049/20013.

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