1.The Executive Director shall be engaged as a temporary agent of the Agency under point (a) of Article 2 of the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.
2.The Executive Director shall be appointed by the Management Board on the grounds of merit, documented administrative and managerial skills, and relevant knowledge and experience of the transport sector, from a list of at least three candidates proposed by the Commission, after an open and transparent selection procedure, following publication of the vacancy notice in the Official Journal of the European Union and elsewhere, as appropriate. Before the decision of the Management Board is taken, the observer referred to in point (x) of Article 51(1) shall report on the procedure.
For the purposes of concluding the contract of engagement of the Executive Director, the Agency shall be represented by the chair of the Management Board.
Before being appointed, the candidate selected by the Management Board may be invited to make a statement before the competent committee of the European Parliament and to answer questions put by its members.
3.The term of office of the Executive Director shall be 5 years. By the end of that period, the Commission shall undertake an assessment of the performance of the Executive Director and of the Agency's future tasks and challenges.
4.The Management Board, acting on a proposal from the Commission taking into account the assessment referred to in paragraph 3, may extend the term of office of the Executive Director once, for no more than 5 years.
5.The Management Board shall inform the European Parliament of its intention to extend the Executive Director's term of office. Within 1 month before any such extension, the Executive Director may be invited to make a statement before the competent committee of the European Parliament and to answer questions put by its members.
6.An Executive Director whose term of office has been extended may not participate in another selection procedure for the same post following such an extension of term of office.
7.The Executive Director may be removed from office only upon a decision of the Management Board acting on a request from the Commission or from one third of its members.