Regulation (EU) 2018/1971 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER IV U.K. ORGANISATION OF BEREC

Article 6 U.K. Organisational structure of BEREC

BEREC shall comprise:

(a)

a Board of Regulators;

(b)

working groups.

Article 7 U.K. Composition of the Board of Regulators

1. The Board of Regulators shall be composed of one member from each Member State. Each member shall have the right to vote.

Each member shall be appointed by the NRA that has primary responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day operation of the markets for electronic communications networks and services under Directive (EU) 2018/1972. The member shall be appointed from among the head of the NRA, a member of its collegiate body, or the replacement of either of them.

2. Each member of the Board of Regulators shall have an alternate, appointed by the NRA. The alternate shall represent the member in his or her absence. The alternate shall be appointed from among the head of the NRA, a member of its collegiate body, the replacement of either of them, or the staff of the NRA.

3. Members of the Board of Regulators and their alternates shall be appointed in light of their knowledge in the field of electronic communications, taking into account relevant managerial, administrative and budgetary skills. In order to ensure continuity of the work of the Board of Regulators, all appointing NRAs shall make efforts to limit the turnover of their members and, where possible, also of their alternates, and shall aim to achieve a balanced representation between men and women.

4. The Commission shall participate in all deliberations of the Board of Regulators without the right to vote and shall be represented at an appropriately high level.

5. An up-to-date list of members of the Board of Regulators and their alternates, together with their declarations of interest, shall be made public.

Article 8 U.K. Independence of the Board of Regulators

1. When carrying out the tasks conferred upon it and without prejudice to its members acting on behalf of their respective NRA, the Board of Regulators shall act independently and objectively in the interests of the Union, regardless of any particular national or personal interests.

2. Without prejudice to coordination as referred to in Article 3(6), the members of the Board of Regulators and their alternates shall neither seek nor take instructions from any government, institution, person or body.

Article 9 U.K. Functions of the Board of Regulators

The Board of Regulators shall have the following functions:

(a)

to fulfil the regulatory tasks of BEREC set out in Article 4, namely to adopt the opinions, guidelines, reports, recommendations and common positions and disseminate best practices referred to in that Article, relying, in doing so, on the preparatory work carried out by the working groups;

(b)

to take administrative decisions relating to the organisation of BEREC’s work;

(c)

to adopt BEREC’s annual work programme as referred to in Article 21;

(d)

to adopt BEREC’s annual report on its activities as referred to in Article 22;

(e)

to adopt rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interests as referred to in Article 42, as well as in respect of members of the working groups;

(f)

to adopt detailed rules on the right of access to documents held by BEREC in accordance with Article 36;

(g)

to adopt and regularly update the communication and dissemination plans as referred to in Article 37(2), based on an analysis of needs;

(h)

to adopt, acting by a two-thirds majority of its members, and make public, its rules of procedure;

(i)

to authorise, together with the Director, the conclusion of working arrangements with competent Union bodies, offices, agencies and advisory groups and with competent authorities of third countries and with international organisations in accordance with Article 35;

(j)

to set up working groups and appoint their Chairs;

(k)

to provide the Director of the BEREC Office with guidance with regard to the carrying out of the tasks of the BEREC Office.

Article 10 U.K. Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Board of Regulators

1. The Board of Regulators shall appoint, acting by a two-thirds majority of its members, a Chair and at least two Vice-Chairs from among its members.

2. One of the Vice-Chairs shall automatically assume the duties of the Chair if the latter is not in a position to perform those duties.

3. The term of office of the Chair shall be one year, renewable once. In order to ensure continuity of BEREC’s work, the incoming Chair shall serve, where possible, one year as Vice-Chair before his or her term of office as Chair. The rules of procedure shall provide for a shorter term where it is not possible for the incoming Chair to serve as Vice-Chair one year before his or her term of office as Chair.

4. Without prejudice to the role of the Board of Regulators in relation to the Chair’s tasks, the Chair shall neither seek nor take instruction from any government, institution, person or body.

5. The Chair shall report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the performance of BEREC’s tasks when invited to do so.

Article 11 U.K. Meetings of the Board of Regulators

1. The Chair shall convene the meetings of the Board of Regulators and shall set the agendas for those meetings, which shall be made public.

2. The Board of Regulators shall hold at least two ordinary meetings a year.

Extraordinary meetings shall be convened at the initiative of the Chair, upon the request of at least three of its members or upon the request of the Commission.

3. The Director of the BEREC Office shall take part in all deliberations without the right to vote.

4. The Board of Regulators may invite any person whose opinion may be of interest to it, to participate in its meetings as an observer.

5. The members and the alternates of the Board of Regulators may, subject to its rules of procedure, be assisted at the meetings by their advisers or other experts.

6. The BEREC Office shall provide the secretariat for the Board of Regulators.

Article 12 U.K. Voting rules of the Board of Regulators

1. The Board of Regulators shall take decisions by a simple majority of its members unless otherwise provided for in this Regulation or in another legal act of the Union.

A majority of two thirds of the members of the Board of Regulators shall be required for the opinions referred to in points (c)(ii) and (v) of Article 4(1) and the guidelines referred to in points (d)(i) to (iv), (vi), (vii) and (x) of Article 4(1).

Notwithstanding the second subparagraph of this paragraph, the Board of Regulators may decide, by a simple majority and on a case-by-case basis, to adopt opinions referred to in point (c)(ii) of Article 4(1) of this Regulation by simple majority, related to draft measures falling under Article 76(2) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, that lead to the launching of the procedure under Article 33(5) of that Directive.

The decisions of the Board of Regulators shall be made public and shall indicate any reservations of any member upon his or her request.

2. Each member shall have one vote. In the absence of a member, the alternate shall be entitled to exercise that member’s right to vote.

In the absence of a member and the alternate, the right to vote may be delegated to another member.

The Chair may delegate the right to vote in any event. The Chair shall take part in the voting unless he or she has delegated the right to vote.

3. The rules of procedure of the Board of Regulators shall set out in detail the arrangements governing voting, including the conditions under which one member may act on behalf of another member, the quorum, and the notification deadlines for meetings. Furthermore, the rules of procedure shall ensure that the members of the Board of Regulators are provided with full agendas and draft proposals in advance of each meeting so that they have the opportunity to propose amendments prior to the vote. The rules of procedure may, inter alia, set out a procedure for voting on urgent matters and other practical arrangements for the operation of the Board of Regulators.

Article 13 U.K. Working groups

1. Where justified and, in particular, in order to implement BEREC’s annual work programme, the Board of Regulators may set up working groups.

2. The Board of Regulators shall appoint the Chairs of the working groups, representing, where possible, different NRAs.

3. The working groups shall be open to the participation of experts from all the NRAs participating in the work of BEREC and the Commission.

The working groups shall also be open to the participation of the staff of the BEREC Office, who shall contribute to the regulatory work of, and provide administrative support to, the working groups.

In the case of the working groups which are set up to carry out the tasks referred to in point (c)(ii) of Article 4(1), the experts from the Commission shall not participate.

In working groups which are set up to carry out the tasks referred to in points (c)(iv), (vi), (vii) and (viii), points (d)(i), (ii), (ix), (x) and (xi), point (j)(ii) and point (l), of Article 4(1) of this Regulation as well as, where relevant, point (c)(iii) and point (j)(i) of Article 4(1) thereof, the views of experts from other competent authorities notified pursuant to Article 5(4) of Directive (EU) 2018/1972 shall be taken into consideration.

The Board of Regulators or the Chairs of the working groups may invite individual experts recognised as competent in the relevant field to participate in the working group meetings if necessary on a case-by-case basis.

4. The Board of Regulators shall adopt rules of procedure laying down the practical arrangements for the operation of the working groups.