Article 12 Director and Deputy Directors

The General Assembly may appoint or replace when necessary the director of ESS ERIC (the ‘Director’) who shall be the chief executive officer, chief scientific officer and under Article 12 of the Regulation legal representative of ESS ERIC. The Director shall, unless otherwise specified by the General Assembly when necessary, have full authority to act on behalf of the ESS ERIC. The first Director of the ESS ERIC shall be the then existing Principal Investigator — Coordinator of the ESS. The appointment of the Director shall be subject to approval of the General Assembly and shall be for 4 years renewable and otherwise on terms approved by the General Assembly.

The General Assembly shall delegate such authority to the Director as it considers appropriate when necessary in order to allow the Director to carry out the day-to-day responsibilities of chief executive officer, chief scientific officer and legal representative of ESS ERIC.

The Director shall be responsible for pursuing the overall aims of the ESS ERIC, implementing its annual budget, business plan and work programme. The Director shall report directly to the General Assembly, or if the General Assembly directs him/her to do so, to a committee of the General Assembly. The Director shall be responsible for selecting the institutions of the CST (as defined in Article 13(2)(a)), subject to ratification by the General Assembly. The Director shall have overall responsibility for ensuring adherence by the ESS ERIC to its scientific, contractual, legal and budgetary commitments. The Director shall be supported by and coordinate the staff at Headquarters, the CST and their associated research scientists and the national coordinators in all participating countries in order to implement ESS ERIC’s work programme to the required standard.

The Director shall appoint a deputy from the Host Institution and at least one other deputy from among the other CST institutions to assist with his or her tasks. The Director may allocate specific functions to each of the said deputies.