# Commission Implementing Decision of 22 November 2013 on setting up the European Social Survey as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ESS ERIC) (2013/700/EU), Article 13: Director’s Committees

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

1. The Director may establish committees assisting him in the implementation of the Director’s responsibilities and tasks. The constitution, membership and proceedings of any committee shall be determined by the Director. The membership of any committee of the Director may include persons who are not National Representatives or Observers.
2. The following Director’s committees shall be in place at all times:
(a) Core Scientific Team (or CST); and
(b) National Coordinators Forum (or NC Forum).
The CST and the NC Forum shall assist the Director in ensuring that the ESS ERIC carries out its principal task consistently up to the quality standards set by the General Assembly throughout the Member countries.
3. The CST shall comprise such institutions (each an ‘institutional member’) as the Director may determine and the General Assembly may approve when necessary. Each institutional member shall in turn appoint its own senior representative and a named alternate in each case to be approved by the Director to attend CST meetings. The term of office of each institutional member shall be 4 years, renewable. Other staff members at institutional members shall be invited to meetings to contribute specialist knowledge to the discussions.
4. The CST shall advise and work with the Director on all aspects of the design, scientific direction, methods, implementation, quality control, delivery and dissemination of the ESS ERIC’s work.
5. Meetings of the CST shall take place at least three times in every 12-month period. Meetings of the CST shall be chaired by the Director and, in his/her absence, by a Deputy Director. Although the ESS ERIC may when necessary contract specialist tasks to institutions other than institutional members of the CST, such institutions shall not thereby become members of the CST.
6. National coordinators (being persons appointed as a national coordinator by a Member in accordance with these Statutes) (‘National Coordinators’) shall be selected at the start of each survey round by each Member’s relevant executive authority according to a role description which has been specified by the Director. The terms of office of each National Coordinator shall be for each Biennial Period (or longer at the discretion of each Member).
7. The key roles of the National Coordinators are to coordinate the activities of the ESS ERIC at a national level and assuring its compliance with the specifications issued by the Director when necessary.
8. The NC Forum (being the National Coordinators’ Forum established under these Statutes) shall comprise the National Coordinators of each Member (excluding any Member being an intergovernmental organisation), the Director and Deputy Directors. NC Forum meetings shall be chaired by the Director and attended by relevant CST members, according to the agenda. It shall meet at least three times per Biennial Period and the agenda for each meeting shall be determined by the Director in consultation with both the CST and the National Coordinators. The NC Forum shall nominate one National Coordinator from among its members to attend General Assembly meetings, and one to attend CST meetings.
9. The NC Forum shall receive and comment on the central specifications which the Director may issue when necessary regarding the activities of the ESS ERIC at a national level. The NC Forum shall also advise the Director and the CST on other aspects of the ESS ERIC’s design and conduct.
10. The Chair of the NC Forum may invite specialist outsiders to a meeting of the NC Forum.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudn/2013/700/annex/I/article/13 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-decision-2013-700/annex-I/article-13
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.