SECTION 3

The Agency shall carry out its operations in accordance with its annual and multiannual work programme, which shall contain all of its planned activities. The work programme shall include tailored performance indicators allowing for effective assessment of the results achieved in terms of objectives. The Executive Director shall be responsible for drawing up the Agency’s draft work programme after prior consultation with the Commission services. By 15 March each year the Executive Director shall submit the draft work programme for the following year to the Management Board. By 30 November each year, the Management Board shall adopt the Agency’s work programme for the following year, after having received the opinion of the Commission. The work programme shall include a multiannual outlook. The Management Board shall ensure that the work programme is consistent with the Agency’s objectives and with the Union’s legislative and policy priorities in the area of network and information security. The work programme shall be organised in accordance with the activity-based management principle. The work programme shall be in line with the statement of estimates of the Agency’s revenue and expenditure and the Agency’s budget for the same financial year. The Executive Director shall, following adoption by the Management Board, forward the work programme to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Member States and shall publish it. At the invitation of the relevant committee of the European Parliament, the Executive Director shall present and hold an exchange of views on the adopted annual work programme. Requests for advice and assistance falling within the Agency’s objectives and tasks shall be addressed to the Executive Director and accompanied by background information explaining the issue to be addressed. The Executive Director shall inform the Management Board and Executive Board of the requests received, the potential resource implications, and, in due course, of the follow-up to the requests. If the Agency refuses a request, it shall give a justification. Requests referred to in paragraph 1 may be made by: the European Parliament; the Council; the Commission; any competent body appointed by a Member State, such as a national regulatory authority defined in Article 2 of Directive 2002/21/EC. The practical arrangements for applying paragraphs 1 and 2, regarding in particular submission, prioritisation, follow-up and information to the Management and Executive Board on the requests to the Agency, shall be laid down by the Management Board in the Agency’s internal rules of operation. Members of the Management Board, the Executive Director and officials seconded by Member States on a temporary basis shall each make a declaration of commitments and a declaration indicating the absence or presence of any direct or indirect interest which might be considered prejudicial to their independence. The declarations shall be accurate and complete, made annually in writing and updated whenever necessary. Members of the Management Board, the Executive Director, and external experts participating in ad hoc Working Groups shall each accurately and completely declare, at the latest at the start of each meeting, any interest which might be considered prejudicial to their independence in relation to the items on the agenda, and shall abstain from participating in the discussion of and voting upon such points. The Agency shall lay down, in its internal rules of operation, the practical arrangements for the rules on declarations of interest referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2. The Agency shall ensure that it carries out its activities with a high level of transparency and in accordance with Articles 17 and 18. The Agency shall ensure that the public and any interested parties are given appropriate, objective, reliable and easily accessible information, in particular with regard to the results of its work. It shall also make public the declarations of interest made in accordance with Article 15. The Management Board, acting on a proposal from the Executive Director, may authorise interested parties to observe the proceedings of some of the Agency’s activities. The Agency shall lay down, in its internal rules of operation, the practical arrangements for implementing the transparency rules referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2. Without prejudice to Article 18, the Agency shall not divulge to third parties information that it processes or receives in relation to which a reasoned request for confidential treatment, in whole or in part, has been made. Members of the Management Board, the Executive Director, the members of the Permanent Stakeholders Group, external experts participating in ad hoc Working Groups, and members of the staff of the Agency including officials seconded by Member States on a temporary basis shall comply with the confidentiality requirements under Article 339 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), even after their duties have ceased. The Agency shall lay down, in its internal rules of operation, the practical arrangements for implementing the confidentiality rules referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2. If required for the performance of the Agency’s tasks, the Management Board shall decide to allow the Agency to handle classified information. In that case the Management Board shall, in agreement with the Commission services, adopt internal rules of operation applying the security principles set out in Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 29 November 2001 amending its internal rules of procedure OJ L 317, 3.12.2001, p. 1. . Those rules shall cover, inter alia, provisions for the exchange, processing and storage of classified information. Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 shall apply to documents held by the Agency. The Management Board shall adopt arrangements for implementing Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 within six months of the establishment of the Agency. Decisions taken by the Agency pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 may be the subject of a complaint to the Ombudsman under Article 228 TFEU or of an action before the Court of Justice of the European Union under Article 263 TFEU.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-02 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.