1.The expert group shall be composed of a maximum of 50 members and shall include at least 40 % of members of each sex, taken from:
(a)National public authorities in the field of Justice and Home Affairs of the EU Member States, the Acceding and the Candidate countries;
(b)European Union bodies and networks with relevant experience and expertise of analysing or developing crime and criminal justice data for policy purposes such as European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN); European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA); Eurojust; European Police Chiefs Task Force (EPCTF); the European Police Office (Europol); European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX) and European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC); The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE);
(c)International Organisations and non-governmental Organisations with relevant experience and expertise analysing or developing crime and criminal justice data for policy purposes. These consist of the following: the Council of Europe; the European Sourcebook Group; the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Prevention (UNODC); World Health Organisation (WHO);
(d)Individuals with expertise deriving from academic research or from the private sector in the field of analysing or measuring crime and criminal justice in the EU Member States may also become members of the expert group.
2.The Commission, Directorate-General Justice, Freedom, and Security shall appoint the members of the expert group from specialists with competence in the areas referred to in Article 2 and 4(1). In relation to point 4.1a, b and c the members shall be nominated by authorities or organisations and in relation to point 4.1d the members shall be appointed from amongst those who have responded to a call for applications.
Each Member State, Acceding and Candidate country shall nominate two persons (one of each gender) for membership of whom the Commission shall appoint one. Alternate members for the members of the expert group shall be appointed in equal numbers and on the same conditions as the members. Alternate members shall automatically replace members who are absent.
3.The members shall be appointed under 4.1a, b and c as representative of a public authority or a non-governmental organisation. Those under 4.1d shall be appointed in a personal capacity and shall advise the Commission independently of any outside influence.
4.Members of the expert group shall remain in office until such time as they are replaced or their mandate ends.
5.Members who are no longer able to contribute effectively to the expert group’s deliberations, who resign or who do not respect the conditions set out in the first or second point of this Article or Article 287 of the Treaty establishing the European Community may be replaced for the remaining period of their mandate.
6.Those members appointed in a personal capacity (point 3 above) shall each year sign an undertaking to act in the public interest and a declaration indicating the absence or existence of any interest which may undermine their objectivity.
7.The names of members appointed individually are published on the Internet site of the DG Justice, Freedom and Security and in the Official Journal of the European Union, series C. The names of members are collected, processed and published in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.