Council Regulation (EC) No 74/2008 (repealed)Show full title

Article 1 Establishment of a Joint Undertaking

1. For the implementation of the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) on Embedded Computing Systems, a Joint Undertaking within the meaning of Article 171 of the Treaty, hereinafter referred to as the ‘ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking’, is hereby set up for a period up to 31 December 2017.

2. The seat of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall be located in Brussels, Belgium.

Article 2 Objectives

The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall contribute to the implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme and the Theme ‘Information and Communication Technologies’ of the Specific Programme ‘Cooperation’. It shall in particular:

(a)

define and implement a ‘Research Agenda’ for the development of key technologies for Embedded Computing Systems across different application areas in order to strengthen European competitiveness and sustainability, and allow the emergence of new markets and societal applications. Activities for the implementation of the Research Agenda are hereinafter referred to as ‘R & D Activities’;

(b)

support the implementation of the R & D Activities notably by awarding funding to participants in selected projects following competitive calls for proposals;

(c)

promote a public-private partnership aimed at mobilising and pooling Community, national and private efforts, increasing overall R & D investments in the field of Embedded Computing Systems, and fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors;

(d)

achieve synergy and coordination of European R & D efforts into the field of Embedded Computing Systems including, when added value can be created, the progressive integration in the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking of the related activities in this field currently implemented through intergovernmental R & D schemes (Eureka);

(e)

promote the involvement of SMEs in its activities in line with the objectives of the Seventh Framework Programme.

Article 3 Legal status

The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall be a Community body and shall have legal personality. In each of the Member States of the European Community, it shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under the laws of those States. It may, in particular, acquire or dispose of movable and immovable property and may be a party to legal proceedings.

Article 4 Statutes

The Statutes of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, as set out in the Annex hereto, constitute an integral part of this Regulation and are hereby adopted.

Article 5 Community contribution

1. The maximum Community contribution to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking covering running costs and R & D Activities shall be EUR 420 million paid from the appropriations in the general budget of the European Union allocated to the Theme ‘Information and Communication Technologies’ of the Specific Programme ‘Cooperation’, according to the provisions of Article 54(2)(b) of the Financial Regulation.

2. The arrangements for the Community financial contribution shall be established by means of a general agreement and annual financial agreements to be concluded between the Commission, on behalf of the Community, and the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

3. The Community contribution to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking used to fund projects shall be allocated following open and competitive calls for proposals.

Article 6 Financial rules

1. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall adopt specific financial rules in accordance with Article 185(1) of the Financial Regulation. They may depart from the rules laid down in Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of the Financial Regulation(1) where the specific operating needs of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking so require and subject to prior consent of the Commission.

2. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall have its own internal audit capability.

Article 7 Staff

1. The Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities, the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities and the rules adopted jointly by the institutions of the European Communities for the purpose of applying these Staff Regulations and Conditions of Employment shall apply to the staff of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and its Executive Director.

2. Without prejudice to paragraph 3 of this Article and Article 7(2) of the Statutes, the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall exercise the powers conferred on the appointing authority by the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities and on the authority empowered to conclude contracts by the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities in respect of its staff.

3. The Governing Board shall, in agreement with the Commission, adopt the necessary implementing measures referred to in Article 110 of the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Communities, and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Communities.

4. The staff resources shall be determined in the establishment plan of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking that shall be set out in its annual budget.

5. The staff of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall consist of temporary agents and contract agents engaged for a fixed period that may be renewed no more than once for a fixed period. The total period of engagement shall not exceed seven years and shall not in any case exceed the lifetime of the Joint Undertaking.

6. All cost related to the staff shall be borne by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

7. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking may adopt provisions to allow experts to be seconded to it.

Article 8 Privileges and immunities

The Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Communities shall apply to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and its staff.

Article 9 Liability

1. The contractual liability of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall be governed by the relevant contractual provisions and by the law applicable to the agreement or contract in question.

2. In the case of non-contractual liability, the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused by its staff in the performance of their duties.

3. Any payment by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking in respect of the liability referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 and the costs and expenses incurred in connection therewith shall be considered as expenditure of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and shall be covered by the resources of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

4. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall be solely responsible for meeting its obligations.

Article 10 Jurisdiction of the Court of Justice and applicable law

1. The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction:

(a) in any dispute between the members which relates to the subject matter of this Regulation and/or the Statutes referred to in Article 4;

(b) pursuant to any arbitration clause contained in agreements and contracts concluded by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking;

(c) in actions brought against the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, including decisions of its bodies, under the conditions provided for in Articles 230 and 232 of the Treaty;

(d) in disputes related to compensation for damage caused by the staff of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking in the performance of their duties.

2. For any matter not covered by this Regulation or by other acts of Community law, the law of the State where the seat of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking is located shall apply.

Article 11 Report, evaluation and discharge

1. The Commission shall present to the European Parliament and the Council an annual report on the progress achieved by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking. This report shall contain details of implementation of the JTI on Embedded Computing Systems including number of proposals submitted, number of proposals selected for funding, type of participants, including SMEs, and country statistics.

2. By 31 December 2010, as well as by 31 December 2013, the Commission shall carry out an interim evaluation of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking with the assistance of independent experts, on the basis of terms of reference established after consultation of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking. These evaluations shall cover the quality and efficiency of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and progress towards the objectives set. The Commission shall communicate the conclusions thereof, accompanied by its observations and, where appropriate, proposals to amend this Regulation, including the possible early termination of the Joint Undertaking, to the European Parliament and the Council.

3. No later than six months after the winding-up of the Joint Undertaking, the Commission shall conduct a final evaluation of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking with the assistance of independent experts. The results of the final evaluation shall be presented to the European Parliament and the Council.

4. Discharge for the implementation of the budget of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall be given by the European Parliament, upon recommendation of the Council, in accordance with a procedure provided for by the financial rules of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking referred to in Article 6.

Article 12 Protection of the financial interests of the members and anti-fraud measures

1. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall ensure that the financial interests of its members are adequately protected by carrying out or commissioning appropriate internal and external controls.

2. In case of irregularities, the members of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall reserve the right to recover amounts unduly spent, including by a reduction or a suspension of subsequent contributions to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

3. For the purposes of combating fraud, corruption and other illegal acts, Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 shall apply.

4. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall carry out on-the-spot checks and financial audits among the recipients of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking's public funding. These checks and audits shall be performed either directly by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking or by ARTEMIS Member States on its behalf. ARTEMIS Member States may carry out any other checks and audits among the recipients of their national funding as they deem necessary and shall communicate the results to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

5. The Commission and/or the Court of Auditors may, as necessary, carry out on-the-spot checks among the recipients of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking's funding and the agents responsible for its allocation. To that end, the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall ensure that grant agreements and contracts provide for the right of the Commission and/or the Court of Auditors to carry out, the appropriate controls and, in the event of the detection of irregularities, to impose dissuasive and proportionate penalties.

6. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) established by Commission Decision 1999/352/EC, ECSC, Euratom(2) shall enjoy the same powers in respect of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and its staff as it enjoys in respect of Commission departments. As soon as the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking is established, it shall accede to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 25 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission concerning internal investigations by OLAF(3). The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall adopt the necessary measures needed to facilitate internal investigations conducted by OLAF.

Article 13 Confidentiality

Without prejudice to Article 14, the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall ensure the protection of sensitive information, whose disclosure could damage the interests of its members or of participants in projects.

Article 14 Transparency

1. Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents(4) shall apply to documents held by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

2. The ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking shall adopt the practical arrangements for implementing Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 by 7 August 2008.

3. Decisions taken by the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking pursuant to Article 8 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 may form the subject of a complaint to the Ombudsman or of an action before the Court of Justice, under the conditions laid down in Articles 195 and 230 of the Treaty respectively.

Article 15 Intellectual property

The rules governing the protection, use and the dissemination of research results, based on Regulation (EC) No 1906/2006, are set out in Article 23 of the Statutes.

Article 16 Preparatory actions

1. The Commission shall be responsible for the establishment and initial operation of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking until the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking has the operational capacity to implement its own budget. The Commission shall carry out, in accordance with Community law, all necessary actions in collaboration with other founding members and the involvement of the competent bodies.

2. For that purpose, until such time as the Executive Director takes up his duties following his appointment by the Governing Board in accordance with Article 7(2) of the Statutes, the Commission may assign a limited number of its officials, including one to fulfil the functions of the Executive Director, on an interim basis.

3. The interim Executive Director may authorise all payments covered by the credits provided in the budget of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking once approved by the Governing Board and may conclude contracts, including staff contracts following the adoption of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking establishment plan. The Commission authorising officer may authorise all payments covered by the credits provided in the budget of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

Article 17 Support from the host State

A host agreement shall be concluded between the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking and Belgium concerning office accommodation, privileges and immunities and other support to be provided by Belgium to the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking.

Article 18 Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.

Done at Brussels, 20 December 2008.

For the Council

The President

F. Nunes Correia