A European panel of independent experts (‘European panel’) shall be established to carry out the selection and monitoring at Union level. It shall ensure that the criteria are properly applied by the sites across the Member States.

The European panel shall consist of 13 members, four of whom shall be appointed by the European Parliament, four by the Council, four by the Commission and one by the Committee of the Regions, in accordance with their respective procedures. The European panel shall designate its chairperson.

The members of the European panel shall be independent experts with substantial experience and expertise in the fields relevant to the objectives of the action. Each institution and body shall seek to ensure that the competences of the experts it appoints are as complementary as possible, and that those experts are drawn from a balanced geographical spectrum.

The members of the European panel shall be appointed for three years.

However, in 2012 four experts shall be appointed by the European Parliament for two years, four by the Council for three years, four by the Commission for one year and one by the Committee of the Regions for three years.

The members of the European panel shall declare any actual or potential conflict of interest in respect of a specific site. In the event of such a declaration by a member, or if such a conflict of interest comes to light, that member shall not participate in the evaluation of the site or of any other sites from the Member State(s) concerned.

All reports, recommendations and notifications of the European panel shall be made public by the Commission.