A draw shall be organised among Member States. The participation of Member States in the draw shall be voluntary. However, to minimise the risk of a conflict of interest, any Member State from which a city is to be selected or monitored during the term of office of the experts of the panel shall be excluded from the draw. A list of excluded Member States drawn up in accordance with this principle is set out in the Annex to this Decision.

To ensure a wide geographical coverage, Member States which have recommended experts for appointment by the Council for the previous term of office shall also be excluded from the draw.