1.The functions of administrator or deputy administrator, on the one hand, and accounting officer or deputy accounting officer, on the other, shall be mutually incompatible.
2.Any deputy administrator shall act under the authority of the administrator. Any deputy accounting officer shall act under the authority of the accounting officer.
3.A deputy administrator shall replace the administrator when he or she is absent. A deputy accounting officer shall replace the accounting officer when he or she is absent.
4.Officials and other servants of the Union, when carrying out functions on behalf of Athena, shall remain subject to the rules and regulations applicable to them.
5.The staff made available to Athena by the Member States shall be subject to the same rules as those set out in the Council decision concerning the rules applicable to national experts on secondment, and to the provisions agreed on by their national administration and the Union institution or Athena.
6.Before their appointment, the staff of Athena must have received clearance for access to classified information up to at least ‘SECRET UE/EU SECRET’ level held by the Council, or equivalent clearance by a Member State.
7.The administrator may negotiate and enter into arrangements with the Member States or Union institutions with a view to designating in advance those staff who could, if need be, be made immediately available to Athena.