Article 16 Forum of Competent Bodies

A Forum of Competent Bodies from all Member States, hereinafter referred to as ‘the Forum of Competent Bodies’, shall be set up by the Competent Bodies and meet at least once per year in the presence of a representative of the Commission.

The Forum of Competent Bodies shall adopt its rules of procedure.

Competent Bodies of each Member State shall participate in the Forum of Competent Bodies. Where several Competent Bodies are established within one Member State, appropriate measures shall be taken to ensure that all of them are informed about the activities of the Forum of Competent Bodies.

The Forum of Competent Bodies shall develop guidance to ensure the consistency of procedures relating to the registration of organisations in accordance with this Regulation, including renewal of registration and suspension and deletion of organisations from the register both inside and outside the Community.

The Forum of Competent Bodies shall transmit to the Commission the guidance documents and documents referring to the peer evaluation.

Guidance documents referring to harmonisation procedures approved by the Forum of Competent Bodies shall be proposed as appropriate by the Commission for adoption in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny referred to in Article 49(3).

Those documents shall be made publicly available.