Interoperability Unit

Valenciennes, [date]

Appointment letter for Independent Expertsto assist the work of the Working Parties of the European Railway Agency in the field of Railway Interoperability

[name of the expert]

[function]

[fulladdress]

APPOINTMENT LETTER

[…registration number of the letter…]

Subject:Call for application ERA/2010/INT/CALLINDEXP/01

[number of commitment: …]

[expert reference number: …]

Dear [Mr/Mrs (…name of the expert…)],

The European Railway Agency would like to thank you for agreeing to be an independent expert contributing to the work of the Working Parties in the field of Railway Interoperability.

Description of the work

Working as an independent expert includes supporting the different Working Parties withproviding data and information relevant for the working party concerned for Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, reporting on experience in the railway field concerned, giving presentations about specific topics related to third countries. You should act impartially, in a totally independent and confidential manner, in your personal capacity and apply your professional skills, knowledge and ethicsto the best of your ability, in accordance with the guidelines and time-schedules set out by the Head of Interoperability Unit. You should provide the European Railway Agency with any information related to the Algeria, Morocco and Tunisiait may request for the management of the different Working Parties.In addition, you may be asked to act as a reporterto meetings. The detailed Terms of Reference are attached to this letter in ANNEX VI.

Meeting dates

If for some reason you are not able to attend during some or all of the days proposed in the ANNEX VI, please contact theEuropean Railway Agency immediately. You may not delegate or be replaced for the work described without the prior written approval of the European RailwayAgency.

Conflicts of interests and confidentiality.

The European Railway Agency is required to avoid situations of conflict of interest regarding any matter on which you are requested to give an opinion. A conflict of interest occurs in particular where the impartial and objective exercise of the task is compromised for reasons involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other shared interest with the beneficiary. To this end, the European RailwayAgency will require you to sign a declaration(ANNEX I):

(a)That no such conflict of interest exists at the start of your duties and

(b)That the European RailwayAgency will immediately be informed, if such a situation should arise in the course of your duties.

You will undertake not to make use of and not to divulge any facts, information, knowledge, documents or other matters communicated to you or brought to your attention in the performance of your work or any results arising thereof.

Any results obtained by you in the performance of the work shall be the property of the European Railway Agency, which may use them as it sees fit, except where industrial or intellectual property rights already exist.

Payments

If you so wish, you may claim a payment of maximum € 600 in the form of a lump sum for each full meeting day spent assisting the European Railway Agency in the field of Railway Safety. The total reimbursement will be calculated to the nearest half day.

If you wish to claim this payment, please note that you should send your application for reimbursement of expenses form (enclosed atANNEX II) together with all supporting documents relating to the expenses claimed to the European RailwayAgency within no more than 60 days of the completion of your duties. If you have not submitted these documents within this period, it is presumed that no claim for payment or for reimbursement of expenses will be requested.

Your travel and subsistence expenses may also be reimbursed on the basis of the provisions in force within the European RailwayAgency as defined in ANNEX V.

For the purpose of this appointment letter, the departure point is stated in ANNEX VI.

To obtain the reimbursement of your expenses, you will also be required to send to the European Railway Agency the duly completed and signed Financial Identification form and Legal entities form for individuals (ANNEXIIIand ANNEXIVto the present letter), together with all necessary supporting documents.

Only the number of days (calculated to the nearest half day) actually spent assisting the European Railway Agency will be taken into consideration by the European Railway Agency when making the final payment.

Please note that claims for expenses relate only to travel and subsistence costs and not to equipment or other resources required. Travel costs are reimbursed on the basis of actual expenditure and subsistence costs are based on a flat rate per day.

Please note that, as regards all payments, these arrangements are between you and the European Railway Agency, even if you are employed by an organisation. It will be for you and your employer to come to any particular agreement concerning the final destination of any payments; the European Railway Agency will not intervene in this agreement.

Conditions

You should also note that, in accepting the provisions of this appointment letter and its annexes, you commit yourself to respect applicable national legislation (including taxation and VAT) with regard to any payments received from the European Railway Agency and with regard to social security matters and working rights. Upon request by any competent national authority, the European Railway Agency may inform them about any payment made for the performance of your duties.

In the event of a serious failure to fulfil your obligations arising from the performance of the work or in respect of the confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration, the European Railway Agency may terminate your appointment immediately at any time without formal notice or payment of any compensation whatsoever. The termination of appointment shall become effective on the date of receipt of the notification.

The European Railway Agency reserves the right to recover any payment made and to exclude from further work any expert who has breached the obligations arising from the declaration of confidentiality and conflict of interest.

The EuropeanRailway Agency shall not, under any circumstances or for any reason whatsoever, be liable for damage sustained by you during the performance of the duty.

The provisions of the present appointment letter and the confidentiality and conflict of interest declaration do not constitute an employment agreement and the European Railway Agency is not liable to provide you with any compensation or coverage in the event of injury or illness.

Except in the case of force majeure, you shall be required to indemnify the European Railway Agency for any damage it may sustain in the performance, poor or otherwise, of the work.

The Court of First Instance or the Court of Justice of the European Communities, as is appropriate in the specific case, shall have sole jurisdiction to hear any disputes between the Agency and the expert as regards the validity, the application or any interpretation of this agreement.

All correspondence related to the performance of your work and all documents related to the reimbursement of your travel and subsistence expenses should, if required, be sent to the following address:

European Railway Agency –Interoperability Unit

120rue Marc Lefrancq
FR – 59300 Valenciennes cedex

Yours sincerely,

For the European Railway Agency:

Valenciennes,

I, the undersigned, confirm that I accept the conditions set out in the current appointment letter and its annexes.

For the expert:

Place, date:

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ANNEXES:

ANNEX IConflict of Interest and Confidentiality Declaration

(N.B. this Declaration must be signed and submitted/returned to the European Railway Agency before the start of the activities)

ANNEX IIApplication for reimbursement of expenses

ANNEX IIIFinancial Identification form

ANNEX IVLegal Entities form for individuals

ANNEX VRules for reimbursement of expenses

ANNEX VITerms of Reference

ANNEX VIITable with the daily allowances

ANNEX I

Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Declaration for Independent Experts - ERA/2010/INT/CALLINDEXP/01

(Please tick whichever is applicable)

I, the undersigned, confirm that I have read, understood and accepted the conditions mentioned in the appointment letter No. ……..…. sent by the European Railway Agency related to the performance of the tasks.

In particular, I undertake to inform the European Railway Agency staff immediately if I discover any conflict of interest, direct or indirect, with any proposal that I am asked to perform or which is the subject of discussion in any meeting at which I am present.

The independent expert undertakes to use the information he or she receives within the purpose of his/her tasks solely as intended to support the work of the working groups, to desist from exploiting the information for other purposes, and to respect confidentiality and copyright rules. This obligation on the participant survives termination of his/her appointment.

The participant agrees that his/her personal contact data can be used for the work of the working group to which he/she has been delegated.

The European Railway Agency is committed to user privacy in accordance with the personal data protection Regulation (EC) N° 45/100px1 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 100px0 (OJ L145/43 31.05.100px1).

Signed ......

Name......

Date……………………………………….

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