1.The members of the Administrative Board and the two alternates shall be appointed by the Governing Council ensuring, to the extent possible, an appropriate geographical and gender balance across the Member States.
2.Following a public call for expressions of interest published in the Official Journal of the European Union , the Executive Board, after hearing the Supervisory Board, shall submit nominations for the members of the Administrative Board and the two alternates to the Governing Council no later than one month before the start of the Governing Council meeting at which the decision regarding the appointment shall be adopted.
3.The term of office of the members of the Administrative Board and of the two alternates shall be five years, renewable once. In the event that an alternate permanently replaces a member of the Administrative Board under the conditions laid down in Article 3(4),such replacement shall not be considered a new appointment or renewal, and their mandate shall be considered to have started at the date of their appointment as an alternate.
4.The members of the Administrative Board and the two alternates shall act independently and in the public interest. They shall not be subject to any instructions and shall make a public declaration of commitments and a public declaration of interests indicating any direct or indirect interest which might be considered prejudicial to their independence or the absence of any such interest.
5.The terms and conditions of appointment of the members of the Administrative Board and the two alternates shall be laid down by the Governing Council.