3.1.Except as provided herein, attendance at meetings of the Supervisory Board shall be restricted to its members and, where the national competent authority is not the national central bank, to the representative of the national central bank.
3.2.Each representative of the national competent authority may normally be accompanied by one person. If the national competent authority is not the national central bank, this paragraph shall apply to the representative having the voting right. This paragraph shall also apply in the case of the attendance by an alternate, as provided in Article 3.3.
3.3.If a representative of a national competent authority or, where the national competent authority is not the national central bank, a representative of the national central bank, is unable to attend, he/she may appoint, in writing, an alternate to attend and to exercise their voting right as applicable, unless otherwise stipulated in the written communication. This written communication shall be sent to the Chair in due time before the meeting.
3.4.In the absence of both the Chair and the Vice-Chair, the Supervisory Board shall be chaired by the most senior member of the Supervisory Board in terms of the length of his/her membership in the first instance, and by age in the event of two or more members having equal standing in terms of the length of membership.
3.5.Upon invitation of the Chair, a representative of the European Commission and/or a representative of the European Banking Authority may participate in the meetings as observers. The Chair shall invite the representatives of the Commission and the European Banking Authority if a request for such an invitation is submitted by at least three members of the Supervisory Board. Applying the same rules, the Supervisory Board may also invite other persons to attend its meetings if it deems it appropriate to do so.