Rules of Procedure

Preamble

Pursuant to Section 6 (2) of the Ethics Council Act (Ethikratgesetz), the German Ethics Council adopts the following Rules of Procedure.

Section 1
Independence of members. Partiality. Duty of confidentiality. Suspension of membership

(1) The members are not bound by instructions. They represent their personal convictions and are bound only by their conscience.

(2) At the beginning of their term on the Council, members shall submit a declaration of interests in accordance with the procedure established by the Council. The declaration is published on the Council’s website. If, in connection with a particular issue, there is concern that there may be a conflict of interest, the member in question shall notify the chair or the vice-chairs of this and discuss the matter with the chair or vice-chairs. If this discussion does not result in agreement as to whether there is a conflict of interest, the Council shall decide in the absence of the member in question as to whether that member may take part in the relevant deliberations and voting.

(3) The members have a duty of confidentiality with regard to the deliberations in closed session and the documents described as confidential. This does not affect the right of every member of the Council to disclose their voting behaviour in the Council and to cast a vote that differs in terms of its result or reasoning (dissenting position statement) (Section 10 (2) and (3)).

(4) A member may request the chair to permit his or her membership to be suspended. The suspension of membership means that the member will continue to receive all notices from the office but will no longer attend meetings of the plenum and the working groups, and that the absence of the Council member from these meetings shall be deemed to be excused without any further communication. Suspension of membership also means that the Council member does not take part in votes and elections of the German Ethics Council, is not taken into account in position statements and dissenting position statements of the German Ethics Council and will no longer appear in public as a member of the German Ethics Council. The suspension of membership shall end as soon as the member in question informs the chair that the reasons for suspension no longer apply.

Section 2
Resolutions

(1) The Council shall constitute a quorum if more than half of the members are present. Unless other majorities are prescribed, the Council shall decide by the majority of the members present.

(2) Resolutions may be passed in writing or by electronic means, if the Council so resolves by a majority of the members present.

Section 3
Chair

(1) The chair and the three vice-chairs shall be elected by the majority of the members of the Council. If this majority is not reached on the first ballot, there shall be a second ballot. This ballot shall decide between the two candidates with the most votes in the first ballot; the decision shall be by a simple majority. In the event of a tie here, after a further discussion there shall be a further (third) ballot. If this too results in a tie, there shall be a decision by drawing lots. The Council shall decide by simple majority on the number of deputies.

(2) The chair and the vice-chairs form the board.

(3) The chair represents the Council externally and presides over its meetings. In individual cases, he/she may arrange for one of the other board members to chair a meeting or to take over other tasks.

Section 4
Work programme

The Council shall adopt a work programme. This will be adjusted and updated as required.

Section 5
Meetings

(1) Meetings will, as a general rule, be held once a month in Berlin. As a rule, participation takes place in person. Attendance by video conference is generally possible if the need for this is announced at least 14 days before the meeting. The Council may decide to hold regular Council meetings outside of Berlin or exclusively by video conference.

(2) The dates of the Council meetings shall be scheduled by the Council well in advance. In urgent cases, the board may convene an extraordinary Council meeting. If requested by a minimum of seven Council members, an extraordinary meeting shall be held within ten days. Extraordinary Council meetings can be arranged by video conference; the decision on this rests with the chair.

(3) The agenda for Council meetings shall be prepared by the board. The Council decides on the final agenda at the beginning of the respective meeting.

(4) Invitations to Council meetings, along with the agenda and the necessary documentation, shall be sent at the latest ten days in advance. In the case of extraordinary meetings, the notice period shall be three days.

Section 6
Public nature of meetings

(1) The Council conducts its deliberations in public or non-public sessions. The Council may decide in advance as to whether or not specific deliberations will be held in public. Otherwise, the board shall decide on the public nature of meetings. The meetings of the working groups are not open to the public.

(2) Agenda items that pursuant to paragraph 1 are to be discussed in public shall be so identified in the prepared agenda. The prepared agenda shall be published in advance of each meeting on the Council’s website.

(3) Participation in public Council meetings is generally made possible via live streaming on the Internet. By resolution of the Council or, unless the Council decides otherwise, of the board, access may also be permitted on site subject to the availability of seats. In individual cases, the Council may permit sound and image recording.

Section 7
Minutes

(1) Minutes of the meetings of the Ethics Council shall be taken in an appropriate form. As a rule, the minutes shall be sent to all members together with the documents for the next meeting. Any objections must be raised within ten days of transmission. If objections are not complied with, a decision shall be made on them in the next meeting.

(2) Recordings of public meetings and events shall be published on the Internet. The council may decide to publish the minutes instead.

Section 8
Expert reports, experts and guests

The Council may arrange for investigations to be carried out and expert reports made and may enlist the services of experts in its work. In addition, representatives of constitutional bodies, authorities and institutions, organisations and associations as well as other guests may be invited to attend deliberations on individual topics.

Section 9
Rapporteurs, working groups

(1) The Council may appoint members, with their consent, as rapporteurs on specific topics.

(2) In addition, the Council may form working groups from its members to prepare specific topics, but also to discuss whole subject areas. The working groups shall appoint their spokesperson and, if necessary, rapporteurs, who shall present the results of their work to the Council.

(3) Section 8 applies to the working groups, with the necessary modifications.

Section 10
Position statements and publications

(1) The publications prepared by the Council shall be adopted, after an oral discussion of the draft submitted by the rapporteur or spokesperson of the working group, by the plenum at the respective meeting or immediately thereafter by way of circulation in accordance with Section 2 (2). 

(2) The adoption of Opinions shall be subject to the procedure set out in the Appendix to the Rules of Procedure. Where Opinions with dissenting position statements/recommendations are published, the Council members shall be listed by name beneath the position statement/the recommendation which they have chosen. In the case of an abstention, the member(s) shall not be named. In exceptional cases, the Council may decide to refrain from assigning names. If members of the Council wish to express a dissenting vote in the media that differs from the majority decision, they are expected to outline this beforehand in the Council and in the Opinion by filing a dissenting position statement or in any other suitable manner.

(3) By way of exception to the procedure for the adoption of Opinions, the Ethics Council may opt for an accelerated procedure in order to issue “Ad Hoc Recommendations” in response to urgent matters. As a rule, Council members must generally be notified of the possibility of adopting Ad Hoc Recommendations when the agenda for the Council meeting at which they are to be adopted is sent out. Adopting Ad Hoc Recommendations requires the approval of the majority of the Council members. As a rule, voting on the text adopted at the Council meeting shall take place by circulation in accordance with Section 2 (2). Council members shall be given the opportunity to express their dissent with the outcome or line of argument of Ad Hoc Recommendations in the document itself. Paragraph 2 sentence 5 shall apply accordingly.

(4)  If the Council does not decide when and how a publication is to be published, the board shall decide on this. Opinions are to be submitted to the German Bundestag and the Federal Government in advance in accordance with Section 2 (3) sentence 2 EthRG.

Section 11
Cooperation with German Bundestag and Federal Government

The Council may invite members of the Bundestag and the Federal Government to attend particular deliberations.

Section 12
Office, budget

(1) The Council shall be supported in carrying out its duties by an administrative office. It operates under the professional supervision of the chair of the Council.

(2) Within the framework of the guidelines of the President of the German Bundestag, the Council shall decide based on proposals by the chair or vice-chair persons on the organisation of the office and, insofar as senior-level positions are concerned, their staffing, as well as the allocation of the total budgetary funds available to it.

(3) Insofar as their area of responsibility is affected, the staff of the administrative office shall participate in the meetings of the Council. By decision of the Council, meetings may be held without members of the office.

Section 13
Amendments to the Rules of Procedure

Amendments to the Rules of Procedure require the consent of a two-thirds majority of the members of the Council. Any amendments to the Rules of Procedure must be announced in the prepared agenda, together with the amendment proposed.