Background information:

The EFTA States second around 60 National Experts to the European Institutions every year, Norway seconding the great majority of posts.

The obligations of all the EEA EFTA national experts towards the EU institutions where they are seconded are identical.  However, from an administrative and legal point of view, the EEA EFTA national experts fall into two categories depending on their link to the EEA EFTA programme participation:

• The EEA EFTA in-kind experts are directly linked to the EEA EFTA programme participation as they are in kind contribution to the EEA EFTA programme budget. They are all working within one specific EU programme with EEA EFTA participation. All contractual exchanges of letters and other coordination of the recruitment process is ensured by EFTA. 
• The EFTA bilateral experts are seconded by each EFTA State to the EU independently of the programme budget (with an exception for the experts within Research). All contractual exchanges of letters and other coordination of the recruitment process are ensured by the EFTA Missions to the EU.

About the Seminar:

On Thursday 11 October 2007, both the EFTA in-kind experts and the Norwegian bilateral experts were invited to a short information Seminar.  The Seminar has been organised in cooperation with the Norwegian Mission to the EU and the Norwegian branch of CLENAD, the national experts’ interest organisation in the Commission.  The aim of the seminar is to provide background information about EFTA, the EEA Agreement and the EEA EFTA programme participation. Especially for the new experts, this will allow them to “promote” EFTA towards the Commission and also have a better understanding of the general framework within which they are working.  

The second part of the Seminar was allocated to a discussion about the general conditions around the secondments.  A project has been started by the Norwegian Foreign Ministry aiming to improve all aspects of the secondments and ensure that the experts are well taken care of during recruitment, during their stay and when they come back home again. There will be a discussion on these points where also Geir Bekkevold from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be present.

Programme:

15.00: Welcome 
Bergdis Ellertsdottir – Deputy Secretary General of EFTA

15.05: Information about Clenad and the role of a seconded national expert (SNE)
Signe Astrid Engli – National expert in DG Education and Culture and leader of the Norwegian branch of Clenad

15.30: Presentation of EFTA, the EEA Agreement and the programme participation  
Tor Eigil Hodne – EFTA responsible Officer for the Research, Lifelong Learning and Youth programmes

16.15: Short explanation of the EEA EFTA programme budget and EFTA’s administrative role in relation to the SNEs   
Brit Helle Pollet – EFTA Officer responsible for the EEA EFTA budget and the in-kind SNE arrangement

16.30: The Norwegian Mission’s role with regard to the Norwegian SNEs

On substance: Bjørn Tore Kjellemo – Counsellor Education Norwegian Mission to the EU   

On administrative issues: Astrid Nærum – Head of Administration – Norwegian Mission to the EU

On the ongoing project concerning the national experts within the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Geir Bekkevold – Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

17.00: Discussion