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1. The Governing Board shall have the overall responsibility for the strategic orientation and the operations of the Competence Centre, shall supervise the implementation of its activities and shall be responsible for any task that is not specifically allocated to the Executive Director.

2. The Governing Board shall adopt its rules of procedure. Those rules of procedure shall include specific procedures for identifying and avoiding conflicts of interest and shall ensure the confidentiality of any sensitive information.

3. The Governing Board shall take necessary strategic decisions, in particular with regard to:

(a) the development and adoption of the Agenda and the monitoring of its implementation;

(b) reflecting the Union’s policy priorities and the Agenda, the adoption of the multiannual work programme containing common, industrial, technology and research priorities which are based on the needs identified by Member States in cooperation with the Community and which require the focus of Union financial support, including key technologies and domains for developing the Union’s own capabilities in cybersecurity;

(c) the adoption of the annual work programme for implementing the relevant Union funds, in particular the cybersecurity parts of Horizon Europe insofar as they are co-financed voluntarily by Member States and of the Digital Europe Programme, in accordance with the Competence Centre’s multiannual work programme and the strategic planning process of Horizon Europe;

(d) the adoption of the Competence Centre’s annual accounts, balance sheet and annual activity report, on the basis of a proposal from the Executive Director;

(e) the adoption of the specific financial rules of the Competence Centre in accordance with Article 70 of the Financial Regulation;

(f) as part of the annual work programme, the allocation of funds from the Union budget to topics for joint actions between the Union and Member States;

(g) as part of the annual work programme, and in accordance with the decisions referred to in point (f) of this subparagraph and in compliance with Regulations (EU) 2021/695 and (EU) 2021/694, the description of the joint actions referred to in point (f) of this subparagraph and the laying down of conditions for the implementation of such joint actions;

(h) the adoption of a procedure for appointing the Executive Director and the appointment, dismissal, extension of the term of office of, provision of guidance to and the monitoring of the performance of the Executive Director;

(i) the adoption of guidelines for assessing and registering entities as members of the Community;

(j) the adoption of the working arrangements referred to in Article 10(2);

(k) the appointment of the Accounting Officer;

(l) the adoption of the annual budget of the Competence Centre, including the corresponding establishment plan indicating the number of temporary posts by function group and by grade, with the number of contract staff and seconded national experts being expressed in full-time equivalents;

(m) the adoption of transparency rules for the Competence Centre and rules for the prevention and management of conflicts of interest, including in respect of the members of the Governing Board, in accordance with Article 42 of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715;

(n) the establishment of working groups within the Community, where relevant taking into account advice provided by the Strategic Advisory Group;

(o) the appointment of members of the Strategic Advisory Group;

(p) the adoption of rules on the reimbursement of expenses for members for the Strategic Advisory Group;

(q) the setting up of a monitoring mechanism to ensure that the implementation of the respective funds managed by the Competence Centre is done in accordance with the Agenda, the mission, the multiannual work programme and the rules of the programmes that are the source of the relevant funding;

(r) the ensuring of a regular dialogue and the establishment of an effective cooperation mechanism with the Community;

(s) the establishment of the Competence Centre’s communications policy on the basis of a recommendation by the Executive Director;

(t) where appropriate, the establishment of rules implementing the Staff Regulations of Officials and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the European Union, laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68 (‘Staff Regulations’ and ‘Conditions of Employment’), in accordance with Article 30(3) of this Regulation;

(u) where appropriate, the laying down of rules on the secondment of national experts to the Competence Centre and on the use of trainees in accordance with Article 31(2);

(v) the adoption of security rules for the Competence Centre;

(w) the adoption of an anti-fraud and anti-corruption strategy that is proportionate to the fraud and corruption risks, as well as the adoption of comprehensive measures, in accordance with applicable Union legislation, to protect persons who report infringements of Union law, having regard to a cost-benefit analysis of the measures to be implemented;

(x) if necessary, the adoption of the methodology to calculate voluntary financial and in-kind contributions from contributing Member States in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2021/695 and (EU) 2021/694 or with any other applicable legislation;

(y) in the context of the annual work programme and the multiannual work programme, the ensuring of coherence and synergies with those parts of the Digital Europe Programme and Horizon Europe which are not managed by the Competence Centre, as well as with other Union programmes;

(z) the adoption of the annual report on the implementation of the Competence Centre’s strategic goals and priorities, if necessary with a recommendation for the better realisation of those goals and priorities. Insofar the annual work programme contains joint actions, it shall contain information about Member States’ voluntary contributions to joint actions. Where appropriate, proposals, in particular the proposal for the annual work programme, shall assess the need to apply security rules as set out in Article 33 of this Regulation, including the security self-assessment procedure in accordance with Article 20 of Regulation (EU) 2021/695.

4. Regarding the decisions set out in points (a), (b) and (c) of paragraph 3, the Executive Director and the Governing Board shall take into account any relevant strategic advice and input provided by ENISA, in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Governing Board.

5. The Governing Board shall be responsible for ensuring that the recommendations contained in the implementation report and the evaluation referred to in Article 38(2) and (4) are adequately followed up.