Article 9 — The Steering Group

1. The Steering Group shall be composed of the following members: (a) two representatives from each participating Member State, of which one expert in the field of employment and one expert in the field of immigration; (b) two representatives from the Commission; (c) six representatives of the cross-industry social partner organisations at Union level, with an equal representation of trade union and employer organisations. Only the members referred to in points (a) and (b) of the first subparagraph shall have the right to vote. 2. An expert from the European Parliament may be invited to attend the meetings of the Steering Group. Additional representatives of the Commission may also participate in the meeting of the Steering Group if required. 3. Representatives of Union bodies, offices and agencies, representatives of international organisations, representatives of third countries participating in Talent Partnerships, bilateral arrangements or national frameworks on the development and validation of skills in a third country and other relevant stakeholders may be invited to attend the meetings of the Steering Group to present their views. 4. Only representatives from participating Member States shall be members of the Steering Group. Representatives from Member States not participating in the EU Talent Pool may participate in the meetings of the Steering Group as observers. 5. The representatives referred to in paragraph 1, point (c), shall sign a written statement declaring that they are not in a situation of conflict of interest. The Secretariat shall publish those statements and updates to those statements on the IT Platform. 6. The Steering Group shall be responsible for: (a) providing support to the Secretariat in the preparation of the list of Union-wide shortage occupations referred to Article 14; (b) facilitating the exchange of best practices among the participating Member States regarding the national or regional adjustments to the list of Union-wide shortage occupations pursuant to Article 15(1); (c) providing support to the Secretariat in the planning and coordination of the activities of the EU Talent Pool; (d) facilitating the collection of data relevant for the monitoring activities of the EU Talent Pool referred to in Article 20; (e) exchanging best practices regarding the implementation of accelerated immigration procedures to facilitate the recruitment of registered jobseekers from third countries pursuant to Article 19; (f) providing support to the Secretariat with regard to raising awareness about the EU Talent Pool as referred to in Article 8(2), point (a). 7. The Steering Group shall meet twice a year and on an ad-hoc basis when necessary. The meetings shall be convened and chaired by the Secretariat.