With 2600 staff members, 1800 other paid personnel and some 12 000 scientific users from almost 100 countries, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, an intergovernmental organisation with its seat at Geneva, Switzerland, is the leading international laboratory for fundamental research in particle physics. The annual Budget of some 1.2 billion Swiss francs is funded by its 33 Member and Associate Member States. CERN is presently operating the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s most powerful particle accelerator that provides new insights into the origin and the structure of matter and into the forces governing the Universe. The Director-General is the Chief Executive Officer and legal representative of the