2006 discharge: European GNSS Supervisory Authority

PURPOSE: to present the report by the Court of Auditors on the 2006 accounts of the European GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) Supervisory Authority.

CONTENT: this document offers a detailed overview of the expenditure of the Authority for the 2006 financial year. It shows that the official final budget of the Supervisory Authority was EUR 7 million for 2006 (the first year of real activity by the Agency), an amount comprising a 100% Community subsidy.

In terms of personnel, the Authority, whose headquarters are in Brussels (Belgium) officially comprised 39 posts, 18 of which were occupied + 5 other posts (auxiliary contracts, seconded national experts and employment agency staff), currently making a total of 23 posts assuming operational, administrative or mixed tasks. Expenditure on personnel amounted to EUR 522 000 (paid).

To recap, the GNSS Supervisory Authority was established as a Community agency by virtue of Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004 to manage the public interests relating to the European GNSS programmes and to act as the regulatory authority for the programme during the deployment and operational phases of the Galileo Programme (see CNS/2003/0177).

Council Regulation (EC) No 1942/2006 (see CNS/2006/0090) extended the mandate of the Authority to cover the activities of the development phase (first phase of the Galileo Programme which the Galileo Joint Undertaking was not able to finalise before its winding-up on 31 December 2006.

The Authority began operations in 2006. Initially, all the financial transactions of the Authority were carried out on its behalf by the Directorate-General for Energy and Transport. Following the installation of the necessary financial systems, the Authority took over responsibility for its financial operations in September 2006. The handover of activities from the Galileo Joint Undertaking to the Authority started in December 2006 with the transfer of EUR 70 million and the rights and obligations related to the 6th Research Framework Programme, MEDA, EGNOS and other contracts. This is why, although the Community subsidy and other revenue for the Authority in 2006 was just over EUR 7 million, the total assets of the Authority amounted to EUR 76.6 million at the end of 2006.

During the 2006 financial year, the Authority focused its activities on the following actions:

Setting-up of the GSA

• Financial autonomy in September 2006;
• 18 posts filled and 13 others recruited at 31.12.2006;

• Move to new premises was planned and prepared;

• Plan for establishing the System Safety and Security Committee approved on 30.11.2006 and call for nominations issued on 13.12.2006;

• Preparation of the documentation and signing of the transfer of the activities of the GJU (except for the In-Orbit-Validation phase and international activities);

• Introduction of the basic elements of communication (logo, graphics).

Galileo and EGNOS systems

• Draft certification plan for EGNOS;
• Preparation and approval of an ESA/GSA agreement by the Administrative Board;
• Contribution to defining a policy for managing the GNSS intellectual property rights.

Concession

• Support given to the GJU negotiating team for the concession contract;
• Start-up of consultations on introducing the accounting rules for recording tangible and intangible assets.

It should be noted that the complete accounts of the Authority may be found at the following website: http://www.gsa.europa.eu/