The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report
by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) in which it recommended the European
Parliament to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the
European Medicines Agency (EMA) in respect of the implementation of
the Agency's budget for the financial year 2012.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has
obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the
Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the
underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved the
closure of the Agency’s accounts. They made, however, a number
of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the
discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations
that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial
management and control of EU agencies.
- Reliability of the accounts - legality and regularity of transactions:
Members noted that the Agency applies differing recognition
criteria for fee revenues and associated expenditure and that the
revenue from application fees is recognised on a straight-line
basis over a set time period. They also regretted that the Agency
has not yet validated its accounting system in the area of
intangible fixed assets, which, given the considerable investment
in the development of information and communications technology
(ICT), is a crucial part of the whole accounting system. They
called on the Agency to inform the discharge authority on progress
in this regard within the framework of the 2012 discharge
follow-up. Members also noted with concern that in order to cover
higher school fees, the Agency grants staff whose children attend
primary or secondary school a top-up allowance, which amounted to
some EUR 389 000 in 2012, allowances that may be considered
irregular. They acknowledged that this situation is due to the lack
of European Schools in the city where the Agency is
based.
- Budget and financial management: Members noted that the rate of committed
appropriations carried over was high for operating expenses at 27%
even though they acknowledged that this relates primarily to the
Agency’s planned move to a new premises in 2014 (EUR 4
million) and to the development of ICT systems (EUR 1.6
million).
- Commitments and carryovers: Members took note that the reduced amount carried
over to 2013 in comparison with 2010 and 2011 and stated that this
is partly related to the new building project. They reminded the
Agency of the importance of respecting the budgetary principle of
annuality.
Members also made a series of observations on
transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as
comments on internal controls.
Lastly, they acknowledged that the Agency revised its
policy on the handling of conflicts of interests by the Scientific
Committees' members and experts which is expected for endorsement
by the Management Board in March 2014. They called on it to present
that revised policy to the discharge authority once adopted.
Members noted that the Agency works together closely with a variety
of patient, healthcare and consumer organisations in order to take
their opinions into account. They called on the Agency to request
public disclosure regarding the funding of any patient, consumer
and healthcare organisation it works with, and to carry out a
conflict of interests check regarding those
organisations.