PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of
Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European
Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for the year 2013, together with the
Agency’s reply.
CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the
Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the
Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of
Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each
institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and
regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an
independent external audit.
This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual
accounts of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
Statement of assurance:
pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has
audited:
- the annual accounts of the Agency, which comprise the
financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the
budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2013;
- the legality and regularity of the transactions
underlying those accounts.
Opinion on the reliability of the
accounts: in the Court’s
opinion, the Agency’s annual accounts present fairly, in all
material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2013
and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year
then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial
Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the
Commission’s accounting officer.
Opinion on the legality and regularity of the
transactions underlying the accounts:
in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual
accounts for the year ended 31 December 2013 are legal and regular
in all material respects.
The report also makes a series of observations on the
budgetary and financial management of the Agency, accompanied by
the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised
as follows:
The Court’s observations:
- budgetary management: as
in 2012, the level of committed appropriations carried over to 2014
remained high for operational expenses at EUR 10.6 million (46 %),
this mainly resulted from the multiannual nature of planned IT
development projects (EUR 6.3 million), cost for translations
ordered in 2013 but not received by the year end (EUR 1.3 million)
and substance evaluations for which the regulatory deadline was
February 2014 (EUR 1.7 million);
- financial management: in
2013, the ECHA’s Executive Director confirmed reasonable
assurance that resources have been used for their intended purpose
and in accordance with the principles of sound financial
management, and that the control procedures in place give the
necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the
underlying transactions. However, a reservation to this assurance
was made since the mandate of the Agency does not include controls
or inspections at national level and therefore no confirmation
could be given that only registered or authorised substances and
products, for which a fee has been paid to the Agency, were
circulating on the European Union market.
The Agency’s reply:
- budgetary management:
ECHA will continue to be attentive to avoid any non-justified
carry-over operations;
- financial management:
the Agency recalled that the Executive Director of the European
Chemicals Agency included the following text in his Declaration of
Assurance for 2013: as regards the implementation of the European
Union legislation and the fee regulations under the Agency’s
remit, this assurance has to be limited to the field of competences
of the Agency. Since the mandate of the European Chemicals Agency
does not include controls or inspections at national level, it
cannot be confirmed that only registered or authorised substances
and products, for which a fee has been paid to the Agency, are
circulating on the European Union market.
Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains
a summary of the Agency’s activities in 2013. This is
focused on the following:
Budget: EUR 107.7
million.
Activities:
- number of dossiers processed: 14 839;
- number of confidentiality requests assessment
completed: 662;
- number of enquiries received: 1 903;
- number of decisions issued on data-sharing disputes:
11;
- number of substances on which information made public
(excluding confidential information): 10 561.
The Agency also:
- carried out evaluations for compliance
checks;
- classified and labelled 6.1 million for over
125 000 substances;
- provided advice and assistance, including to
institutions and EU bodies;
- established scientific IT tools to enable IT solution
for Member States for single point of access to dossiers and
substance data;
- ensured communication operations (including through
its website);
- ensured international cooperation.