Considerations on COM(2000)788-2 - Statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes

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dossier COM(2000)788-2 - Statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes.
document COM(2000)788 EN
date December 19, 2002
 
(1) An increasing number of programmes are being created in a wide range of fields targeting a variety of categories of beneficiaries, as part of the activities provided for in Article 3 of the Treaty. The Commission is, as a rule, responsible for adopting measures to implement such programmes (Community programmes).

(2) Implementation of the Community programmes concerned is financed, at least in part, from appropriations entered in the general budget of the European Union.

(3) Under Article 274 of the Treaty, the Commission is responsible for implementing the budget.

(4) If the Commission is to be properly accountable to citizens, it must focus primarily on its institutional tasks. It should therefore be able to delegate some of the tasks relating to the management of Community programmes to third parties. Outsourcing certain management tasks could, moreover, be a way of achieving the goals of such Community programmes more effectively.

(5) Outsourcing of management tasks should nevertheless stay within the limits set by the institutional system as laid out in the Treaty. This means that tasks assigned to the institutions by the Treaty which require discretionary powers in translating political choices into action may not be outsourced.

(6) Outsourcing should, moreover, be subject to a cost-benefit analysis taking account of a number of factors such as identification of the tasks justifying outsourcing, a cost-benefit analysis which includes the costs of coordination and checks, the impact on human resources, efficiency and flexibility in the implementation of outsourced tasks, simplification of the procedures used, proximity of outsourced activities to final beneficiaries, visibility of the Community as promoter of the Community programme concerned and the need to maintain an adequate level of know-how inside the Commission.

(7) One form of outsourcing consists in using Community bodies which have legal personality (executive agencies).

(8) In order to ensure uniformity of executive agencies in institutional terms, their statute should be laid down, in particular as regards certain essential aspects of their structure, tasks, operation, budget system, staff, supervision and responsibility.

(9) As the institution responsible for implementing the various Community programmes, the Commission is best qualified to assess whether and to what extent it is appropriate to entrust management tasks relating to one or more specific Community programmes to an executive agency. Recourse to an executive agency does not, however, relieve the Commission of its responsibilities under the Treaty, and in particular Article 274 thereof. It must therefore be able closely to circumscribe the action of each executive agency and maintain real control over its operation, and in particular its governing bodies.

(10) This means that the Commission must have the power to decide to create and, where appropriate, wind up an executive agency in accordance with this Regulation. Since the decision to set up an executive agency is a measure of general scope within the meaning of Article 2 of Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(4), such decisions should be adopted in accordance with Decision 1999/468/EC.

(11) The Commission must also be able to appoint both the members of the Steering Committee of each executive agency and its director, to ensure that in delegating tasks which are its own prerogative to an executive agency, the Commission does not thereby relinquish control of it.

(12) The activities performed by an executive agency must also fully comply with the programming which the Commission defines for the Community programmes in the management of which the agency is involved. The agency's annual work programme must therefore be subject to the Commission's approval and comply with budgetary decisions.

(13) To ensure that outsourcing is effective and that full benefit is drawn from the expertise of an executive agency, the Commission must be allowed to delegate to it all or some of the implementing tasks for one or more Community programmes, except for those requiring discretionary powers in translating political choices into action. Tasks which may be delegated include managing all or some of the phases in the lifetime of a given project, implementing the budget, gathering and processing information to be forwarded to the Commission and preparing recommendations for the Commission.

(14) Since the budget of an executive agency is intended to finance only its running costs, its revenue should consist chiefly of a subsidy entered in the general budget of the European Union, to be determined by the budgetary authority, and drawn from the financial allocation to the Community programme in the management of which the agency is involved.

(15) With a view to the application of Article 274 of the Treaty, the operational appropriations of the Community programmes which an executive agency is involved in managing must continue to be entered in the general budget of the European Union and must be implemented by direct charging to that budget. The financial operations relating to these appropriations must therefore be carried out in accordance with Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities(5).

(16) An executive agency may be entrusted with implementing tasks relating to the management of programmes which are financed from sources other than the general budget of the European Union. However, this should not lead even indirectly to extra administrative costs, which should be covered by additional appropriations entered in the general budget concerned. In such cases, this Regulation should apply, subject to specific provisions in the basic acts relating to the Community programmes concerned.

(17) The objective of transparency and reliability in the management of executive agencies requires that internal and external checks be made on their operation. To this end, executive agencies should be made accountable for their actions and the Commission should exercise administrative supervision over the executive agency, without ruling out the possibility of an audit by the Court of Justice.

(18) The public should have access to the documents held by the executive agencies, on terms and within limits similar to those in Article 255 of the Treaty.

(19) Each executive agency must collaborate intensively and continuously with the Commission departments responsible for the Community programmes which it is involved in managing. To facilitate such collaboration as much as possible, each executive agency should be located at the place where the Commission and its departments are located in accordance with the Protocol on the location of the seats of the institutions and of certain bodies and departments of the European Communities and of Europol annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaties establishing the European Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community.

(20) For the adoption of this Regulation, the Treaty does not provide for powers other than those conferred by Article 308.