RESOLUTION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT  
of 17 April 2013  
with observations forming an integral part of its Decision on discharge in respect of the 
implementation of the budget of the European Chemicals Agency for the financial year 2011  
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT,  
— having regard to the final annual accounts of the European Chemicals Agency for the financial year 
2011,  
— having regard to the Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Chemicals 
Agency for the financial year 2011, together with the Agency’s replies (  1 ), 
— having regard to the Council’s recommendation of 12 February 2013 (05753/2013 – C7-0041/2013),  
— having regard to Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,  
— having regard to Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial 
Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (  2 ), and in particular 
Article 185 thereof,  
— having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing 
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (  3 ), and in particular Article 208 thereof,  
— having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (  4 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council 
establishing a European Chemicals Agency, and in particular Article 97 thereof,  
— having regard to Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 on the 
framework Financial Regulation for the bodies referred to in Article 185 of Council Regulation (EC, 
Euratom) No 1605/2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European 
Communities (  5 ), and in particular Article 94 thereof,  
— having regard to Rule 77 of, and Annex VI to, its Rules of Procedure,  
— having regard to the report of the Committee on Budgetary Control and the opinion of the Committee 
on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A7-0097/2013),  
A. whereas the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual 
accounts of the European Chemicals Agency (‘the Agency’) for the financial year 2011 are reliable 
and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular,EN L 308/210 Official Journal of the European Union 16.11.2013  
( 1 ) OJ C 388, 15.12.2012, p. 73.  
( 2 ) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.  
( 3 ) OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1.  
( 4 ) OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p. 1.  
( 5 ) OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72.
B. whereas on 10 May 2012, Parliament granted the Executive Director of the Agency discharge for 
implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2010 (  1 ), and in its resolution accom ­
panying the discharge decision, inter alia:  
— underlined that as the Agency works with non-dissociated credits in all its Titles, it is unrealistic to 
expect that all operations budgeted for one calendar year could both be committed and paid up 
within the same budgetary year, especially for project-type operational expenditure (e.g. IT systems 
developments),  
— called on the Agency to improve the planning of its human resources activities and projects at the 
time of establishing its Annual Work Programme,  
— welcomed the establishment by the Agency of a separate registration and submission unit, as well 
as a contingency task force,  
— called on the Agency to respect a stringent top down/bottom up methodology for reporting and 
clear guiding principles in order to define the relevant indicators and tools to be used,  
C. whereas according to the Court of Auditors’ report, the Agency’s overall budget for the financial year 
2011 was of EUR 93 200 000 compared to EUR 75 500 000 in 2010, which represents an increase of 
23,44 %,  
D. whereas during the financial year 2011, the Agency operated as a self-financed agency and did not 
receive any reimbursable subsidy from the Commission,  
Budgetary and financial management  
1. Acknowledges from the Agency’s 2011 annual activity report (AAR), that in accordance with Regu ­
lation (EC) No 1907/2006, the Agency is financed through fees paid by industry for registrations of 
chemical substances, and possibly by Union subsidy as referred to in Article 185 of the Financial 
Regulation;  
2. Takes note that in 2011, the Agency was effectively fully financed through fee income and did not 
receive any Union subsidy; notes, however, that the Agency was supported by the Union with an 
amount of only EUR 500 000 from the Commission (Directorate-General Environment) as contractual 
compensation for undertaking certain preparatory activities for the upcoming Regulation (EU) No 
528/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (  2 ) on biocidal products;  
3. Notes that the initial budgetary payment appropriations for 2011, as concluded by the Management 
Board in December 2010, amounted to EUR 99 800 000;  
4. Notes from the AAR that in 2010, the Agency received a balancing subsidy of EUR 36 000 000 
registered as a pre-financing liability from the Commission; notes, moreover, that the amount was 
entirely reimbursed to the Commission in 2011 as the foreseen high level of own fee income of the 
Agency in 2011 was reached;EN 16.11.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 308/211  
( 1 ) OJ L 286, 17.10.2012, p. 192.  
( 2 ) OJ L 167, 27.6.2012, p. 1.
5. Acknowledges that in 2011, the Management Board adopted two amending budgets, as follows:  
— the first amending budget increased the revenue with the surplus resulting from 2010 by EUR 
280 565 807,25; notes that it also entered the amount of EUR 500 000 on earmarked revenue for 
the service contract established between the Agency and DG Environment for the preparatory work 
for Regulation (EU) No 528/2012;  
— the second amending budget decreased the budget expenditure by EUR 7 142 500 (7 %);  
6. Observes from the AAR that the budget execution rate for 2011 was 96 %;  
Commitments and payments  
7. Acknowledges from the AAR that the total amount of carry-over of commitment and payment 
appropriations was of EUR 14 421 314,76, representing 16,2 % of the established commitments; 
calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to address that deficiency 
as the level of carry-over is excessive and at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality;  
8. Takes note from the AAR that the adopted budget for Title I in 2011(EUR 54 508 000) was increased 
via transfers from Title III by 4,25 % (EUR 2 316 781,90), out of which EUR 2 005 138,33 was related 
to expenditure for staffing; notes, moreover, that as a result, the execution rate for Title I reached 
99,16 %;  
9. Notes that a total amount of EUR 1 758 060,98 was cancelled from the total amount of EUR 
12 254 740,59 of commitment and payment appropriations that were carried over from the budget 
of 2010;  
10. Welcomes the Agency’s efforts in improving the planning and the monitoring of resources and the fact 
that it introduced Agency-wide guidelines to foster the principle of annuality; acknowledges, in 
particular, that the Agency managed to reduce the carry-over rate from 29 % in 2009 to 17 % in 
2010 and to 16,2 % in 2011;  
Supervisory and control systems  
11. Acknowledges from the Court of Auditors’ report that the results of the latest physical inventory carried 
out in 2011 show several shortcomings, notably as regards the low proportion of Information and 
Communication Technology (ICT) assets checked in terms of value; notes, moreover, that no formal 
policy on the inventory of fixed assets is in place; calls on the Agency to inform the discharge authority 
of the actions taken to implement a formal policy on the inventory of fixed assets;  
12. Notes that the Agency records costs related to ICT projects that are already in use as expenditure 
instead of recognising them as fixed assets; notes furthermore that the policy is expected to be 
formalised and formally approved in the first quarter of 2013; calls on the Agency to inform the 
discharge authority of the state of play of that policy;  
Recruitment procedures  
13. Notes that the Court of Auditors identified shortcomings in the recruitment procedures; calls, therefore, 
on the Agency to inform the discharge authority of the actions taken to address that deficiency; 
considers that some of the provisions of the Staff Regulations may present a considerable administrative 
burden; therefore encourages the Commission to allow for a certain degree of simplification under 
Article 110 of the Staff Regulations in regard to the agencies;EN L 308/212 Official Journal of the European Union 16.11.2013
14. Notes from the AAR that the Agency continued to attract highly qualified personnel, with 88 new staff 
recruited in 2011, which resulted in the completion of 98 % of the Agency’s establishment plan;  
15. Acknowledges that as of 31 December 2011, the total number of positions occupied by temporary 
agents positions was 441 out of 456 available posts and 101 contract agents and seconded national 
experts were employed by the end of 2011; notes that the total number of positions occupied by 
contract agents was 62 and the total number of other staff was 46 (seconded national experts, interims, 
trainees);  
16. Monitors closely the improved recruitment and selection procedures which have been put into place in 
the last year; considers the full application of rules and procedures a necessity to ensure the best 
reputation of the Agency;  
Conflict of interest  
17. Welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors carried out an audit aimed at evaluating the policies and 
procedures for the management of conflict of interest situations for four European agencies, including 
the Agency, and presented the results of the audit in the Court of Auditors’ Special Report No 15/2012;  
18. Regrets that according to the findings of the Court of Auditors, at the time of completion of the field 
work (October 2011), the Agency did not adequately manage situations involving conflicts of interest; 
notes, moreover, that the Agency’s policies for managing conflict of interest were incomplete, declar ­
ations of interest were neither screened nor published but sealed and training on conflict of interest was 
absent;  
19. Welcomes the fact that the Agency is to take a number of steps following the Court of Auditors’ audit, 
in particular:  
— an Agency policy for the management of potential conflicts of interest, adopted in September 2011,  
— a new, more detailed template for declarations of interest,  
— a new guidance for filling in declarations of interests, adopted in November 2011,  
— publication of declarations of interest of the Agency’s managers on its website since January 2012,  
— conflicts of interest advisory committee established in June 2012, with a constituent meeting in 
August 2012,  
— a code of conduct for the Management Board members, adopted in March 2012,  
— provisional eligibility criteria for the bodies of the Agency, adopted in September 2012,  
— implementing rules on prevention of conflicts of interest and on processing information on 
potential conflicts of interest of the Agency staff, adopted in June 2012 and October 2012 
respectively,  
— guidance for managers on the prevention of conflicts of interest, including concrete assessment 
criteria, adopted in November 2012,EN 16.11.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 308/213
— revised guidelines on gifts and hospitality for staff, adopted in December 2012;  
urges the Agency to continue to act on the recommendations made by the Court of Auditors in order 
to avoid any conflict of interests among its various governing and operational structures and to report 
to the discharge authority on the implementation of the abovementioned policies and procedures, as 
well as on any further developments as regards management of conflict of interest;  
20. Calls on the Agency to introduce in its annual activity reports a special section describing the actions 
taken to prevent and manage conflicts of interest, which shall include, inter alia:  
— the number of conflicts of interest cases verified,  
— the number of revolving door cases,  
— the measures taken in each category of cases,  
— the number of breach of trust procedures launched and their outcomes,  
— the sanctions applied;  
21. Points out that all Management Board members’ declarations of interest are available on the Agency’s 
website, yet not all curriculum vitae of the Management Board members are available; calls on the 
Agency to inform the discharge authority of the progress made on this matter as soon as possible;  
22. Refers, in respect of the other observations accompanying its Decision on discharge, which are of a 
horizontal nature, to its Resolution of 17 April 2013 (  1 ) on the performance, financial management and 
control of the agencies.EN L 308/214 Official Journal of the European Union 16.11.2013  
( 1 ) Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0134 (See page 374 of this Official Journal).