Report on the annual accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2007 together with the Agency's replies
Date: 2008-09-18
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, European Court of Auditors, administration of the Institutions, financial control, implementation of the budget, powers of the institutions (EU), report

C 311/50

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

5.12.2008

on the annual accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at
Work for the financial year 2007 together with the Agency’s replies

REPORT

(2008/C 311/08)

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1-2

3-6

Tables 1 to 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Agency’s replies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

51

51

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Paragraph

Page

5.12.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/51

INTRODUCTION

1.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
(hereinafter referred to as the Agency) was established by Council
Regulation (EC) No 2062/94 of 18 July 1994 (1). The Agency’s
task is to collect and disseminate information on national and
Community priorities in the field of safety and health at work, to
support national and Community organisations involved in the
formulation and implementation of policy and to provide infor-
mation on preventive measures.

2.
Table 1 summarises the Agency’s competences and activi-
ties. Key data summarised from the financial statements drawn up
by the Agency for the financial year 2007 are presented in
Tables 2, 3 and 4for information purposes.

Court, which is required to give a statement of assurance on their
reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying
transactions.

5.
The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC
and ISSAI (4) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Eth-
ics, insofar as these are applicable in the European Community
context. The audit was planned and performed to obtain reason-
able assurance that the accounts are reliable and that the under-
lying transactions are legal and regular.

The Court has thus obtained a reasonable basis for the

6.
statement set out below:

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

Reliability of the accounts

3.
This statement is addressed to the European Parliament
and the Council in accordance with Article 185(2) of Council
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 (2); it
was drawn up following an examination of the Agency’s accounts,
as required by Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European
Community.

4.
The Agency’s accounts for the financial year ended
31 December 2007 (3) were drawn up by its Director, pursuant
to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2062/94, and sent to the

The Agency’s accounts for the financial year ended 31 Decem-
ber 2007 are, in all material respects, reliable.

Legality and regularity of the underlying transactions

The transactions underlying the Agency’s annual accounts,
taken as a whole, are legal and regular.

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at
18 September 2008.

its meeting of

For the Court of Auditors
Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA
President

(1) OJ L 216, 20.8.1994, p. 1. The Regulation was last amended by Coun-
cil Regulation (EC) No 1112/2005 of 24 June 2005 (OJ L 184,
15.7.2005, p. 5).

(2) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(3) These accounts were drawn up on 24 June 2008 and received by the

Court on 26 June 2008.

(4) International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Stan-

dards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao)

Table 1

Areas of Community
competence deriving from
the Treaty

Competences of the Agency as defined in Council Regulation
(EC) No 2062/94 as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1112/2005

Governance

Resources made available to the
Agency in 2007
(Data for 2006)

Products and services provided during 2007

Social provisions

Objectives

Tasks

1. Governing board

Final budget:

Building the links — Networking:

Composition

— 14,9 million euro (14,1 mil-

The Community and the
Member States (…) shall
have as their objectives
(…) improved living and
working conditions, so as
to make possible their har-
the
monisation while
improvement
being
maintained (…).

is

With a view to achieving
of
objectives
the
Article 136, the Commu-
nity shall
support and
complement the activities
of the Member States in
(a)
the following fields:
improvement in particular
of the working environ-
ment to protect workers’
health and safety;
(b)
working conditions; (…)

(Extracts from Article 136
and 137 of the Treaty)

In order to improve the
working environment, as
regards the protection of
the safety and health of
workers as provided for
in the Treaty and succes-
sive Community strate-
gies
action
and
programmes concerning
health and safety at the
workplace, the aim of the
Agency shall be to pro-
the Community
vide
bodies,
the Member
States, the social partners
and those involved in the
field with technical, sci-
entific
and economic
information of use in the
field of safety and health
at work.

— To collect, analyse and
disseminate information
on national and Commu-
nity priorities and on
research.

— To promote cooperation
exchange of
and the
information,
including
information on training
programmes.

— To supply the Commu-
the
bodies
and
nity
Member
States with
information they require
to formulate and imple-
ment policies, in particu-
lar as regards the impact
on small and medium-
sized enterprises.

— To make available infor-
mation on preventive
activities.

— To contribute

to the
development of strategies
and Community action
programmes.

— To set up a network com-
prising national
focal
points and topic centres.

— one representative of

the
Government of each Member
State.

— one representative of

the
employers’ organisations of
each Member State.

— one representative of

the
employees’ organisations of
each Member State.

— three representatives of the

Commission.

Members and alternate members
from the first three categories shall
be appointed from the members
and alternate members of
the
Advisory Committee on Safety
and Health at Work.

Task

To adopt the Agency’s work pro-
gramme, budget and annual gen-
eral report.

2. Bureau

Composition

— Chairman

and

3

vice-

chairmen of the Board

— Coordinators from each of
the three interest groups

— 1 additional member from
each of the groups and the
Commission

lion euro)

Including:

— Finalization and follow-up on 2nd external
evaluation of the Agency’s performance.

— Community

Employment:
(93,5 %)

subsidy, DG
93,8 %

— Institutional capacity building in Candidate
and Potential Candidate Countries (PHARE
and CARDS programmes).

— Community

subsidy, DG

Enlargement: 2,9 % (4,5 %)

— Miscellaneous revenue: 3,3 %

(2 %)

Staff at 31 December 2007:

42 (40) posts in the establishment
plan, of which,

Posts filled: 38 (33)

Posts vacant: 4 (7)

Communicating Information:

— European Safe Start! Summit — closing event
of the European Week 2006 campaign on
young workers.

— Lighten the Load campaign — European cam-
paign on work-related musculoskeletal disor-
ders — EU 27+.

25 (26) other posts (auxiliary, con-
tract, seconded national experts,
and local staff).

— Healthy Workplace Initiative — SME- tar-
geted campaign in EU 12, Turkey and Croatia
(final round).

Total staff: 63 (59)

assigned to

operational tasks: 47 (42)

administrative tasks: 9 (9)

mixed tasks: 7 (8)

— Multilingual web-based and printed informa-
tion services on occupational safety and
health.

— Monitoring and evaluation: evaluation report
of 2005 Stop that Noise campaign; online
survey of website users; website benchmark-
ing exercise.

Developing knowledge:

— Information products for national and Euro-
pean Week campaign 2007 (MSDs) and 2008
(Risk Assessment).

— Information products for projects on OSH &
Economic Performance, the HORECA Sector,
Mainstreaming OSH into Education, and
Cleaning Workers.

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Areas of Community
competence deriving from
the Treaty

Competences of the Agency as defined in Council Regulation
(EC) No 2062/94 as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1112/2005

Governance

Resources made available to the
Agency in 2007
(Data for 2006)

Task

Overseeing the preparation and
follow-up of the Board’s decisions

3. The director

Appointed by the Governing
Board on a proposal
from the
Commission.

4. Committees

Obligatory consultation of
the
Commission and the Advisory
Committee on Safety and Health
at Work in respect of the work
programme and budget.

5. External audit

Court of Auditors.

6. Discharge authority

Parliament acting on a recommen-
dation from the Council.

Source:

Information supplied by the Agency.

Products and services provided during 2007

— General

improvements to the quality and
accessibility of Good Practice information on
the Agency’s website and to the on-line The-
saurus.

— European Risk Observatory: data collection
on HORECA, ageing workers and transport.
Reports on emerging biological risks, emerg-
ing psychosocial risks, and occupational skin
exposure and work-related skin diseases. Lit-
erature review on the occupational safety and
health of migrant workers. Launch of Phase I
of the European Survey of Enterprises on New
and Emerging Risks (ESENER). Third work-
shop on ‘fostering research co-ordination in
the EU’.

.

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European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao) — Implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007

Table 2

Source of revenue

Revenue

Revenue entered in the
final budget for the
financial year

Revenue collected

Allocation of expenditure

Expenditure

Final budget appropriations

(1 000 euro)

Appropriations carried over from the
previous financial year

final

committed

paid

carried
over

cancelled

available

paid

cancelled

Community subsidies

14 000

13 000

Other revenue

430

443

Assigned revenue

Total

498

14 928

430

13 873

Title I
Staff

Title II
Administration

Title III
Operating activities

Assigned revenue

4 797

4 292

3 996

160

1 623

1 443

1 087

352

8 010

7 880

4 972

2 908

498

391

147

282

641

184

130

68

125

381

79

369

1 963

1 670

194

194

Total

14 928

14 006

10 202

3 702

1 023

2 663

2 312

47

11

293

0

351

Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts. Revenue collected and payments are estimated on a cash basis.

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5.12.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/55

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao) — Economic outturn account for the financial
years 2007 and 2006

Table 3

(1 000 euro)

2007

2006

Operating revenue

Community subsidy

Other subsidies

Other income

Operating expenditure

Staff expenditure

Fixed asset-related expenditure

Other administrative expenditure

Operational expenditure

12 682

343

480

Total (a)

13 505

3 661

137

1 991

7 222

Total (b)

13 011

Surplus/(deficit) from operating activities (c = a – b)

Financial expenditure (d)

Surplus/(deficit) from non operating activities (e = d)

Economic result for the year (f = c + e)

494

– 3

– 3

491

Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts.

11 730

238

1 580

13 548

3 640

139

1 825

8 028

13 632

– 84

– 3

– 6

– 90

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao) — Balance sheet at 31 December 2007 and 2006

Table 4

Non-current assets

Intangible assets

Tangible assets

Long-term receivables

Current assets

Short-term pre-financing

Short-term receivables

Cash and cash equivalents

Current liabilities

Provisions for risks and charges

Accounts payable

Reserves

Accumulated surplus/deficit

Economic result for the year

(1 000 euro)

2007

2006

44

261

4

330

38

4 268

4 945

70

2 654

2 724

2 221

1 730

491

2 221

71

247

4

435

27

2 990

3 774

63

1 981

2 044

1 730

1 820

– 90

1 730

Total assets

Total liabilities

Net assets

Net capital

Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts.

C 311/56

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

5.12.2008

THE AGENCY’S REPLY

1.

The Agency has taken note of the Court’s report.