Report on the annual accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency for the financial year 2007 together with the Agency's replies
Date: 2008-09-25
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: European Court of Auditors, European Maritime Safety Agency, administration of the Institutions, financial control, powers of the institutions (EU), report

5.12.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/57

on the annual accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency for the
financial year 2007 together with the Agency’s replies

REPORT

(2008/C 311/09)

CONTENTS

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

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

OBSERVATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1-2

3-6

7-9

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

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

58

58

58

60

63

Paragraph

Page

C 311/58

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

5.12.2008

INTRODUCTION

The Court has thus obtained a reasonable basis for the

6.
Statement set out below:

The European Maritime Safety Agency (hereinafter called
1.
the Agency) was set up by Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 27 June 2002 (1). The
Agency’s tasks are to ensure a high level of maritime safety and
prevention of pollution by ships, to provide the Commission and
the Member States with technical assistance, to monitor the
implementation of Community legislation and to evaluate its
effectiveness.

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.

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

This Statement is addressed to the European Parliament
3.
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 Executive Director,
pursuant to Article 18 of Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002, and
sent to the Court, which is required to give a Statement of Assur-
ance as to their reliability and the legality and regularity of the
underlying transactions.

Reliability of the accounts

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.

The observations which follow do not call the Court’s State-
ment into question.

OBSERVATIONS

7.
The Agency’s 2007 budget amounted to 48,2 million
euro, as compared with 44,7 million euro the previous year. The
principal expenses for operating activities concern anti-pollution
measures. The Agency’s budget is mainly financed by subsidies
from the European Commission. The procedures for establishing
the budget were not sufficiently rigorous. This led to a high num-
ber of budgetary transfers (5), incorrect budget presentation (6)
and irregular modification of the funding source for anti-pollution
appropriations (7).

5.
The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC
and ISSAI (4) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Eth-
ics, in so far 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.

(1) OJ L 208, 5.8.2002, p. 1.
(2) OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.
(3) These accounts were drawn up on 11 June 2008 and received by the

Court on 2 July 2008.

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

Legal commitments were entered into before the corre-

8.
sponding budgetary commitments (8).

(5) More than 32 transfers of appropriations in 2007.
(6) For differentiated appropriations, the budget must include the sched-
ule of payments due in subsequent financial years to meet budget
commitments entered into in earlier financial years (Article 31(2)(c) of
the Agency’s financial regulation).

(7) From mid-June to December, 25 million euro for anti-pollution mea-
sures, authorised by the Budget Authority as normal appropriations
(C1), were unduly moved to assigned revenues (R0).

dards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

(8) Three cases with a total value of 208 000 euro.

5.12.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/59

For the audited recruitment procedures, the selection cri-
9.
teria and the threshold scores for passing to the next stage of
competitions were not decided upon before the evaluation pro-
cess started. The Staff Committee was never invited by the

Appointing Authority to participate in the recruitment proce-
dures. This situation did not ensure transparent and non-
discriminatory procedures.

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at
24 and 25 September 2008.

its meeting of

For the Court of Auditors
Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA
President

Areas of Community
competence deriving from the
Treaty

Competences of the Agency as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002 of the European Parliament and of the
Council as amended by Regulations (EC) No 1644/2003 and (EC) No 724/2004

Governance

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

Products and services supplied
2007

Table 1

European Maritime Safety Agency (Lisbon)

Common transport policy

Objectives

Tasks

1. Administrative Board

Final budget

‘The Council may, acting by
a qualified majority, decide
whether, to what extent and
by what procedure appro-
priate provisions may be
laid down for sea and air
transport.’

(Article 80 of the Treaty)

— To ensure a high, uniform
and effective level of mari-
time safety and prevention
of pollution by ships.

— To provide the Member-
States and the Commission
with technical and scientific
assistance.

— To monitor the implemen-
tation of Community legis-
lation in this field and to
evaluate the effectiveness of
the measures in place.

— To introduce operational
methods for combating pol-
lution in European waters.

Source:

Information supplied by the Agency.

Title
1:
(13 400 000 euro)

15 320 297

Title
2:
(2 905 000 euro)

3 179 703

Title
3:
(28 433 440 euro)

29 749 058

Total:
(44 738 440 euro)

48 249 058

euro

euro

euro

euro

TA and Permanent Staff 153
(132)

Other staff

AUX & CA: 13 (9)

SNE: 13 (11)

— To assist the Commission in drawing up Community legis-

lation and in its implementation.

Composition

— To monitor the overall functioning of the Community port
State control regime, which may include visits to the Mem-
ber States.

— To provide the Commission with technical assistance for the

port State control of ships.

One representative per Member-
State, four representatives of the
Commission,
representa-
four
tives, without the right to vote,
from the professional sectors con-
cerned.

— To work with the Member States on developing technical
solutions and to provide technical assistance related to the
implementation of Community legislation.

Tasks

— To promote cooperation between riparian States in the ship-

ping areas concerned.

— To develop and operate any information system necessary.

— To adopt the budget and the

work programme.

— To examine requests from
Member States for assis-
tance.

— To facilitate cooperation between the MemberStates and the
Commission in the development of a common methodol-
ogy for investigating maritime accidents.

2. Executive Director

— To provide the Commission and the Member States with
reliable information on maritime safety and on pollution by
ships.

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

— To assist the Commission and the Member States in the
identification and pursuit of ships making unlawful dis-
charges.

3. External audit

Court of Auditors.

— To monitor the classification societies recognised by the EU
and to issue the corresponding reports to the Commission.

4. Discharge authority

— To assist the Commission with the input for and implemen-
tation of tasks relating to the Directive on marine equip-
ment.

Parliament acting on a recom-
mendation by the Council.

— To provide the Commission with data on the introduction
of the Directive on ship waste reception facilities in Euro-
pean ports.

(non exhaustive lists; details can be
found in the AAR)

— Preparations of a draft meth-
odology related to a new vis-
its programme to MS;

— Preparation of the technical
the new

specifications of
THETIS project;

— Design

of

the

interface
between STIRES/SSN and
CleanSeaNet;

— Add additional oil recovery
capacity
in the Atlantic,
Aegean Sea, West Mediterra-
nean and Strait of Gibraltar;

— Establishment

of
CleanSeaNet service;

the

— Start of the Activity of the

Maritime Support Services.

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European Maritime Safety Agency (Lisbon) — Implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007

Table 2

Origin of revenue

Revenue

Revenue entered in the
final budget for the
financial year

Revenue received

Allocation of expenditure

Expenditure

Final budget appropriations for the financial year

Appropriations carried over from the
previous financial year

entered

committed

paid

carried
over

cancelled

entered

paid

cancelled

(1 000 euro)

Community subsidies

48 249

37 387

Title I
Staff (NDA)

Title II
Administration (NDA)

Title III
Operating activities (DA)

15 320

11 999

11 805

194

3 321

3 180

3 149

1 881

1 267

31

Other income

157

Total

48 249

37 544

— CA

29 749

28 132

0

— PA

29 749

0

19 295

Total CA

48 249

43 280

0

Total PA

48 249

0

32 982

141

141

1 603

1 603

differentiated appropriations (commitment and payment appropriations may differ).
commitment appropriations in a system of differentiated appropriations.
payment appropriations in a system of differentiated appropriations.

NDA: non-differentiated appropriations (commitment appropriations equal payment appropriations).
DA:
CA:
PA:
Carried-over appropriations for the financial year linked to Title III consist exclusively in re-used income (101 000 euro) and assigned revenue (PHARE – 40 403 euro).
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.

664

606

0

0

245

523

0

0

419

83

0

0

1 617

10 454

4 969

1 270

768

502

13 806

.

.

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C 311/62

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

5.12.2008

European Maritime Safety Agency (Lisbon) — Economic outturn account for the financial years 2007 and 2006

Table 3

Operating revenue

Community subsidies

Other subsidies

Operating expenditure

Staff expenditure

Fixed-asset-related expenditure

Other administrative expenditure

Operational expenditure

Total (a)

Economic result for the year (c = a – b)

Total (b)

(1 000 euro)

2007

2006

33 801

1 111

34 912

10 791

356

3 252

14 842

29 242

5 669

24 716

678

25 394

9 616

236

3 548

14 151

27 551

– 2 157

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

up on an accrual basis.

European Maritime Safety Agency (Lisbon) — Balance sheet at 31 December 2007 and 2006

Table 4

(1 000 euro)

2007

2006

Non-current assets

Intangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets

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

257

555

10 003

254

15 166

26 234

232

15 305

15 537

10 697

5 028

5 669

Total assets

Total current liabilities

Net assets

Net capital

10 697

55

523

4 849

270

11 633

17 330

191

12 111

12 301

5 028

7 185

– 2 157

5 028

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

up on an accrual basis.

5.12.2008

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Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/63

THE AGENCY’S REPLIES

The Agency welcomes the observation of the Court. The Agency continues its efforts to improve its
7.
planning and monitoring. Specific attention is paid to the forecasting and scheduling of payments. The bud-
getary transfers necessary in 2007 are within the 10 % threshold authorised by the Financial Regulation. After
proposals of the Commission the Administrative Board decided on 20 March 2007 to qualify Anti-Pollution
Funds as assigned revenue and decided on 21 November 2007 to no longer treat these funds as such.

The measures to avoid a posteriori commitments are further strengthened. The key factors are continu-

8.
ous training and communication. Finance checklists have been established to provide guidance.

Following the observations made by the Court, measures have been taken to ensure that selection cri-
9.
teria and threshold scores are defined at an earlier stage in the selection procedure. In the context of the forth-
coming adoption of the new Implementing Rules regarding the recruitment of Temporary Agents, the Agency
will take into account the Court’s further observations regarding the procedures to follow during recruitment.