Report on the annual accounts of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency’s replies
Date: 2010-09-16
Institutions: European Court of Auditors
Subjects: EU office or agency, European Court of Auditors, administration of the Institutions, competence of the institution, financial control, implementation of the budget, report








C_2010338EN.01008301.xml










14.12.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 338/83





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency’s replies
2010/C 338/15

CONTENTS








 



Paragraph




Page





INTRODUCTION …


1-2


84




STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE …


3-12


84




COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT …


13


85




OTHER MATTERS …


14


85




Table …


86





The Agency’s replies …


89





INTRODUCTION







1.


The Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agency’), located in Brussels, is the former Intelligent Energy Executive Agency (IEEA). Its mandate and the duration thereof were altered following Commission Decision 2007/372/EC of 31 May 2007 (1) amending Decision 2004/20/EC of 23 December 2003 (2). The Agency was established for a limited period, beginning on 1 January 2004 and now ending on 31 December 2015, with the aim of managing Union actions in the field of energy, entrepreneurship and innovation, and sustainable freight transport (3).










2.


The Agency’s final 2009 administrative budget amounted to 13,3 million euro, compared with 11,5 million euro the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 141, as compared with 131 the previous year.



























































































































12.


The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinions into question.





COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT







13.


The initial 2009 budget of 14,9 million euro was reduced by 1,6 million euro in October 2009 (13), mainly due to an overestimation of staff needs (912 500 euro) and the take-over of some activities by the Commission. This situation is similar to the one observed in 2008 (14) and indicates the need for a stricter approach when forecasting staff needs.





OTHER MATTERS







14.


The audit of recruitment procedures showed that the selection of applicants invited for an interview — about 80 % of applicants are rejected at this stage — was made by only one member of the jury. Moreover, the thresholds for passing the next stage of the selection process were not determined before the evaluation process started. These practices put at risk the transparency of the recruitment procedures.





This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Igors LUDBORŽS, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 14 and 16 September 2010.


For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President





Table


Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (Brussels)











Areas of Union competence deriving from the Treaty


Competences of the Agency as defined in Commission Decision 2004/20/EC amended by Decision 2007/372/EC


Governance


Resources available to the Agency in 2009

(Data for 2008)



Activities and services provided in 2009




Union policy on the environment shall contribute to pursuit of the following objectives:






—


preserving, protecting and improving the quality of the environment,










—


protecting human health,










—


prudent and rational utilisation of natural resources,










—


promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems, and in particular combating climate change.





(Article 191(1) TFEU)

The Union and the Member States shall ensure that the conditions necessary for the competitiveness of the Union’s industry exist.
For that purpose, in accordance with a system of open and competitive markets, their action shall be aimed at:






—


speeding up the adjustment of industry to structural changes,










—


encouraging an environment favourable to initiative and to the development of undertakings throughout the Union, particularly small and medium-sized undertakings,










—


encouraging an environment favourable to cooperation between undertakings,










—


fostering better exploitation of the industrial potential of policies of innovation, research and technological development.





(Article 173(1) TFEU)

For the purpose of implementing Article 90, and taking into account the distinctive features of transport, the European Parliament and the Council shall, acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, lay down:






(a)


common rules applicable to international transport to or from the territory of a Member State or passing across the territory of one or more Member States;










(b)


the conditions under which non-resident carriers may operate transport services within a Member State;










(c)


measures to improve transport safety;










(d)


any other appropriate provisions.





(Article 91(1) TFEU)




Objectives

Within the framework of the Lisbon strategy for growth and jobs, the European Union has adopted measures to promote and develop competitiveness and innovation. These measures include the establishment of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) 2007-2013 (Decision No 1639/2006/EC), notably with the programmes Intelligent Energy — Europe (IEE) and Entrepreneurship and Innovation (EIP). The measures also include the Marco Polo (MP) programme (Regulation (EC) No 1692/2006).
The main objectives are to foster competitiveness of enterprises, in particular SMEs; to promote all forms of innovation, as well as eco-innovation; to promote energy efficiency and new and renewable energy sources in all sectors, including transport.
Under these EU programmes, the Agency is responsible for all implementing tasks concerning EU aid, except for programme evaluation, monitoring of legislation and strategic studies, or any other action which comes under the exclusive competence of the European Commission.



Tasks

Implementing the EU programmes according to the delegations received from the Commission:






—


To manage all phases in the lifetime of specific projects.










—


To carry out all operations necessary to manage the EU programmes, in particular budget implementation including awarding contracts and grants.










—


To gather, analyse and pass on to the Commission all the information needed to guide the implementation of the programmes as well as to promote coordination and synergy among the programmes.










—


As regards the EIP, to be in charge of project and network management by the Enterprise Europe Network, eco-innovation pilot and market replication projects, and innovation actions with a high degree of standardisation (IP Base project).







1 —   Management Board

Comprises five members appointed by the European Commission. It adopts the Agency's annual work programme after approval by the European Commission. In addition, it adopts the administrative budget of the Agency and its annual activity report.

2 —   Director

Appointed by the European Commission.

3 —   External Audit

Court of Auditors.

4 —   Discharge authority

Parliament, acting on a recommendation from the Council.



Budget







(A)


203,1 (204,8) million euro (100 % general budget of the EU). The EACI implements the operational budget under the responsibility of the Commission:






—


for IEE 72,1 (55,8) million euro,










—


for EIP-eco-innovation 32,2 (27,9) million euro,










—


for EIP-Networks 32,0 (82,8) million euro,










—


for MP 66,9 (38,3) million euro.














(B)


13,3 (11,5) million euro (100 % Union subsidy) for the administrative budget for which the EACI is autonomous.





Staff at 31 December 2009

37 (36) posts listed in the establishment plan, of which 28 (27) occupied.
Contract staff: 110 (108) posts planned, 113 (104) were occupied.

Total staff: 141 (131)



Allocated to







(a)


Operational tasks:
118 (110)










(b)


Administrative tasks:
23 (21).







For the Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme, the Agency monitored 388 ongoing IEE projects and signed 57 new grant agreements related to the 2008 call for proposals. For the 2009 call, the Agency selected 59 projects out of 372 proposals submitted. As happens every year, European Info Day (400 participants) was organised, and National Info Days attended (15 days with 2 500 participants). The latter increased by almost 70 % in comparison to last year.
The Agency disseminated information about the programme and its results via the IEE website with a 66 % increase in page views (2 million), a searchable project database, five new project brochures, two new News Reviews and nine electronic news alerts mailed to 13 600 subscribers. Since September, the Agency has also managed the contract for the Sustainable Energy Campaign. Through numerous channels, the Agency fed back results from IEE projects to the Commission, e.g. on the energy performance of the buildings Directive.

The EIP programme — Enterprise Europe Network was launched at the beginning of 2008. The Network offers a ‘one-stop shop’ to meet the business and innovation needs of SMEs and companies in the EU. The Agency manages 92 ongoing projects with 532 partners as well as a grant for ‘intellectual property rights awareness and enforcement for SMEs’ as well as eight cooperation agreements with Armenia, Chile, China, Egypt, Russia, Switzerland, Syria, and the USA.
For the Network animation, the EACI developed the Network's visual identity and branching, a video news release with 2,2 million viewers, five newsletters and several training sessions for Network partners of which one ‘train the trainers’. Together with the Swedish EU Presidency, the Agency organised an annual conference with more than 800 participants, including an award competition for best practices.

For the eco-innovation market replication projects, the Agency monitored 44 ongoing projects from the 2008 call for proposals. The 2009 call attracted almost 50 % more proposals (202) than the previous one. It was promoted via one European and 13 National Info Days with 1 355 participants (8 % increase). The programme website was viewed by half a million, like last year, however the number of subscribers to the news alert increased by 65 % (5 100). Efforts to promote the scheme also include a graphical charter, posters and flyers.

For the Marco Polo programme the Agency monitored 64 ongoing projects and signed 28 new grant agreements related to the 2008 call for proposals. In 2009, the Agency organised the first European Info Day with 300 participants; the 2009 call attracted 70 proposals, which is an increase of 60 % in comparison with last year. The Agency promotes the programme through a dedicated website with 0,4 million viewers (25 % increase) and electronic news alerts with 57 % more subscribers (1 300) than last year. Communication efforts also include a regional conference, participation in 17 MP events throughout Europe, a graphical charter, a brochure and leaflet as well as a video that attracted 5 million viewers.





Source: Information supplied by the Agency.






THE AGENCY’S REPLIES






13.


The initial 2009 budget was based on estimated staff numbers indicated in the ‘fiche financiere’ of the Commission decision to extend the Agency's tasks. Staff were recruited according to the successively expanding needs to cover the tasks handed over from the parent Directorates-General.










14.


The EACI will adapt its selection procedure in order to incorporate the Court's finding regarding the screening stage of the recruitment and its documentation. However, while the eligibility and selection criteria are determined beforehand to ensure legal certainty, thresholds are established only after having examined all applications, as their sole purpose is to keep the number of candidates to be interviewed at a reasonable level.







(1)  OJ L 140, 1.6.2007, p. 52.

(2)  OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 85.

(3)  The Table summarises the Agency's competences and activities. It is presented for information purposes.

(4)  These accounts are accompanied by a report on the budgetary and financial management during the year which gives, inter alia, an account of the rate of implementation of the appropriations with summary information on the transfers of appropriations among the various budget items.

(5)  The financial statements include the balance sheet and the economic outturn account, the cash-flow table, the statement of changes in capital and the annex to the financial statements which includes the description of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory information.

(6)  The budget implementation reports comprise the budget outturn account and its annex.

(7)  OJ L 11, 16.1.2003, p. 1.

(8)  Article 25 of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 of 21 September 2004 (OJ L 297, 22.9.2004, p. 6).

(9)  Article 29 of Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004.

(10)  The rules concerning the presentation of the accounts and accounting by the Agencies are laid down in Chapter 1 of Title VI of Regulation (EC) No 1653/2004 as last amended by Regulation (EC) No 651/2008 of 9 July 2008 (OJ L 181, 10.7.2008, p. 15).

(11)  International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

(12)  The Final Annual Accounts were drawn up on 23 June 2010 and received by the Court on 30 June 2010. The Final Annual Accounts, consolidated with those of the Commission, are published in the Official Journal of the European Union by 15 November of the following year. These can be found on the following website http://eca.europa.eu or www.europa.eu/agencies/executive_agencies/eaci/index_en.htm

(13)  Amending Budget 1/2009 (OJ L 333, 17.12.2009, p. 35).

(14)  See paragraph 13 of the Report on the annual accounts 2008 (OJ C 304, 15.12.2009, p. 77).