Report on the annual accounts of the European Chemicals Agency 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.01003401.xml










14.12.2010   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 338/34





REPORT
on the annual accounts of the European Chemicals Agency for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency’s replies
2010/C 338/07

CONTENTS








 



Paragraph




Page





INTRODUCTION …


1-2


35




STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE …


3-12


35




COMMENTS ON THE BUDGETARY AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT …


13


36




Table …


37





The Agency’s replies …


39





INTRODUCTION







1.


The European Chemicals Agency (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Agency’), located in Helsinki, was set up by Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 (1). Its main tasks are to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment as well as the free movement of substances, on their own, in preparations and in articles, while enhancing competitiveness and innovation. The Agency also promotes the development of alternative methods for the assessment of hazards of substances (2). The Agency became financially independent from the Commission on 1 January 2008.










2.


The Agency’s 2009 budget amounted to 70,4 million euro compared with 66,4 million euro the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 355 as compared with 244 in 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.


A total of 20 million euro (29 % of the appropriations) was carried forward to the budgetary year 2010. In addition, 3,3 million euro (5 % of the appropriations) was cancelled. According to the accounting information, approximately 17,6 million euro (88 % of the appropriations carried forward) correspond to activities not yet implemented (or, in some cases, goods not received) at the year end. This situation indicated delays in the implementation of the activities of the Agency and was at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality.





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


European Chemicals Agency (Helsinki)











Areas of Union competence deriving from the Treaty


Competences of the Agency as defined in Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation) and (EC) No 1272/2008
(Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008 (Classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures))


Governance


Resources made available to the Agency in 2009

(Data for 2008)



Products and services provided during the financial year 2009

(Data for 2008) (12)






The legal base of ECHA’s founding regulation, the REACH Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006, is Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.




Objectives

The purpose of the REACH Regulation is to ensure a high level of protection of human health and the environment, including the promotion of alternative methods for assessment of hazards of substances, as well as the free circulation of substances on the internal market while enhancing competitiveness and innovation. (Article 1 of the REACH Regulation)
The Agency should be central to ensuring that chemicals legislation and the decision-making processes and scientific basis underlying it have credibility with all stakeholders and the public. The Agency should also play a pivotal role in coordinating communication concerning this Regulation and in its implementation. The confidence in the Agency of the Union institutions, the Member States, the general public and interested parties is therefore essential. For this reason, it is vital to ensure its independence, high scientific, technical and regulatory capacities, as well as transparency and efficiency (recital 95 of the REACH Regulation)



Tasks

ECHA is established for the purposes of managing and in some cases carrying out the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of the REACH Regulation and to ensure consistency at Union level in relation to these aspects. (Article 75 of the REACH Regulation)
The Agency is also to provide the Member States and the institutions of the Union with the best possible scientific and technical advice on questions relating to chemicals which fall within its remit and which are referred to it in accordance with the provisions of the REACH Regulation. (Article 77(1) of the REACH Regulation)
ECHA also has tasks related to the classification and labelling of chemical substances deriving from the CLP Regulation (EC) 1272/2008. In particular, the Agency is to provide Member States and the institutions of the Union with the best possible scientific advice and provide industry and Member State authorities with technical and scientific guidance.



1 —   Management Board

One representative of each Member State, appointed by the Council, and a maximum of six representatives appointed by the Commission, including three individuals from interested parties without voting rights and, in addition, two independent persons appointed by the European Parliament. (Article 79 of the REACH Regulation)
Tasks: Article 78 of the REACH Regulation and framework financial regulation for agencies, mainly adopting annual and multiannual work programme, the final budget, a general report, internal rules of procedures and appointment of and disciplinary authority over of the Executive Director. In addition appointment of Board of Appeal and Committee members.

2 —   Executive Director

Tasks: Article 83 of the REACH Regulation

3 —   Committees

ECHA comprises three Committees (Risk Assessment, Member States and Socio-Economic Analysis)
Tasks: Article 76(1)(c-e) of the REACH Regulation.

4 —   Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement

Tasks: Article 76(1)(f) of the REACH Regulation

5 —   Secretariat

Tasks: Article 76(1)(g) of the REACH Regulation

6 —   Board of Appeal

Tasks: Article 76(1)(h) of the REACH Regulation

7 —   External audit

Court of Auditors.

8 —   Internal audit

IAS, Internal audit service Commission.

9 —   Discharge authority

Parliament, acting on a recommendation from the Council.



Budget (including amending budget)

70,4 (66,4) million euro, including:
Revenue from fees:
2,2 (3,8) million euro
Union contribution:
66,6 (62,6) million

Staff at 31 December 2009

324 (220) posts in the establishment plan
Number of posts occupied:
293 (210)
Other staff: 62 (34)

Contract staff, seconded national experts and agency staff
TOTAL staff numbers: 355 (244)


Allocated to:







—


operational tasks: 237 (164)











—


administrative and support tasks: 118 (80)







Preparations and capacity building as a new Agency in fields of registration, evaluation, authorisations and restrictions, classification and labelling and committees
Development of REACH-IT system and other IT systems
Administrative and management systems built up
Number of pre-registrations: 38 000(2 750 000) for 16 800(150 000) substances; 3 400 (65 000) companies signed up
Number of completed registration dossiers exc.: 500 (70)

Number of inquiries: 1 000(250)

Number of questions answered by helpdesk: 6 600(12 300)

Number of new guidance documents issued: 2 (6)

Number of guidance updates issued: 0 (10)

Number of compliance checks completed: 14 (1)

Number of unanimous MSC agreements: 15 (15)

Number of RAC/SEAC opinions: 1
Number of substances identified for inclusion in the Candidate list: 15 (15)

Number of recommendations of substances for inclusion as priority substances in REACH Annex XIV: 1
Number of proposals for harmonised classification and labelling: 30 (14)






Source: Information supplied by the Agency.






THE AGENCY’S REPLY






13.


The 29 % of the total appropriations carried forward of the 2009 budget compares to 22 % in the year before, and 5 % of the cancelled appropriations were a decrease from 23 % in 2008, which reflect an improvement in the total budget implementation. The Agency was faced with unforeseen delays in the implementation of some of its activities and contracting, resulting in the carry-over of the funds. The Agency will continue to further develop the planning and monitoring of its procurement and budget execution so as to bring further down the proportion of carry forward appropriations further in 2010.







(1)  OJ L 396, 30.12.2006, p. 1.

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

(3)  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.

(4)  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.

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

(6)  OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(7)  Article 33 of Commission Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 of 19 November 2002 (OJ L 357, 31.12.2002, p. 72).

(8)  Article 38 of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002.

(9)  The rules concerning the presentation of the accounts and accounting by the Agencies are laid down in Chapter 1 of Title VII of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2343/2002 as last amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 652/2008 of 9 July 2008 (OJ L 181, 10.7.2008, p. 23) and are integrated as such in the Financial Regulation of the Agency.

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

(11)  The Final Annual Accounts were drawn up on 16 June 2010 and received by the Court on 29 July 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 http://echa.europa.eu/publications/annual_accounts_en.asp

(12)  Where appropriate, figures have been rounded up/down to the nearest 10, 100, or 1 000.