Consolidated annual activity report of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights 2015 : (in pursuance of Article 47 of the agency’s Financial rules).
Date: 2017-12-04
Institutions: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights
Subjects: European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, activity report, operation of the Institutions

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ANNUAL ACTIVITY 
REPORT 2015

Annual activity report 2015

 
 
 
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ISBN 978-92-9491-264-0 (online version) 
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Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged.

Consolidated Annual Activity Report 
of the European Union Agency 
for Fundamental Rights
2015

[In pursuance of Article 47 of the agency’s Financial Rules]

Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������5

INTRODUCTION ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������7

1  ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE YEAR ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 11
Achievements by strategic priorities and objectives ................................................................................................11

1.1 
1.2.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Immigration and integration of migrants, visa and border control 

and asylum’ ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19

1.3.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Information society and, in particular, respect for private life 

and protection of personal data’ .................................................................................................................................. 22
1.4.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Racism, xenophobia and related intolerance’ ........................................... 23
1.5.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Roma integration’ ..........................................................................................24
1.6.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Discrimination based on sex, race, colour, ethnic or social origin, 
genetic features, language, religion or belief, political or any other opinion, membership of a national 
minority, property, birth, disability, age or sexual orientation’ ..............................................................................26
1.7.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘The rights of the child’ ..................................................................................27
1.8.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Access to justice’ ............................................................................................29
1.9.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Victims of crime’ ............................................................................................ 31
1.10.  Achievements in the thematic area ‘Cross-cutting activities’................................................................................. 31
1.11.  Economy and efficiency of spending and non-spending activities ....................................................................... 32

2  MANAGEMENT �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������33
2.1.  Management Board ........................................................................................................................................................ 33
2.2.  Major events .................................................................................................................................................................... 33
2.3.  Budgetary and financial management .......................................................................................................................34
2.4.  Human resources management ................................................................................................................................... 35
2.5.  Assessment by management ....................................................................................................................................... 35
2.6.  Budget implementation tasks entrusted to other services and entities ............................................................... 37
2.7.  Assessment of audit results during the reporting year ........................................................................................... 37
2.8.  Follow up of audit plans, audits and recommendations ..........................................................................................38
2.9.  Follow up of observations from the Discharge Authority ........................................................................................38

3  ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS ������������������������������������������ 39
3.1.  Risk Management ...........................................................................................................................................................39
3.2.  Compliance and effectiveness of Internal Control Standards (ICS) ........................................................................39

4  MANAGEMENT ASSURANCE ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������41
4.1.  Review of the elements supporting assurance and possible reservations .......................................................... 41
4.2.  Reservations .................................................................................................................................................................... 41
4.3.  Overall conclusion on assurance and reservations (if applicable) ......................................................................... 41

5  DECLARATION OF ASSURANCE �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������43

ANNEX I: CORE BUSINESS STATISTICS ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 45

ANNEX II: STATISTICS ON FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT �����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������51

ANNEX III: ORGANISATIONAL CHART �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������53

ANNEX IV: ESTABLISHMENT PLAN ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������55

ANNEX V: HUMAN AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES BY ACTIVITY ���������������������������������������������������������������������������57

3

Annual activity report 2015

ANNEX VI: SPECIFIC ANNEXES RELATED TO PART II ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 59

ANNEX VII: SPECIFIC ANNEXES RELATED TO PART III ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 63

ANNEX VIII: DRAFT ANNUAL ACCOUNTS ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 65

ANNEX IX: PERFORMANCE INFORMATION INCLUDED IN EVALUATIONS ���������������������������������������������������������� 77

4

Executive summary

This consolidated annual activity report provides an 
overview of the European Union Agency for Fundamen-
tal Rights (FRA) activities and achievements in 2015. It 
follows the guidelines of the EU Agencies Performance 
Development Network.

Key conclusions

In 2015, FRA strongly focused on fundamental rights 
challenges arising due to the significant increase in 
refugees  and  migrants  coming  to  the  European 
Union (EU). In the course of the year, over one million 
refugees and migrants arrived in Europe by sea, mainly 
in Italy and Greece. In response, FRA rearranged its 
priorities and stepped up its activities in the area of 
‘Immigration and integration of migrants, visa and 
border control and asylum’. A high share of publications, 
activities and events in this thematic area also reflect 
this change in priorities.

In line with its mandate and its objective to provide 
assistance as well as to formulate evidence-based 
advice in the form of opinions to the EU institutions and 
Member States, FRA offered its expertise at 240 pres-
entations and hearings at EU- and Member State- levels, 
as well as at events other international organisations 
organised during the year. The agency itself organised 
60 events, bringing together its key partners and stake-
holders to discuss fundamental rights issues in various 
thematic areas.

In  response  to  requests  from  EU  institutions  and 
Member States, FRA formulated 122 opinions in the 
course of 2015, the majority of which relate to funda-
mental rights concerns in the area of migration and 
asylum. All of the agency’s opinions draw on evidence 
obtained in its research. At the request of the European 
Commission, FRA provided – first weekly and later 
monthly – overviews of migration-related fundamental 
rights concerns in the EU Member States most affected 
by the increased number of people seeking interna-
tional protection and asylum.

FRA continued its efforts to present its findings in an 
accessible and user-friendly manner. It consistently 
provided information on fundamental rights challenges 
and promoted fundamental rights safeguards through-
out the year. The agency also did this via different social 
media platforms, reaching a wide audience. For publica-
tions, FRA was the highest ranking EU agency in terms 
of EU Bookshop orders in 2015. In total, FRA published 
its research findings in 32 reports and papers, which 
were well received and widely used by its stakeholders. 

Overall, the agency disseminated some 80,396 print 
publications to interested stakeholders.

Several FRA findings fed into the work of EU institutions 
and Member States, including references in several 
European Parliament resolutions and different Council 
of the EU documents. Highlights of the year 2015 include 
extensive references to the results of FRA’s EU-wide 
survey on gender-based violence against women in the 
European Parliament resolution on ‘Progress on equality 
between  women  and  men  in  the  European  Union 
in 2013’; these also fed into a resolution on the ‘EU Strat-
egy for equality between women and men post 2015’. 
The latter resolution also referenced FRA’s reports on 
Discrimination against and living conditions of Roma 
women in 11 EU Member States and on Being Trans in 
the EU – Comparative analysis of the EU LGBT survey 
data.

Furthermore, FRA closely cooperated with the European 
Commission services – for example, by providing train-
ing  on  the  implementation  of  the  Schengen 
evaluations.

In accordance with its founding regulation (Council 
Regulation (EC) No. 168/2007), FRA conducts its opera-
tions in compliance with the applicable laws and regula-
tions, working in an open and transparent manner, and 
meeting the expected high level of professional and 
ethical standards.

The agency has a set of Internal Control Standards (ICS) 
based on international good practice. As required by 
the EU financial rules, the director has put in place an 
organisational structure and internal control systems 
suited to achieving the agency’s objectives, in accord-
ance with the ICS and with due regard to the risks asso-
ciated with the environment in which it operates.

FRA assessed the effectiveness of its key internal con-
trol systems during the reporting year and concluded 
that the ICS are effectively implemented. The agency 
systematically examines the observations and recom-
mendations issued by Internal Auditors, the European 
Court of Auditors and the European Parliament. On this 
basis, it takes actions as appropriate.

In conclusion, management has reasonable assurance 
that, overall, suitable controls are in place and work as 
intended; that risks are being appropriately monitored 
and mitigated; and that necessary improvements and 
reinforcements are being implemented. The director, in 
his  capacity  as  authorising  officer,  has  signed  the  
Declaration of Assurance.

5

Introduction

The  European  Union  Agency  for  Fundamental 
Rights (FRA) is one of the decentralised agencies of the 
European Union (EU). These agencies are set up to pro-
vide expert advice on a range of issues to the EU insti-
tutions  and  EU  Member  States.  FRA  provides  the 
EU institutions and EU Member States with independent, 
evidence-based advice and expertise on fundamental 
rights, with the aim of helping to ensure full respect for 
fundamental rights across the EU. To achieve this goal, 
FRA performs the following main tasks:

 n collecting and analysing information and data;

 n providing assistance and expertise;

 n communicating on and raising awareness of rights.

The agency fulfils its tasks by implementing activities 
within the thematic areas of its five-year Multi-annual 
Framework (MAF), which fall under the Charter of Fun-
damental Rights of the European Union, to strengthen 
the protection of fundamental rights in the EU in light of 
societal changes and progress, and scientific and tech-
nological developments.

FRA’s tasks are carried out in consultation and coopera-
tion with its partners. This allows the agency to:

 n define its areas of work to ensure that its research 
responds to specific gaps and needs in the funda-
mental rights field;

 n ensure that its advice and research reaches policy-
makers  at  the  right  levels  of  government  and  EU 
institutions;

 n develop  communication,  multimedia,  and  informa-
tion resources based on FRA’s Stakeholder Commu-
nication Framework Strategy to raise awareness and 
bring  knowledge  of  fundamental  rights  to  specific 
target groups and to the European citizen in general;

 n share  expertise,  coordinate  research  in  different 
areas,  and  work  with  its  partners  to  communicate 
its advice to the EU and its Member States. This al-
lows FRA to create synergies, make the most of its 
resources,  and  support  other  bodies  by  delivering 
clear opinions on how to improve fundamental rights 
protection.

 n other EU bodies and agencies;

 n other  international  organisations,  such  as  the 
Council  of  Europe,  the  United  Nations  (UN)  and 
the  Organization  for  Security  and  Co-operation  in 
Europe (OSCE);

 n governments, civil society organisations, academic 
institutions,  equality  bodies,  and  national  human 
rights institutions (NHRIs).

The agency’s structure on 31 December 2015 comprised 
the Directorate and five departments: Administration, 
Human Resources and Planning, Equality and Citizens’ 
Rights, Freedoms and Justice, and Communication and 
Outreach. Each head of department has been delegated 
authorising officer rights. FRA designs and implements 
its projects based on an integrated cross-departmental 
approach.

The year in brief

In 2015, FRA operated within the following nine the-
matic work areas as defined in its MAF, adopted by the 
Council of the European Union on proposal of the Euro-
pean Commission, for the period 2013-2017:

 n immigration  and  integration  of  migrants,  visa  and 

border control and asylum;

 n information  society  and,  in  particular,  respect  for 

private life and protection of personal data;

 n racism, xenophobia and related intolerance;

 n Roma integration;

 n discrimination based on sex, race, colour, ethnic or 
social origin, genetic features, language, religion or 
belief, political or any other opinion, membership of 
a  national  minority,  property,  birth,  disability,  age 
or sexual orientation;

 n rights of the child;

 n access to justice;

 n victims of crime;

FRA maintains particularly close links with:

 n cross-cutting activities.

 n the  European  Commission,  the  European  Parlia-

ment, and the Council of the European Union;

7

Annual activity report 2015

Immigration and integration of migrants, 
visa and border control and asylum

In line with its main objective in the area of ‘Immigra-
tion and integration of migrants, visa and border control 
and  asylum’  –  to  effectively  promote  fundamental 
rights safeguards – the agency released five publica-
tions presenting research findings on important funda-
mental rights challenges. These included severe labour 
exploitation and guardianship systems for children 
deprived of parental care, as well as fundamental rights 
implications in connection with the increased number 
of refugees and migrants arriving in the EU. FRA effec-
tively contributed to EU policymaking by responding to 
the European Commission’s request for regular updates 
on the situation on the ground in the EU Member States 
most affected by the inflow of refugees and migrants. 
A survey interviewing third-country nationals at seven 
border-crossing points complemented FRA’s research 
activities in the asylum and migration field. With net-
works of partners and stakeholders increasingly impor-
tant for tackling current and upcoming challenges, FRA 
also intensified its cooperation with other EU bodies 
and agencies by providing fundamental rights expertise 
and training, and by developing new tools.

Information society and, in particular, 
respect for private life and protection 
of personal data

In the thematic area ‘Information society and, in par-
ticular, respect for private life and protection of personal 
data’, FRA’s findings on surveillance by national intel-
ligence services fed into the European Parliament’s 
work, which used FRA’s expertise in its resolution on 
safeguarding citizens’ fundamental rights in this con-
text. Within the framework of this thematic area, the 
agency also participated in an expert working group of 
the European Commission.

Racism, xenophobia and related 
intolerance

FRA’s main goal in the area of ‘Racism, xenophobia and 
related intolerance’ is to serve as an observatory on 
such phenomena; accordingly, FRA published its tenth 
annual overview of data on antisemitism in the EU. In 
addition, the agency’s work reflected its emphasis on 
the topic of victims of hate crime: FRA published in 2015 
a report on equal protection for victims of crime, focus-
ing on people with disabilities; and initiated the Working 
Party on Improving Reporting and Recording of Hate 
Crime in the EU. The agency plays an important role in 
developing training and tools in this area of work; one 
example from 2015 is the first training of judges and 
magistrates on investigating and adjudicating hate 
crimes and discrimination.

Roma integration

FRA is tasked with supporting the EU institutions and 
Member  States  in  achieving  the  goals  set  by  the 
EU Framework on Roma integration. In 2015, the agency 
did so through three activities: facilitating the develop-
ment of a web-based reporting tool for Roma integra-
tion measures that incorporates an agreed indicator 
framework; providing support to individual Member 
States through local visits to use the tool; and monitor-
ing through local visits the implementation of its ‘Local 
Engagement for Roma Inclusion’ project. The overall 
aim was to measure progress of Roma integration in 
EU Member States.

Discrimination based on sex, race, 
colour, ethnic or social origin, genetic 
features, language, religion or belief, 
political or any other opinion, 
membership of a national minority, 
property, birth, disability, age or sexual 
orientation

In an effort to provide robust, policy-relevant, and 
evidence-based advice in the area of discrimination, 
FRA’s work in 2015 covered fundamental rights aspects 
concerning LGBT and intersex people, violence against 
women, as well as persons with disabilities and their 
rights as set out in the UN Convention on Rights of 
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). At the same time, the 
agency paved the way for starting the field work of the 
second wave of its ‘European Union Minorities and Dis-
crimination Survey (EU MIDIS II)’; several Member States 
started the survey interviews at the end of 2015.

Rights of the child

Having mainstreamed children’s rights into other areas 
of its work, FRA followed a cross-cutting approach to this 
thematic area. The agency’s publications in 2015 include 
a Handbook on European law relating to the rights of the 
child; reports on child-friendly justice and on violence 
against children with disabilities; as well as key findings 
of its mapping of child protection systems in the EU. The 
agency  provided  input  at  several  events  at  EU  and 
Member State level, presenting its child rights-related 
findings. It also offered its expertise at an online seminar 
organised by the European Police College (CEPOL).

Access to justice

FRA’s main objective in the area of ‘Access to justice’ is 
to contribute to the EU’s efforts to enhance judicial and 
non-judicial mechanisms for ensuring access to justice 
at EU and Member State level. To achieve this objective, 
FRA launched an online tool aimed at directing people 

8

to competent non-judicial bodies dealing with funda-
mental rights in their Member States. In addition to 
providing input to a number of events focusing on 
access to justice, FRA launched a report on the freedom 
to conduct a business and continued its research in the 
area of criminal justice.

Victims of crime

In view of the Victims’ Rights Directive’s transposition 
deadline of 16 November 2015, FRA launched its report 
Victims of crime in the EU: the extent and nature of 
support for victims in January 2015. The agency seized 
many opportunities to present its findings at events to 
support Member States in their transposition. In line 
with its approach of mainstreaming activities into sev-
eral areas of work, FRA’s activities in the area of victims 
of crime were linked to several other areas, such as 
discrimination, racism, rights of the child, and migration 
and  asylum,  as  reflected  in  FRA  reports  published 
in 2015.

Cross-cutting projects and activities 
covering all MAF areas

FRA’s cross-cutting projects cover a wide range of 
activities, such as cooperation with EU Member States 
and other EU institutions, communication and dissemi-
nation activities, or performance monitoring and evalu-
ation. To seek greater synergies for cooperation, FRA 
brought together its network of national stakeholders 
and FRA bodies and continued to take part in various 
other networks, such as the Network of Justice and 
Home Affairs (JHA) Agencies or the Working Party on 
Improving Reporting and Recording of Hate Crime in 
the EU. The agency also coordinated the EU Agencies 
Network until the end of February and the EU Member 
States’ Working Party on Roma Integration Indicators 
throughout 2015.

For the main activities and deliverables in all areas, see 
Part I, which outlines FRA’s achievements in 2015 by 
strategic priority and thematic area.

Introduction

9

1 

Achievements of the year

This part describes FRA’s achievements in terms of its 
strategic priorities and objectives (see Section 1.1), as 
well as the objectives it has set within the thematic 
areas of its work (Sections 1.2.-1.10). FRA’s current stra-
tegic priorities and objectives are defined in the Stra-
tegic Plan that the FRA Management Board adopted for 
the  period  2013-2017.  The  thematic  areas  of  the 
agency’s  work  are  determined  by  a  five-year 
Multi-annual Framework (MAF), adopted by the Council 
of the European Union on proposal of the European 
Commission, for the period 2013–2017.

1�1  Achievements by strategic 
priorities and objectives

1�1�1� 

 Enhancing FRA’s contribution to 
processes at EU level

FRA’s main objectives:

 · enhancing its relevance for legislative and policy 

processes at EU level;

 ·

responding to requests for opinions and advice in 
a timely and competent manner;

 · enhancing  its  coordination  with  and  providing 
evidence-based advice to the European Commis-
sion, the European Parliament and the Council of 
the European Union;

 ·

cooperating  efficiently  with  other  EU  agencies 
and civil society.

The main fundamental rights challenge in 2015 related 
to the significant increase in refugees and migrants 
coming  to  the  EU.  Over  one  million  refugees  and 
migrants  –  compared  with  some  200,000  in 

2014 – arrived in Europe by sea, mainly in Greece and 
Italy. From there, many moved onwards, initially spon-
taneously  and  later  in  an  increasingly  coordinated 
manner through the western Balkan countries, primarily 
to Austria, Germany and Sweden but also to other 
EU Member States. In response, the EU and Member 
States adopted a great number of policies and meas-
ures. To respond to the situation, FRA rearranged its 
priorities, which are described in Sections 1.1.4 and 1.2.1.

More generally, concerning the agency’s cooperation 
with the European Parliament, FRA contributed to, and 
participated in, 19 meetings – including hearings – at 
the European Parliament. The agency participated in 
six meetings of the European Parliament Committee for 
Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and con-
tributed to its public hearing on Islamophobia, anti-
semitism and hate speech. FRA also contributed to two 
inter-parliamentary meetings with national parliaments 
on surveillance and on the hotspot-approach to migra-
tion. In addition, FRA engaged with the European Parlia-
ment’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs 
(EMPL), to which it presented its report on severe forms 
of labour exploitation in the EU, and with the Committee 
on Petitions (PETI), to which it presented its work on 
rights of people with disabilities. FRA further contrib-
uted to several European Parliament Intergroup meet-
ings, namely the LGBTI and Disabilities Intergroups. FRA 
also held numerous bilateral meetings with members 
of parliament to present its work in the area of asylum, 
migration and borders; non-discrimination; rights of the 
child; and awareness raising.

FRA’s opinions and findings were referenced in several 
European Parliament resolutions and in questions to 
the European Commission and the Council of the EU.

 n In  May  2015,  the  European  Parliament  adopted 
a resolution on the List of Issues adopted by the

11

Annual activity report 2015

 UN  Committee  on  the  Rights  of  Persons  with  Dis-
abilities  in  relation  to  the  initial  report  of  the  EU. 
The resolution called on the European Commission 
to  consult  with  all  relevant  institutions  and  agen-
cies, including FRA.

 n In  March  2015,  the  European  Parliament  adopted 
a  resolution  on  ‘Progress  on  equality  between 
women  and  men  in  the  EU  in  2013’,  which  ref-
erenced  the  results  of  FRA’s  EU-wide  survey  on 
gender-based  violence  against  women.  Over  the 
course  of  the  year,  several  members  of  the  Euro-
pean  Parliament  used  the  FRA  violence  against 
women survey data as an evidence base for their 
written and oral parliamentary questions and dur-
ing parliamentary debates.

 n In  June  2015,  the  European  Parliament  adopted 
a  resolution  on  the  ‘EU  Strategy  for  equality  be-
tween women and men post 2015’. Significant ref-
erence was made to FRA’s violence against women 
survey,  the  report  on  Discrimination  against  and 
living  conditions  of  Roma  women  in  11  EU  Mem-
ber States and Being Trans in the EU – Comparative 
analysis of the EU LGBT survey data.

 n In October 2015, in its resolution on the follow-up 
to the resolution of 12 March 2014 on the electron-
ic  mass  surveillance  of  EU  citizens,  the  European 
Parliament  confirmed  its  intention  to  make  use 
of  the  findings  of  FRA’s  in-depth  research  on  the 
protection of fundamental rights in the context of 
surveillance.

The agency also contributed evidence and expertise to 
other discussions and resolutions ‘in-the-making’. The 
most prominent – in the current context of migration – is 
the proposed European Parliament resolution on the 
situation in the Mediterranean and the need for a holis-
tic approach to migration.

Regarding its cooperation with the Council of the Euro-
pean Union, FRA participated in 17 preparatory meet-
ings of Council bodies. The agency contributed to five 
meetings of the Council’s Working Party on Fundamen-
tal Rights, Citizens Rights and Free Movement of Per-
sons (FREMP), delivering presentations on its Annual 
report, rights of the child, racism, FRA’s Clarity tool, 
rights of intersex people, and the freedom to conduct 
a business. In addition, FRA engaged with the Standing 
Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal 
Security (on internal security, severe forms of labour 
exploitation); the Working Party on e-Law (on FRA’s 
Clarity tool); the Strategic Committee on Immigration, 
Frontiers and Asylum (on the EU list of safe countries 
of origin); the Working Party on Frontiers (on Smart 
Borders); and the Working Party on Terrorism (on Islam-
ophobia).  In  June  2015,  FRA  organised  an  event  to 

launch the report on severe forms of labour exploitation 
together with the General Secretariat of the Council and 
the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Different Council documents referred to FRA’s work, 
such as the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) 
discussion paper on the external dimension of children’s 
rights; a reflection paper on the 9th European Forum on 
the Rights of the Child; a discussion paper on the state 
of play regarding the fight against racism; and the Coun-
cil conclusions on the application of the Charter of Fun-
damental Rights in 2014.

Contributing to EU-level processes

FRA  presented  its  Annual  report  2014  on  funda-
mental rights challenges and achievements to the 
Council’s  Working  Party  on  Fundamental  Rights, 
Citizens  Rights  and  Free  Movement  of  Persons 
(FREMP) in May 2015 and to the European Parlia-
ment’s  Committee  for  Civil  Liberties,  Justice  and 
Home Affairs (LIBE) in June 2015. The main find-
ings  were  reflected  in  the  Justice  and  Home  Af-
fairs Council conclusions on the application of the 
Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2014.

The European Parliament’s 2015 resolution on the 
situation  of  fundamental  rights  in  the  European 
Union  (2013-2014)  made  extensive  reference  to 
FRA’s work (e.g. on violence against women, mi-
gration, internal security, LGBT rights, and victim 
support). FRA’s Fundamental Rights Platform also 
contributed by providing input to the Rapporteur.

FRA maintained extensive working relations with the 
European Commission services across all its thematic 
areas. Highlights include cooperation in the context of 
the Annual Colloquium on Fundamental Rights, the 
development of a data collection template on Roma 
integration, and cooperation on two handbooks for 
Member States – one on returns and one on Eurosur. 
Many other examples are listed under the relevant the-
matic areas.

The European Commission requested FRA’s opinion on 
a possible legal instrument, prepared by the Directo-
rate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST), to 
supplement the existing European Criminal Records 
Information System (ECRIS) as regards the exchange of 
information on third-country nationals (TCN) convicted 
in the EU.

Following the European Commission’s presentation of 
the Agenda for Migration in May 2015, FRA took part in 
regular meetings between the Commission and relevant 
Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) agencies concerning the 
implementation of actions to fight migrant smuggling 
and to enforce returns of migrants in an irregular situ-
ation. Pursuant to a request by the Commission, FRA 

12

 
Achievements of the year

compiled  weekly  updates  on  the  situation  on  the 
ground in the eight Member States most affected by 
the  significant  increase  in  newly  arriving  refugees 
and migrants.

FRA’s evidence from the first wave of its European 
Union Minorities and Discrimination Survey (EU-MIDIS I) 
and its survey on discrimination and hate crime against 
Jews was referenced in an oral question to the Com-
mission regarding its first Annual Colloquium on Fun-
damental  Rights.  Furthermore,  the  European 
Parliament’s discussions on migration and refugees, as 
well as in the context of an oral question on the Facilita-
tion acquis (the EU anti-smuggling legislation), used 
FRA’s findings and opinions in the area of irregular 
migration and severe forms of labour exploitation.

In 2015, the new system to evaluate EU Member States’ 
implementation of the Schengen acquis became opera-
tional.  FRA  supported  the  European  Commission 
through training, information sharing and expert advice 
during on-site evaluation missions.

Furthermore, the European Commission extensively 
used FRA evidence in its Report on the implementation 
of the EU Framework for National Roma Integration 
Strategies 2015.

The European Commission also used extensively the 
results of FRA’s EU-wide survey on violence against 
women to shape policies in this area, including docu-
ments such as:

 n ‘Strategic  Engagement 

for  Gender  Equality 

2016-2019’;

 n ‘Report on equality between women and men 2014’;

 n the  roadmap  on  a  possible  ‘EU  Accession  to  the 
Council  of  Europe  Convention  on  preventing  and 
combating  violence  against  women  and  domestic 
violence (Istanbul Convention)’.

The Commission’s call for proposals for action grants to 
support transnational projects to combat sexual harass-
ment and sexual violence against women and girls 
included FRA’s survey results as evidence supporting 
taking this action.

FRA also cooperated with the European Economic and 
Social Committee by contributing to the ‘Better inclusion 
of the Roma community through civil society initiatives’ 
project. The final report includes references to the Roma 
Working Party and its monitoring framework.

Moreover, FRA stepped up its involvement in coordinat-
ing the joint actions of the Justice and Home Affairs 
agencies  network  in  preparation  for  the  agency’s 

chairmanship  of  the  network  in  2016.  Discussions 
focused on cooperation in e-learning, training, syner-
gies in the areas of ICT, cyber security and business 
continuity, cooperation on combatting terrorism, the 
external dimension of cooperation with third countries, 
the external communication of the network, and the 
role of the agencies in implementing the European 
Agenda on Migration and on Security. At the Heads of 
Agencies Meeting in November, FRA presented the 
draft priorities for 2016, which include:

 n strengthening  collaboration  in  the  area  of  migra-

tion, asylum and border management;

 n enhancing the focus on fundamental rights in poli-
cies and initiatives in the area of freedom, security 
and justice.

FRA continued to implement its cooperation agree-
ments with EASO and Frontex, playing an active role in 
the respective consultative fora and chairing the work-
ing group on forced returns of the Frontex Consultative 
Forum. FRA also took part in several EASO and Frontex 
initiatives  in  training  and  developing  tools  for 
EU Member States.

In 2015, FRA enhanced its cooperation with eu-LISA – 
the European Agency for Large-Scale IT Systems. At 
short notice, FRA carried out a survey of third-country 
nationals at seven border crossing points to collect their 
experiences of, and attitudes to, giving biometric data 
for border control purposes, contributing to the Smart 
Border Pilot project by eu-LISA. FRA interviewed over 
1,000 passengers at selected border-crossing points. 
The research findings were annexed to an eu-LISA 
report and presented in the Council of the EU.

In June 2015, the European Institute for Gender Equal-
ity (EIGE) launched the second edition of its Gender 
Equality Index, incorporating data from FRA’s EU-wide 
survey on violence against women. EIGE also used FRA’s 
survey results in its report An analysis of the Victims’ 
Rights Directive from a gender perspective.

FRA’s work on facilitating a more joined-up approach to 
human rights monitoring continued in 2015, by providing 
FRA findings on EU Member States that come under scru-
tiny through the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR). At 
the request of the Office of the United Nations High Com-
missioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a pilot document, 
similar to the UPR, was submitted to the UN treaty body 
in charge of monitoring the International Convention on 
the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. FRA also con-
tributed to the EU human rights dialogues – coordinated 
by EEAS – with Belarus and the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations (ASEAN), sharing its relevant expertise 
and research findings. FRA, in its role as a member of 
the EU Framework to promote, protect and monitor the 

13

Annual activity report 2015

implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of 
Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), also participated in the 
review of the EU’s implementation of the CRPD by the 
CRPD Committee. FRA took over the role of chair and 
secretariat of the framework on an interim basis, until 
at least June 2016.

1�1�2� 

 Enhancing FRA’s contribution to 
processes at national level

FRA’s main objectives:

Increasing its cooperation with:

 · national stakeholders to contribute to fundamen-

tal rights policy processes at national level;

 · national  liaison  officers  and  other  key  national-
level  stakeholders  to  put  FRA’s  evidence-based 
advice  at  the  centre  of  national  fundamental 
rights policymaking and implementation.

Strengthening the network of 
national stakeholders

As a one-time initiative, FRA brought together in 
Vienna  120  representatives  from  its  networks  of 
national stakeholders and FRA bodies. The meet-
ing  identified  opportunities  for  cooperation  be-
tween FRA and its national networks, as well as 
between national stakeholder groups themselves. 
Moreover, participants had the opportunity to ex-
change good practices of cooperation to contrib-
ute positively to the fundamental rights situation 
at national level. On this occasion, FRA proposed 
the development of useful tools and practices in 
2016,  which  aim  to  contribute  to  the  work  of  its 
stakeholders.

An increasing number of FRA national stakeholders 
have begun to organise events in their own countries 
to discuss fundamental rights in general and FRA’s 
research  findings  in  particular.  For  instance,  FRA’s 
Annual report and the report on severe labour exploita-
tion in the EU were presented in national seminars and 
conferences in Ireland, Italy and Portugal, which brought 
together members of FRA’s Management Board and 
Scientific Committee, National Liaison Officers (NLOs), 
representatives of national authorities and national 
human rights bodies, Franet (the agency’s multidisci-
plinary research network), and civil society.

FRA also contributed to inter-parliamentary forms of 
cooperation in Europe, which ensure outreach to many 
parliaments across the EU. For instance, FRA presented 
its ongoing project on surveillance to a large audience 
at the inter-parliamentary conference on oversight of 
the intelligence services in the EU, which the European 
Parliament hosted.

Furthering cooperation with national 
parliaments

National  parliaments  are  showing  increasing  in-
terest  in  the  type  of  support  FRA  could  provide 
at the national level. This is partly a result of the 
designation  of  FRA  national  parliamentary  fo-
cal points (NPFPs), which FRA had encouraged in 
2014. A first meeting of NPFPs took place in Febru-
ary 2015. With the help of these bodies, FRA was 
invited to present its work and reports in the par-
liaments of Estonia and Poland, while parliamen-
tary delegations from Italy and Finland conducted 
study  visits  to  FRA.  In  terms  of  specific  FRA  re-
search, FRA was invited to present the results of 
its  EU-wide  survey  on  violence  against  women 
in the German Parliament and the Committee on 
Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth 
in  February  2015.  Moreover,  the  Parliamentary 
State  Secretary  of  the  German  Federal  Ministry 
of Justice and Consumer Protection visited FRA in 
February.

In the field of asylum and migration, FRA continued to 
participate in several Contact Committee meetings, in 
which the European Commission discusses the imple-
mentation of EU law with Member States. FRA provided 
fundamental rights expertise at several such meetings 
on issues such as asylum, returns, policies against the 
smuggling of migrants and policies to sanction employ-
ers who employ migrants in an irregular situation. 
These meetings offer a unique opportunity for FRA as 
all 28 EU Member States attend them.

In the framework of its project on ‘Social inclusion and 
migrant participation in society’, FRA collected data on 
the situation in the 28 EU Member States in regard to 
the implementation of integration, social inclusion and 
social cohesion policies for migrants and their descend-
ants. The data allow for providing a comprehensive 
overview  of  the  diverse  approaches  amongst  the 
Member States in each specific policy area. Collected 
data (both qualitative and quantitative) will be dissemi-
nated to the public by early 2016 through FRA’s new 
data visualization tool (MDX) and a number of FRA The-
matic Focus Papers will be made widely available via 
social media and stakeholder cooperation.

FRA continued to provide relevant inputs to national 
governments. For example, FRA co-organised an event 
in Estonia with the agency’s NLO, at which it presented 
its report on children and justice. This contributed to the 
government’s own effort to review Estonian national 
law related to child protection to bring it in line with the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child. The results of 
FRA’s survey on violence against women were also 
presented at a regional conference in Prague in May 
2015, and in national seminars in Spain in June 2015 and 
Estonia in October 2015.

14

Moreover, FRA offered its expertise to Member States 
in the framework of so-called ‘technical assistance’. 
Activities in this regard included, among others:

 n support and expertise with regard to the transposi-
tion of the Victims’ Rights Directive, which had to 
be implemented by 16 November 2015 – including 
an event jointly organised with the European Com-
mission, at FRA, with eight representatives of eight 
EU Member States; the discussion also included ju-
venile justice or child protection laws;

 n trainings  (for  example,  for  National  Roma  Contact 
Points on implementing the data collection tool and 
on  the  monitoring  progress  for  Roma  integration; 
for the judiciary on hate crime), as well as the re-
view of trainings;

 n methodological support for project development;

 n input during workshops.

FRA  held  two  thematic  workshops  –  on  ‘Violence 
against children with disabilities’ and on ’Severe forms 
of labour exploitation’ – with relevant civil society 
organisations  from  the  Fundamental  Rights  Plat-
form (FRP). These thematic workshops helped the com-
munication and dissemination of these reports’ key 
messages to relevant audiences at EU and national 
levels. Involving civil society experts at an early stage 
of FRA research proved beneficial for sharpening the 
scope of the reports and for increasing the impact at 
the national level.

Furthermore, FRA, together with the European Network 
of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI) and the 
European Network of Equality Bodies (Equinet), invited 
communications officers from the respective institu-
tions and their member organisations in May to further 
explore ways of cooperating in their communications 
work.

As a follow-up to the annual meeting of the Ombuds-
men for children in September, at which FRA presented 
its related work, the European Network of Ombudsmen 
for Children (ENOC) informed FRA about the establish-
ment of the Task Force on ‘Children on the Move’. FRA 
will contribute to the work of this task force.

Additional language versions of the handbooks on Euro-
pean law published by FRA and the European Court of 
Human Rights have been released. The data protection 
handbook and the handbook on asylum, borders and 
immigration  became  available  in  all  EU  languages 
except Gaelic and Maltese. Presentations of the hand-
book on asylum, borders and immigration was pre-
sented at dedicated events in Bulgaria, Latvia and 
Portugal. The download figures and the number of 

Achievements of the year

hardcopies ordered point to an extensive use by prac-
titioners around Europe.

FRA in 2015 assisted a number of Member States in their 
efforts to implement robust frameworks for monitoring 
progress in Roma integration. From 2015 onwards, the 
focus of the Working party of Roma Integration Indica-
tors was increasingly on targeted support for Member 
States that encounter specific issues in regard to moni-
toring progress on Roma integration. Tailor-made tech-
nical assistance was provided to several National Roma 
Contact Points (NRCPs) both collectively through the 
Roma Working Party and bilaterally.

One particular area of support in 2015 was the prepara-
tion  for  the  Slovak  Presidency  of  the  Council.  FRA 
assisted the Slovak Presidency preparatory team in 
defining the topics to be covered during the Presidency 
in the area of Roma inclusion.

1�1�3� 

 Identifying trends over time and 
measuring progress in EU 
Member States

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

identifying trends over time and monitoring pro-
gress across the EU regarding key areas;

 · establishing methodologies for identifying trends;

 ·

regularly disseminating analysis based on trends.

The Fundamental Rights Report 2016 aims to identify 
new promising practices at national level and assess 
already  existing  practices;  it  continues  to  refer  to 
national data, including national case law referring to 
the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, as well as 
to developments relating to international human rights 
obligations. Wherever possible, the Fundamental Rights 
Report identifies trends by making increasing use of 
fundamental rights indicators based on a Structural–Pro-
cess–Outcome (SPO) matrix. For example, the chapter 
on asylum regularly provides an overview of the imple-
mentation  of  forced  return  monitoring  systems  by 
Member States – a requirement set out in EU law to 
prevent ill-treatment during the return of migrants in an 
irregular situation, which is only slowly implemented.

15

Annual activity report 2015

Identifying trends across the EU

Disseminating trend analysis

In  December  2015,  FRA  published  a  report  on 
‘Protection  against  discrimination  on  grounds  of 
sexual orientation, gender identity and sex char-
acteristics in the EU’, a comparative legal analysis 
identifying trends in legislation and case law and 
its implementation across the EU.

FRA also worked together with the contractor of 
the second wave of the survey on minorities and 
discrimination (EU-MIDIS II) to finalise the survey 
questionnaire  and  other  fieldwork  materials  in 
all survey languages and to develop new sam-
pling  methodologies.  This  survey  incorporates 
the  second  wave  of  FRA’s  Roma  survey,  first 
implemented in 2011, and will allow for a com-
parison  between  the  surveys.  FRA  also  moni-
tored  selected  interviewer  training  sessions  to 
ensure  that  the  sub-contractors  at  the  national 
level follow the agreed training programme, and 
monitored the work of interviewers in selected 
locations across the EU. Feedback was collected 
and communicated to survey teams in all Mem-
ber States to achieve a high level of standardisa-
tion of data collection approaches. In September 
2015, the first Member States started the inter-
views.  Interview  completion  is  expected  in  the 
second quarter of 2016.

In  April  2015,  FRA  published  a  call  for  tender  for 
‘pre-testing and feasibility assessment for the FRA 
Fundamental Rights Survey’. In July 2015, FRA signed 
a  contract  with  TNS  Opinion,  which  foresees  the 
mapping of survey sampling frames in all Member 
States, the development of survey design scenarios 
and  cognitive  pre-test  interviews  in  six  Member 
States. Information from this study will assist FRA in 
developing the full-scale Fundamental Rights Survey. 
In parallel, FRA continued the internal development 
of  the  survey  content.  To  this  end,  FRA  mapped 
practices  in  European  social  surveys  to  measure 
fundamental  rights  and  conduc ted  internal 
consultations  to  set  out  the  data  needs  across 
different thematic areas. The final survey (planned to 
be carried out for the first time in 2017-2018 and 
repeated  every  5+  years)  will  contribute  to  the 
measurement  of  trends  in  fundamental  rights 
over time.

FRA  continued  to  present  the  results  of,  and  the 
data collection methods used in, the agency’s ear-
lier surveys. The United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (UNDP) and the Office of the United Na-
tions High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) 
invited FRA to contribute to an expert meeting con-
cerning  the  measurement  of  LGBTI  (lesbian,  gay, 
bisexual,  transgender  and  intersex  people)  inclu-
sion and the development of a related index, based 
on FRA’s experience from the EU-LGBT survey. Vio-
lence against women survey results and its meth-
odology were presented in various national events 
and international contexts, including at events re-
lated to awareness-raising campaigns and the im-
plementation of the Council of Europe’s Convention 
on  Preventing  and  Combatting  Violence  against 
Women and Domestic Violence.

FRA’s violence against women survey methodology has 
also been of interest to the OSCE, which will replicate 
the survey in ten non-EU countries.

The annual overview of data on antisemitism in the EU 
for the first time presented trend lines in relation to 
variations in recorded crime.

1�1�4�   Developing timely and targeted 
responses to fundamental rights 
emergencies

FRA’s main objectives:

 · providing  robust  data  analysis  and  advising  on 

fundamental rights emergencies;

 · developing the necessary flexibility to respond to 

fundamental rights emergencies;

 · addressing emergency situations in a timely and 

adequate manner;

 · playing  a  complementary  role  vis-à-vis  other 

international organisations.

16

Achievements of the year

Intensifying work in the area of 
asylum, migration and borders

Responding to a significant increase in the arrival 
of refugees and migrants to the EU, FRA intensi-
fied  its  work  and  outputs  in  the  area  of  asylum, 
migration  and  borders.  Since  the  publication  of 
the Commission’s European Agenda on Migration 
in May 2015, FRA has readjusted its activities with 
a  view  to  providing  input  for  short-term  funda-
mental rights challenges emerging from the field 
(for example, the risk of use of force for compul-
sory Eurodac fingerprinting), as well as contribut-
ing  its  fundamental  rights  expertise  to  ongoing 
policy  discussions  with  longer-term  impact,  such 
as the discussions on ‘smart borders’ – a European 
Commission initiative to manage EU external bor-
ders in a more efficient and modern way by using 
new and innovative technologies.

The Commission adopted action plans in follow up to 
the Agenda for Migration: the Action Plan on return and 
the Action Plan against migrant smuggling. Regular 
implementation meetings between the Commission 
and the relevant JHA agencies are also attended by FRA. 
In addition to specific FRA action points in the anti-
smuggling plan (mapping of training needs), FRA sup-
ports the implementation of the action plans with its 
fundamental rights expertise.

In the framework of the EU Action Plan on Return of 
September 2015, the European Commission launched 
a ‘Return Handbook’ to harmonise national authorities’ 
practices in implementing the Return Directive. The 
handbook incorporates in full FRA’s 2012 guidelines on 
the apprehension of migrants in an irregular situation. 
Moreover, reference is made to the joint FRA – Euro-
pean Court of Human Rights ‘Handbook on European 
law  relating  to  asylum,  borders  and  immigration’ 
of 2014.

The Commission invited FRA to contribute to the fun-
damental  rights  impact  assessment  of  envisaged 
changes to the EU Facilitation Acquis – the EU anti-
smuggling  legislation.  Based  on  findings  from  its 
research on the situation of migrants in an irregular 
situation, the paper on criminalisation of migration, and 
the report on the situation at Europe’s southern sea 
borders, FRA made a number of suggestions to avoid 
the criminalisation of those who act on humanitarian 
grounds.

Providing expertise on fundamental 
rights emergencies

On  request  by  the  Commission,  from  the  end 
September  through  November  2015,  FRA  com-
piled  weekly  updates  on  the  situation  on  the 
ground  in  the  eight  Member  States  that  were 
most  affected  by  the  significant  increase  in 
newly arriving refugees and migrants. Following 
the  first  compilations,  the  Commission  issued 
a formal request to FRA to continue the exercise 
on  a  monthly  basis.  The  Commission  also  gave 
feedback on the added value of the compilation, 
highlighting  the  usefulness  of  provided  infor-
mation  for,  among  others,  monitoring  the  im-
plementation  of  the  EU  acquis  and  the  Agenda 
on  Migration  from  a  fundamental  rights  angle. 
The  compilations  were  made  public  at  the  end 
of 2015 and are widely used among Commission 
services and relevant EU agencies.

The regular overviews cover fundamental rights chal-
lenges and developments during initial registration, 
reception of asylum seekers through to detention and 
return. The updates focus in particular on the situation 
of vulnerable people and children. They also reflect 
legislative and policy changes and report on racist inci-
dents, such as demonstrations, online hate speech, or 
hate crime.

The attacks that took place in France in January 2015 
had tremendous impact across the EU and beyond. In 
the immediate aftermath of the events in Paris, FRA 
collected responses across Europe, focusing on Jewish 
and Muslim community organisations, political leaders, 
civil society and the media. FRA published a paper on 
this issue in February 2015.

1�1�5� 

 Improving the impact of FRA’s 
communication and awareness 
raising

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

improving the impact of its communication and 
awareness-raising activities;

 ·

increasing its impact on decision-making processes;

 · using effectively ‘multipliers’, in particular to better 

reach actors at national level.

17

Annual activity report 2015

Bringing FRA’s work to a wider audience

The publication and targeted dissemination of FRA 
reports contributes decisively to raising awareness 
of  important  fundamental  rights  concerns  among 
stakeholders and the general public, including chil-
dren (through targeted child-friendly material).

FRA ranks highest among all EU agencies in terms 
of  the  number  of  publication  orders  through  the 
EU Bookshop, with 5,202 orders in 2015.

Downloads from the FRA website remained strong in 
2015. FRA publications were downloaded 95,406 times 
from the website. Highlights include the Handbook on 
European law relating to asylum, borders and immigra-
tion, with 16,973 downloads in 2015. In addition, the 
FRA-Council of Europe ‘Handbook on European data 
protection law’ had an impressive 64,597 additional 
downloads from the Council of Europe website, includ-
ing the non-EU language versions, and 13,992 additional 
downloads from the FRA website.

FRA continued its efforts to communicate its work to 
stakeholders in a more accessible, user-friendly and 
timely fashion. In addition to the traditional FRA reports, 
it developed several innovative tools and products:

 n FRA Focus papers are a new type of paper that can 
be  swiftly  produced.  They  provide  the  results  of 
FRA research in a short and focused manner;

In the context of the on-going asylum policy develop-
ments, FRA’s publications in the area of asylum, migra-
tion  and  borders  continued  to  be  intensively 
disseminated to stakeholders both at EU and national 
levels. FRA contributed to current fundamental rights 
debates with specific focus papers on:

 n The  implementation  of  the  UN  Convention  on  the 

Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD);

 n The fundamental rights situation of intersex people;

 n Alternatives to detention for asylum-seekers;

 n Fundamental rights implications of the obligation to 

provide fingerprints for Eurodac.

In autumn, FRA conducted an online questionnaire on 
the  use  of  the  focus  papers  and  suggestions  for 
improvements. Results from the evaluation procedure 
will be communicated in early 2016 (for first results, 
see Annex 1: ”Core business statistics”, last objective).

To help increase the implementation of fundamental 
rights  policy  and  legislation,  FRA  reviewed  and 
expanded  its  current  awareness-raising  efforts  by 
developing a strategy for 2015-2017. The strategy sets 
out thematic priorities, target audiences, delivery and 
review mechanisms for awareness-raising activities 
under the Work Programmes 2015-2017.

 n FRA  Infographics  on  various  topics  can  be  easily 

shared on social media;

1�1�6�   Planning FRA’s work and 
evaluating its impact

 n Further  development  of  interactive  data  visualisa-
tions  and  innovative  knowledge-bases  such  as  the 
Charterpedia, Case Law Database, and the Clarity tool;

 n FRA’s multilingual website (in EN, FR & DE) and ba-
sic information about the agency in the other 21 of-
ficial languages of the EU;

 n A dynamic and thriving presence on social media, 
especially  Facebook  (more  than  35,000  fans,  with 
9,888  new  fans  in  2015)  and  Twitter  (over  20,000 
followers,  out  of  which  9,627  joined  in  2015).  The 
agency is also active on YouTube, LinkedIn and In-
stagram, making it one of the leading EU agencies 
on social media.

FRA produced 11 videos in 2015. The videos cover the 
thematic areas ‘Discrimination’, ‘Immigration’, ‘Access 
to justice’, ‘Cross-cutting’ as well as ‘Rights of the child’, 
and include four animated videos that explain children’s 
rights in a child-friendly way. All FRA videos were 
viewed a total of 19,516 times in 2015.

FRA’s main objectives:

 · effectively prioritising its work and evaluating its 

impact;

 · planning  of  evaluation  activities  from  the  first 

phases of a project;

 · applying  the  new  performance  measurement 

framework to all projects;

 ·

sharing best practices throughout the agency.

Striving to enhance the agency’s performance, account-
ability and learning, FRA’s planning section manages 
planning activities through the design and implementa-
tion of strategic and operational processes, in accord-
ance with EU policy developments and stakeholders’ 
needs. To ensure smooth progress from planning to the 
implementation of activities and eventually to monitor-
ing, review and evaluation, as well as to ensure trans-
parency, FRA employs a number of instruments. The 
FRA Project Planning Evaluation (FRAPPE) process takes 

18

Achievements of the year

place at the start of a project and includes the establish-
ment of concrete indicators to assess its future results 
in terms of outputs and potential impact. MATRIX is the 
main project management tool used by the agency suc-
cessfully over several years; it allows research, produc-
tion, communication, and stakeholder engagement 
activities to be planned, recorded, and monitored per 
relevant milestones. Enhancements of the tool carried 
out in 2015 will enable FRA to improve its planning, 
monitoring, and reporting activities.

Performance indicators are at the heart of FRA’s plan-
ning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting activities. 
The indicators set in the Performance Measurement 
Framework (PMF) are used to measure FRA’s perfor-
mance.  The  PMF  contains  project  level  indicators 
describing the planned output of each project and short-
term, long-term and aspirational indicators, most of 
which can only be measured after completion of project 
activities. The PMF is linked to both the Strategic Plan 
and Annual Work Programmes. FRA’s PMF is organised 
in a way that supports the analysis of performance at 
different levels of the agency, i.e. project, activity, the-
matic area, and at strategic levels.

Activities and projects carried out by FRA are developed 
based on a 5-year Strategic Plan as well as Annual Work 
Programmes prepared two years in advance, taking 
into consideration key performance indicators and infor-
mation gained through stakeholder consultations. In 
addition, short term requests are supported by a tool 
for planning the implementation of project activities. 
In addition, FRA drafted the ‘Programming Document’ 
for 2017-2019 – a new reporting instrument streamlined 
for all EU Agencies including the annual Work Pro-
gramme and multiannual planning on strategic and 
thematic level.

A Management Board Working Group named STRATEGY 
was established with the aim of reviewing and refining 
the Strategic Plan objectives; based on the stock-taking 
reports, a mid-term review of the Strategic Plan was 
prepared.

In line with the European Commission’s newly estab-
lished Better Regulation Guidelines and Toolbox, FRA 
created a package of key evaluation documents includ-
ing an Evaluation Policy, an Evaluation Step-by-Step 
Guide, as well as an Evaluation Plan for 2015. The policy 
sets out principles, processes and tools tailored to FRA 
and has an overview of all evaluation activities con-
ducted at FRA (2011-2014). Based on the policy, an 
evaluation plan for 2015 was prepared with the projects 
that are eligible for conducting ex-ante and ex-post 
evaluation.

Taking stock of FRA’s performance

To ensure that its multi-annual strategic and the-
matic  objectives  are  met,  the  agency  prepared 
stock-taking  reports  for  each  strategic  prior-
ity  and  thematic  area.  The  stock-taking  reports 
for  the  Management  Board  meeting  (May)  and 
the  Management  Board  Retreat  (September)  of-
fered  an  overview  of  main  achievements  and 
a  preliminary  impact  analysis.  The  preliminary 
impact  analysis  provided  information  related  to 
the FRA performance indicators, results achieved, 
key  messages  from  ex-post  evaluations  of  pro-
jects  (conducted  by  an  external  contractor)  and 
also  included  an  internal  self-assessment  of  the 
achievements, risks and opportunities in relation 
to different stakeholders.

To involve stakeholders as much as possible in FRA’s 
work, two stakeholder consultation procedures were 
conducted: on the Programming Document 2017-2019 
and on the Multi-Annual Framework 2018-2022. Stake-
holders’ views and suggestions are reflected in docu-
ments and taken into consideration in the process of 
planning of FRA activities.

1�2�  Achievements in the 

thematic area ‘Immigration 
and integration of 
migrants, visa and border 
control and asylum’

FRA’s main objectives:

 · effectively  promoting  fundamental  rights  safe-
guards in the development and implementation 
of EU policies in the field of immigration and inte-
gration of migrants, visa and border control and 
asylum.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

Under this MAF area, in 2015, FRA released five new 
publications. In addition, as described in part 1, from the 
end of September through November 2015, FRA com-
piled weekly updates on the situation on the ground in 
the eight Member States most affected by the signifi-
cant increase in new arriving refugees and migrants.

19

Annual activity report 2015

Preventing severe labour exploitation 
and facilitating victims’ access to 
justice

Drawing  on  country  reports  from  21  EU  Member 
States, FRA’s 2015 report on severe labour exploi-
tation (SELEX) documents a widespread phenom-
enon of disregard to basic labour rights of migrant 
workers moving within or into the European Union 
and informs about responses to this issue. A video 
on severe labour exploitation in the EU, available 
on  the  agency’s  webpage,  complements  the  re-
port’s  findings.  FRA’s  stakeholders  have  shown 
great  interest  in  the  report,  which  has  received 
attention at numerous high-level international, EU 
and national events.

Apart from the launch of the SELEX report at the Gen-
eral Council of the EU and the Latvian Presidency of the 
Council of the EU, the findings were presented and dis-
cussed at UN-level, at the OSCE Human Dimension Com-
mittee, as well as by EU agencies and working groups, 
NGOs, national human rights bodies and civil society 
organisations. On request, FRA presented the report’s 
main findings at the European Parliament, which also 
used them in its working document on tackling criminal 
smuggling, trafficking and labour exploitation of irregu-
lar migrants as well as in a report on women domestic 
workers and carers in the EU. Moreover, national stake-
holders and parliaments, among others in Ireland and 
Portugal, raised awareness of FRA’s SELEX findings by 
featuring them in specific launches.

Building on a handbook on guardianship published by 
FRA together with the Commission in 2014, a compara-
tive  report  on  guardianship  systems  for  children 
deprived of parental care in the EU, published in October, 
explores the key features of guardianship systems put 
in place to cater for the needs of all children in need of 
protection, including child victims and those at risk of 
becoming victims of trafficking in human beings or of 
other forms of exploitation. Information on procedures 
of informed consent and ethical approval when involving 
children in research in all EU Member States has been 
available via the FRA webpage since January 2015.

Presenting economic reasons to 
extend access to healthcare

In September 2015, FRA released a report aiming 
to estimate the economic cost of providing timely 
access to screening and treatment for migrants in 
an  irregular  situation,  compared  with  providing 
treatment only in emergency cases. It presents an 
economic  model  to  calculate  such  costs  for  two 
medical  conditions:  hypertension  and  prenatal 
care. To better illustrate its application in practice,

the model is applied to three EU Member States – 
Germany, Greece and Sweden. The testing shows 
that  providing  access  to  regular  preventative 
healthcare  for  migrants  in  an  irregular  situation 
would  be  cost-saving  for  healthcare  systems. 
Even  when  using  a  simple  model  to  estimate 
costs,  the  implications  are  clear:  treating  a  con-
dition  only  when  it  becomes  an  emergency  not 
only  endangers  the  health  of  a  patient,  but  also 
results  in  a  greater  economic  burden  to  health-
care systems.

In a focus paper, FRA presented a toolbox of possible 
schemes EU Member States could use to enable more 
persons in need of international protection to reach the 
EU without resorting to smugglers. The paper presents 
different refugee-specific schemes – including reset-
tlement,  humanitarian  admissions,  the  issuance  of 
humanitarian visas, the lifting of visa requirements and 
temporary  protection  –  as  well  as  regular  mobility 
schemes, such as those available to family members of 
persons residing in the EU, students, migrant workers 
and other categories of persons, which could be made 
more accessible to refugees staying in third countries. 
Increasing the availability of legal avenues to reach the 
EU would contribute to making the right to asylum set 
forth in Article 18 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights 
of the EU a reality for vulnerable refugees and other 
persons in need of protection who are staying in a third 
country, often facing risks to their safety.

Addressing urgent fundamental 
rights questions during fingerprinting

As a first publication of FRA’s biometrics project, 
in October 2015, FRA issued a focus paper on the 
fundamental rights implications of the obligation 
to provide fingerprints for Eurodac. The paper in-
tends to assist EU Member States and EU institu-
tions and agencies in avoiding fundamental rights 
violations  when  promoting  compliance  with  the 
duty  to  provide  fingerprints,  by  examining  more 
closely the impact of refusing to give fingerprints 
on  the  principle  of  non-refoulement,  the  right 
to  liberty  and  security,  and  the  protection  from 
disproportionate  use  of  force.  It  also  contains 
a checklist to guide authorities responsible for im-
plementing the duty to take fingerprints.

In  December,  FRA  initiated  preparations  for  fur-
ther research activities and fieldwork in the area 
of biometrics in the large-scale IT databases Euro-
dac, SIS II and VIS.

FRA’s  publications  were  presented  and  promoted 
among  EU  institutions  and  agencies,  international 
organisations, Member States and other stakeholders 
at various events during the course of the year.

20

Achievements of the year

In addition, FRA continued to provide support to the Com-
mission regarding the implementation of Schengen evalu-
ations. FRA delivered input at four training events for 
evaluators, promoting fundamental rights safeguards in 
respect to return issues, police cooperation as well as the 
Schengen Information System data base (SIS II). Based 
on a request by the Commission pursuant to Article 8 of 
Regulation (EU) No. 1053/2013, FRA compiled relevant 
fundamental rights information in the form of a ‘Schen-
gen Evaluation Risk Analysis’, which was presented to 
the Schengen Committee – a forum set up by the Euro-
pean Commission with Member States. In this connection 
FRA also accompanied as an observer evaluation missions 
reviewing the EU return acquis in four Member States.

As a response to the asylum and migration situation, 
FRA intensified its cooperation with other EU agencies 
to support them with fundamental rights expertise. 
Structured input was provided into various EASO mate-
rials, such as a tool to identify asylum seekers at bor-
ders, a tool on family tracing, and the development of 
a training module on international protection and fun-
damental rights. In November, FRA provided fundamen-
tal rights expertise to the European Centre for Disease 
Control on the prevention of infectious diseases among 
newly arrived migrants.

FRA closely followed the establishment of “hotspots” 
in Italy and Greece. In September 2015, it presented 
a number of fundamental rights implications for EU 
action in “hotspots” in LIBE. The FRA checklist on fin-
gerprinting  was  actively  promoted  by  Frontex  and 
translated into Italian and Greek.

Fundamental rights issues relating to Frontex operations 
in Italy and Greece were discussed bilaterally and as part 
of FRA’s role in the Frontex Consultative Forum. FRA 
chaired the Forum’s working group on return and has con-
tributed to mainstreaming fundamental rights in related 
planning and guidance documents, such as the code of 
conduct and the guide on joint return operations.

EU institutions also continued to involve FRA in pending 
legislation. As an illustration, in October and December, 
FRA offered its expertise to the Council’s Strategic Com-
mittee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA) as 
well as to the European Parliament’s LIBE Committee 
on the fundamental rights impact of a pending legisla-
tive file regarding safe countries of origin.

false matches – and highlights the principle of equality 
before the law. At the same time, some issues raised by 
FRA were referred to in an explanatory memorandum 
but not addressed. These were left to the discretion of 
EU Member States. Examples include possible adverse 
effects in the field of migration and asylum or consider-
ing the impact on third-country national children.

The Commission invited FRA to six Contact Committee 
meetings, at which it discussed with Member States 
the implementation of EU law in the field of return of 
migrants in an irregular situation, facilitation of irregular 
entry and stay, and employers’ sanctions for employing 
migrants in an irregular situation. At these meetings 
FRA presented its new publications and shared its fun-
damental rights expertise.

FRA attended six regular meetings between the Com-
mission and JHA Agencies in three policy areas, namely 
trafficking, smuggling and returns. These meetings 
follow up on commitments included in the EU Anti-
Trafficking Strategy, the Action Plan against Migrant 
Smuggling and the Action Plan on Return.

Concerning fundamental rights safeguards in the field 
of return, FRA continued to report on developments in 
the introduction of forced return monitoring systems 
by publishing an overview of the state of play in all 
28 EU Member States (August 2015). Furthermore, to 
promote the use of alternatives to detention, it issued 
a compilation of legal sources and existing tools on 
alternatives to detention; the document gives weight 
to alternatives to electronic tagging, which is given 
preference  in  the  EU  action  plan  on  return  (Octo-
ber 2015). The agency also took part in conferences, 
training seminars and workshops on this matter, where 
it provided its expertise.

In support of the Smart Border Pilot project by eu-
LISA – the European Agency for large-Scale IT Sys-
tems – FRA carried out a survey interviewing over 1,000 
third-country nationals at seven border crossing points 
on their attitudes towards providing biometric data. The 
results of the survey intend to inform the EU institutions 
when developing a system of smart borders, which 
entails the collection of biometric data for all third-
country  nationals  who  cross  the  Schengen  border. 
Results of the survey were presented to the Commis-
sion and the Council Working Party on Frontiers.

In November, FRA received a request for a legal opinion 
from the European Commission on the proposed exten-
sion  of  the  European  Criminal  Records  Information 
System (ECRIS) to third-country nationals. FRA’s views 
were requested before the Commission issued the pro-
posal, which was published in January 2016. The proposal 
includes a number of safeguards promoted in the FRA 
opinion – for example, as regards measures to eliminate 

FRA participated in various events, including an informal 
meeting of EU Justice and Home Affairs ministers in 
January as well as the first ever European Migration 
Forum  –  a  platform  bringing  together  civil  society 
organisations and the European institutions. The agency 
also joined a thematic debate on managing diversity in 
European municipalities and regions organised by the 
Council of European Municipalities and Regions.

21

Annual activity report 2015

FRA issued 12 new language versions of the Hand-
book  on  European  law  relating  to  asylum,  immi-
gration  and  borders,  jointly  published  with  the 
European Court of Human Rights.

Issues encountered

Similar to the previous reporting period, FRA saw an 
increase in requests for input and support from EU institu-
tions and JHA agencies, as a result of its past activities in 
this area. This led to targeted follow-up activities on 
issues identified by FRA in its report. While increasing the 
relevance of FRA’s work, this development has put addi-
tional pressure on FRA’s capacity, in particular in view of 
the agency’s limited human resources. In this connection, 
it is also challenging to follow important national policy 
discussions that might be essential for FRA’s opinions.

The project on ‘Social Inclusion and Migrant Participation’ 
(SIMPS) faced constraints in terms of human resources 
but managed to provide quality data in a previously 
under-researched area of FRA. Continuous engagement 
efforts are needed to ensure that FRA survey evidence 
is taken into account.

1�3�  Achievements in 
the thematic area 
‘Information society and, 
in particular, respect for 
private life and protection 
of personal data’

FRA’s main objectives:

 · establishing FRA as a relevant player in the area of 
information society, privacy and data protection.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

Fundamental rights safeguards and 
remedies in light of surveillance by 
national authorities

In  November  FRA  published  a  report  on  surveil-
lance  by  national  intelligence  services  examining 
fundamental  rights  safeguards  and  remedies  in  the 
28 EU Member States. The report was prepared in re-
sponse to the European Parliament’s call for thorough  
research on fundamental rights protection in light 
of the revelations of electronic mass surveillance

by  Edward  Snowden  in  2013,  and  in  particular 
with  regard  to  the  available  judicial  remedies. 
FRANET,  the  agency’s  multidisciplinary  research 
network  composed  of  contractors  in  each  EU 
Member  State,  delivered  data  on  national  legal 
frameworks,  which  was  analysed  and  assessed. 
For the publication, FRA also drew on its findings 
from  the  report  on  data  protection  remedies  to 
assess the privacy and data protection safeguards 
in EU Member States and the remedial avenues at 
an individual’s disposal.

Drawing on FRA’s preliminary findings for the report, 
which were presented to the European Parliament in 
spring 2015, the parliament published a resolution in 
October 2015, addressing the need to safeguard citizens’ 
fundamental rights in this respect. In addition, the Council 
of Europe’s Committee of Ministers referred to the agen-
cy’s activities in this area in a reply to the Parliamentary 
Assembly  Recommendation  on  mass  surveillance, 
expressing interest in FRA’s report. Moreover, the agen-
cy’s findings were provided and discussed with the Coun-
cil of Europe Venice Commission in the context of its work 
on democratic oversight of the security services.

FRA’s findings focus on the role of state actors, showing 
how national institutions in the EU Member States ensure 
democratic oversight over intelligence authorities regard-
ing the protection of private and family life as well as per-
sonal data. Moreover, the report provides information on 
remedies available to individuals alleging infringements 
of their right to privacy in the respective Member States.

The report was launched at the World Forum for Democ-
racy in Strasbourg in November. Also in November, FRA 
met representatives of the EU institutions, the Coun-
cil of Europe, national oversight bodies, data protection 
authorities and academia to discuss further activities in 
this respect, such as field research and the update of legal 
research.

Furthermore, FRA presented the report’s findings at an 
official hearing of the Italian parliamentary committee for 
the security of the Republic (Copasir), the parliamentary 
oversight of the Security Intelligence System’s activities 
in Italy, as well as at the Council of Europe’s Venice Com-
mission. At EU-level, FRA participated in an inter-parlia-
mentary committee meeting on democratic oversight of 
national intelligence services at the European Parliament. 
In addition, the report on surveillance by intelligence ser-
vices was presented and discussed at the Colloquium 
Intelligence Services & Law in Vienna and at a conference 
organised by the Academy of European Law in Brussels.

On general matters related to the respect for private 
life and protection of personal data, FRA enhanced its 
working relationships with EU institutions, relevant EU 
agencies (such as EDPS and ENISA) and international 

22

Achievements of the year

bodies over the year. In March, FRA was invited by the 
European Commission to participate in an expert work-
ing group to discuss the questions of necessity and 
proportionality of the Passenger Name Records (PNR) 
proposal. In October FRA was given observer status at 
the International Conference of Data Protection and 
Privacy Commissioners, where the agency participated 
in discussions related to oversight of national intelli-
gence services, the processing of genetic data and rec-
ommendations  on  how  to  foster  transatlantic 
application of diverging legal frameworks on data pro-
tection. Finally, FRA upon request – in the context of 
the Commission’s impact assessment of a future system 
complementing the current European Criminal Records 
Information System – in December issued Opinion 1/2015 
“on  the  exchange  of  information  on  third  country 
nationals under a possible future system complement-
ing the European Criminal Records Information System”. 
FRA’s recommendations were addressed in the impact 
assessment report published by the Commission in 
January 2016 along with a Proposal for a Directive.

Issues encountered

Given the sensitive nature of FRA’s surveillance project, 
the agency decided to adjust the project’s methodology, 
entrusting FRA senior staff with conducting fieldwork 
interviews with key stakeholders. With regard to increas-
ing the demand for FRA’s opinions in this thematic area, 
there is still room for improvement when it comes to 
cooperation with Council working groups as well as inter-
national organisations, in particular at UN level. At national 
level, while it remains difficult to reach out to Member 
States in situations where it would take ’28 efforts’, the 
work on surveillance highlighted this issue.

1�4�  Achievements in the 

thematic area ‘Racism, 
xenophobia and related 
intolerance’

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

serving  as  an  ‘observatory/data  warehouse’  on 
the phenomena of racism, xenophobia and related 
intolerance, including hate crime and extremism, 
as well as on racial and ethnic discrimination.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

In 2015 FRA presented its annual overview of data on 
antisemitism in the EU at a hearing on antisemitism 
organised by the Committee on Equality and Non-Dis-
crimination  of  the  Parliamentary  Assembly  of  the 

Council of Europe. Additional fora used to disseminate 
the updated findings were the European Commission’s 
Expert Group on the Framework Decision on Racism 
and Xenophobia as well as the annual EU-Israel seminar. 
FRA’s annual overview of data on antisemitism in the 
EU provides information on manifestations of antisem-
itism recorded by official and unofficial sources in EU 
Member States. The report, which was published in 
September, is the tenth in a series of yearly updates 
prepared by FRA and its predecessor – the European 
Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC).

In January 2015, then-FRA Director Morten Kjaerum 
addressed the European Parliament’s Committee on 
Civil  Liberties,  Justice  and  Home  Affairs  (LIBE)  in 
a debate on counter-terrorism, de-radicalisation and 
foreign  fighters,  stressing  that  fundamental  rights 
needed to be built into any EU security policy.

In March and November FRA held meetings of its Work-
ing Party on Improving Reporting and Recording of Hate 
Crime in the EU. The working party was already set up 
in 2014 in response to Council Conclusions on combating 
hate crime, inviting Member States to take measures 
to improve reporting and recording of hate crime and 
calling on FRA to facilitate the exchange of good prac-
tices as well as to assist Member States in their efforts. 
The two meetings in cooperation with the Latvian and 
Luxembourgish Presidencies of the Council of the EU, 
respectively, brought together representatives from 
EU Member States and the European Commission, the 
Council of Europe’s Commission against Racism and 
Intolerance (ECRI), the OSCE’s Office for Democratic 
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), as well as civil 
society organisations. In addition to the exchange of 
information with regard to improving the recording of 
hate crime and encouraging reporting, the working 
party also discussed incidents of hate crime and hate 
speech against refugees and asylum seekers. The work-
ing party’s meeting in November took place in the 
shadow  of  the  attacks  in  Paris  earlier  that  month, 
making its objectives particularly relevant.

In March FRA published a report on equal protection for 
all victims of hate crime, focusing on people with dis-
abilities. Other publications by the agency in this the-
matic area include a focus paper on ‘Promoting respect 
and diversity – combating intolerance and hate’ as well 
as a publication on the Paris terrorist attacks.

In the course of the year FRA contributed to the Euro-
pean Police College’s (CEPOL) webinars aimed at law 
enforcement officials and front line police in the EU by 
providing expertise on discriminatory ethnic profiling 
and human rights policing. Furthermore, the material 
used in the online training toolkit entitled ‘Fundamental 
Rights and Holocaust remembrance’, which is tailored 
to EU and Member States’ public officials, was tested 

23

Annual activity report 2015

and evaluated during the first pilot training for EU offi-
cials organized by the Commission in Brussels.

Issues encountered

Providing guidance on improving 
reporting of hate crime

A  capacity-building  workshop  on  improving  re-
porting  and  recording  of  hate  crime  that  arose 
from the work of FRA’s hate crime working party 
was held at the UK’s Ministry of Justice in London 
on  23  March.  Participants  from  13  EU  Member 
States – including representatives from the police, 
the Ministries of Interior, of Justice, of Public Order 
and  Citizens’  Protection  and  of  Employment,  as 
well as civil society organisations – attended the 
workshop. Moreover, the launch of the workshop 
on guiding principles for hate crime training took 
place in August.

In October, FRA also contributed to the first training of 
judges and magistrates on the investigation and adju-
dication of hate crimes and discrimination cases organ-
ised by the General Council of the Judiciary of Spain. 
This was followed by the presentation of a training 
manual for this purpose two months later.

FRA also presented its work on hate crime at the OSCE/
ODIHR Reinforced Human Dimension Committee Meet-
ing in Vienna on 17 November.

With regard to its work on the issue of antisemitism, 
islamophobia and hate speech, FRA attended a Euro-
pean Parliamentary debate on 29 June and participated 
in the European Commission’s first Annual Colloquium 
on Fundamental Rights, entitled ‘Tolerance and respect: 
preventing and combating anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim 
hatred in Europe’ in October. On 9 September, following 
an invitation from the Luxembourg EU Presidency, FRA 
contributed to discussions of the Council of the EU’s 
Terrorism Working Party, which devoted special atten-
tion to Islamophobia in the EU.

On 14-15 December a workshop was co-organised by 
FRA in cooperation with the Austrian Ministry of Inte-
rior, entitled ‘Developing a Toolbox for Communication 
Strategies to promote respect, non-discrimination, fun-
damental rights, freedoms and solidarity’.

Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European 
Commission, announced the nomination, within the 
Commission, of two coordinators, one for antisemitism 
and one for Islamophobia. FRA is mentioned as playing 
an important role in supporting Member States in devel-
oping training and tools for teachers and educators; in 
supporting media literacy on tolerance and fundamental 
rights in cooperation with the European Broadcasting 
Union;  and  in  improving  recording  and  identifying 
a methodology for data collection of hate crimes.

No particular issues and challenges preventing FRA 
from executing the work programme in the area of 
racism,  xenophobia  and  related  intolerance  were 
encountered during the reporting period.

Efforts should be made with regard to awareness rais-
ing in this thematic area, as issues pertaining to racism, 
xenophobia and related intolerance are of limited inter-
est to some stakeholders, unless situations of crisis 
arise. Since much of FRA’s work on racism, xenophobia 
and related intolerance is generally subsumed under 
other projects, there is less visibility of this area of 
work.

1�5�  Achievements in the 
thematic area ‘Roma 
integration’

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

to  contribute  to  the  achievement  of  the  goals 
set by the EU Framework on Roma integration to 
respect  the  fundamental  rights  of  Roma  across 
the  EU  in  the  context  of  the  implementation  of 
the EU 2020 Strategy.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

Throughout 2015 FRA continued to support the Euro-
pean Commission and the EU Member States in prepara-
tions for the first reporting cycle on the implementation 
of the Council Recommendation of 9 December 2013 on 
effective  Roma  integration  measures.  During  the 
National Roma Contact Points (NRCP) meeting in Octo-
ber an agreement was reached to apply a web-based 
reporting tool the development of which FRA facilitated. 
Its application would allow the efficient use of the indi-
cator framework agreed upon by the Member States’ 
Working Party on Roma Integration Indicators, coordi-
nated by FRA. The indicator framework aims to provide 
Member States with a tool for self-assessment and to 
communicate progress in their forthcoming annual 
reporting. The agreed-upon indicators cover the key 
areas of education, employment, health and housing, 
as well as horizontal issues such as rights awareness 
and non-discrimination. Civil society was also invited 
by the European Commission to use the template by 
entering the available evidence.

The work of the Working Party on Roma Integration 
Indicators is regularly reported back to all National 
Roma Contact Points. Once the information collection 

24

Achievements of the year

template was agreed upon, the focus of the Working 
Party  shifted  to  targeted  support  for  individual 
Member States facing specific issues. The work also 
feeds into the European Commission’s work on Roma. 
FRA’s work with respect to the reporting and indicator 
framework was also prominently featured in the Euro-
pean Commission’s Report on the implementation of 
the EU Framework for National Roma Integration Strat-
egies 2015. Council of Europe and OSCE/ODIHR CPRSI 
have expressed interest in applying the monitoring 
framework for the reporting by their Member States.

Working towards fairness for Roma

FRA conducted a number of local visits to support 
and monitor the implementation of its participa-
tory  action  research  project  ‘Local  Engagement 
for Roma Inclusion’ (LERI). In 2015 the main phase 
of the LERI project took shape after a number of 
barriers  were  identified  in  the  pilot  phase.  After 
assessing the needs in the selected 22 localities, 
local project plans were developed, outlining the 
methodology,  activities,  and  stakeholders  in-
volved. The assessment phase will be followed by 
the implementation and monitoring of local level 
interventions with the meaningful participation of 
Roma communities and all relevant local level ac-
tors. The project was implemented in 22 localities 
across  11  EU  Member  States:  Bulgaria,  the  Czech 
Republic,  Finland,  France,  Greece,  Hungary,  Italy, 
Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the UK.

FRA contributed to the report on Roma issues published 
by the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues. FRA 
also presented its Roma work in a number of stake-
holder meetings:

 n FRA also presented its work on Roma at the OSCE/
ODIHR  Human  Dimension  Implementation  Meet-
ing  in  Warsaw  on  1  October.  Between  28-29  May, 
FRA provided input to the European Committee for 
Social Cohesion, Human Dignity and Equality of the 
Council of Europe, where the agency presented its 
work on Roma, child rights and disability issues.

 n Also in May, FRA participated in the annual Work-
shop on Migration Statistics organised by the Unit-
ed  Nations  Economic  Commission  for  Europe  (UN-
ECE)  in  Geneva  and  presented  a  Working  Paper 
on  ‘Multidimensional  poverty  from  a  fundamental 
rights perspective: the case of Roma’.

 n In June FRA was invited to speak at the launch event 
‘Combatting  Anti-Gypsyism  and  Discrimination  as 
a root cause of Roma marginalisation’ in Geneva;

 n In October FRA participated in a conference on Roma 
and  discrimination  in  Cluj,  presenting  the  work  on 
fundamental rights indicators applied to Roma;

 n FRA also contributed to the design of a structured 
survey  on  end-recipients  of  the  support  provided 
by the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived 
(October, DG EMPLOY);

 n In October FRA presented its Roma work at a work-
ing group at the 4th Annual Forum of the EU Danube 
Strategy in Ulm;

 n FRA  presented  its  work  on  Roma  at  the  9th  and 
10th  meeting  of  the  Ad  hoc  Committee  of  Experts 
for Roma Issues (CAHROM) hosted by the Council of 
Europe in Strasbourg between 27 and 29 May and in 
Bucharest on 28 October. Moreover, FRA took part in 
the meeting of the Coalition of International Organisa-
tions on Roma Inclusion on 27 May and on 28 October.

 n On  23-24  November,  FRA  took  part  in  the  final 
meeting of the EURoma Network, bringing together 
representatives from National Roma Contact Points, 
European Social Fund Management Authorities and 
the European Commission.

Supporting Member States in 
ensuring Roma integration

A  number  of  requests  for  support  related  to  the 
implementation  of  the  monitoring  frameworks 
for tracking progress in Roma integration were re-
ceived from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germa-
ny and Slovakia. All were met either through mis-
sions or support provided on-line. One particular 
area of support was the preparation for the Slovak 
Presidency of the Council. FRA assisted the Slovak 
Presidency preparatory team in defining the top-
ics to be covered during the Presidency in the area 
of Roma inclusion. FRA also continued to support 
the implementation of SocioRoMap – an EEA/Nor-
way Grants-supported project in Romania.

Issues encountered

Member States’ different approaches to ethnically-dis-
aggregated data collection make difficult common report-
ing on the Council Recommendation and call for continued 
support from FRA. The implementation of the LERI project 
suggests that participatory action research at local level 
faces numerous risks that need to be carefully managed 
(e.g. changing political environments; community-level 
tensions; competing interests; poor coordination between 
local experts and intermediaries).

In general, the diverging situations and levels of inte-
gration of Roma in individual Member States make it 
difficult to develop jointly shared approaches. Moreo-
ver, work in candidate countries is possible only upon 
request from the European Commission’s Directorates 
General DG NEAR through DG JUST.

25

Annual activity report 2015

1�6�  Achievements in the 
thematic area 
‘Discrimination based on 
sex, race, colour, ethnic or 
social origin, genetic 
features, language, religion 
or belief, political or any 
other opinion, membership 
of a national minority, 
property, birth, disability, 
age or sexual orientation’

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

timely  provision  of  robust,  policy-relevant  and 
evidence-based  advice  to  EU  institutions  and 
Member  States  as  well  as  other  stakeholders 
on equality and non-discrimination fundamental 
rights challenges.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

In September 2015, the first Member States started inter-
views in the framework of the second wave of the ‘Euro-
pean  Union  Minorities  and  Discrimination  Survey’ 
(EU-MIDIS II). The survey aims to support the EU in pro-
tecting the fundamental rights of people with an immi-
grant or ethnic minority background, including Roma. It 
also aims to populate core indicators for measuring pro-
gress in the implementation of the EU Framework for 
National Roma Integration Strategies as well as selected 
indicators on immigrant integration. Interview comple-
tion is expected by the end of the first quarter of 2016. 
On 9 November, FRA attended an expert meeting on the 
policy needs for data on crime, which brought together 
European Commission services, Member States’ repre-
sentatives and independent experts; FRA shared, among 
others, information on its EU-MIDIS II survey.

Raising awareness of discrimination 
against LGBT people

In  May  FRA  published  a  comparative  analysis  of 
the EU LGBT survey data ‘Being Trans in the EU’, 
examining issues of equal treatment and discrimi-
nation on two grounds, namely sexual orientation 
and gender identity. The report analyses data on 
the experiences of 6,579 trans-respondents from 
the  ‘EU  Lesbian,  gay,  bisexual  and  transgender 
(LGBT) survey’ - the largest body of empirical evi-
dence of its kind to date.

FRA research covering transgender health was dis-
cussed at the first conference of the European Profes-
sional Association for Transgender Health in Ghent from 
12-14 March, attracting 350 participants from 31 differ-
ent countries. Furthermore, the agency participated 
actively in the meeting of LGBTI governmental focal 
points and in the forum of the ‘International Day Against 
Homophobia and Transphobia’.

Analysing the legal situation of 
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender 
and intersex people

In May FRA published its first focus paper on the 
fundamental  rights  situation  of  intersex  people. 
The  paper  drew  on  evidence  gathered  to  elabo-
rate on FRA’s broader comparative legal analysis 
on protection against discrimination on grounds of 
sexual orientation, gender identity and sex char-
acteristics in the EU. FRA published that compara-
tive analysis in December, providing an overview 
of  legal  developments  in  the  EU  from  2010  on-
wards,  and  updating  and  expanding  its  previous 
reports on this topic.

FRA’s findings on the fundamental rights of intersex 
people in the EU were discussed at the Council Working 
Party on Fundamental Rights, Citizens’ Rights and Free 
Movement of Persons (FREMP); with members of the 
European Parliament’s LGBTI Intergroup; at an IDAHO 
Forum meeting (together with the Office of the Com-
missioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe); 
at the annual conference of ILGA-EUROPE; and the inter-
sex solidarity days in Vienna (Austria).

In December the United Nations Development Pro-
gramme (UNDP) and the UN’s Office of the High Com-
missioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) invited FRA to 
contribute to an expert meeting in New York concerning 
the  measurement  of  LGBTI  (lesbian,  gay,  bisexual, 
transgender and intersex) inclusion and the develop-
ment of a related index, based on FRA’s experience from 
the agency’s EU-LGBT survey. Moreover, FRA took part 
in the international conference on ‘Freedom of Speech 
and Assembly: A world perspective in a narrative’ in 
June, which coincided with EuroPride in Riga – a pan-
European international event dedicated to LGBT pride.

Regarding violence against women, FRA participated 
in the Interinstitutional Congress on Gender Violence: 
Future Challenges, which brought together the Autono-
mous Administrations of Spain to advance in the coor-
dination and standardisation of their processes, also 
vis-à-vis the Central State Administration.

With respect to its work on disability, FRA focused on 
fulfilling its specific role to promote, protect and moni-
tor  the  Convention  on  the  Rights  of  Persons  with 

26

Achievements of the year

Disabilities (CRPD). This was achieved through three 
main activities: providing evidence-based advice to 
stakeholders, preparation for fieldwork to be carried 
out in 2016 and expert meetings organised at FRA 
premises.

FRA  participated  in  numerous  conferences,  raising 
awareness of rights and challenges of people with 
disabilities:

On 14-15 April FRA held a meeting in Vienna to discuss 
its findings from the draft report on violence against 
children with disabilities with civil society experts.

On 26-27 November FRA hosted an expert meeting on 
the next steps in the agency’s project on the right to 
independent living for persons with disabilities, bringing 
together representatives from the Council of Europe, the 
European Commission, national human rights bodies, 
disabled persons organisations and academic experts.

Moreover, FRA presented its work at conferences at 
EU-, UN- and national level and, among others, to the 
UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 
in August in Geneva as well as to the ‘Zero Project Con-
ference’ – a platform focusing on the rights of people 
with disabilities globally. FRA’s work also fed into the 
2015 Zero Project Report that was launched during the 
conference in Vienna.

Mapping progress in EU Member 
States

The  agency  also  published  the  focus  paper  ‘Im-
plementing  the  UN  CRPD:  An  overview  of  legal 
reforms  in  EU  Member  States’,  outlining  how 
Member States across the EU have reformed their 
laws  and  policies  to  meet  their  obligations  un-
der the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with 
Disabilities (CRPD).

In May FRA’s interim Director spoke at a public hearing 
organised by the European Parliament on the EU’s review 
by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Dis-
abilities. Furthermore, FRA addressed a conference in 
Thessaloniki in September in this respect, being the first 
opportunity to assess the impact of the UN Committee 
on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities concluding 
observations. The agency also provided evidence to the 
European Commission in the course of the preparation 
for the CRPD Committee review, as well as to the Euro-
pean Parliament’s Committee on Petitions (PETI).

In addition, infographics to help raise awareness of the 
voting rights of people with disabilities were made 
available in additional languages.

Issues encountered

No particular issues and challenges preventing FRA 
from executing the work programme in the area of dis-
crimination were encountered during the reporting 
period.

At EU level, efforts should be made to raise awareness 
of FRA’s work in this thematic area to further promote 
the dissemination of FRA’s work among the EU institu-
tions as well as the possibility for EU bodies to draw on 
FRA’s expertise.

1�7�  Achievements in the 

thematic area ‘The rights 
of the child’

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

timely  provision  of  robust,  relevant  and  evi-
dence-based  advice  to  EU 
institutions  and 
Member  States  on  the  protection,  respect  and 
promotion of the rights of the child.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

Strengthening child protection and 
promoting child-friendly justice

In  response  to  a  request  by  the  European  Com-
mission,  FRA  conducted  a  mapping  of  child  pro-
tection systems in the 28 EU Member States. Key 
findings of the mapping were published on FRA’s 
webpage in January and are available in English, 
German  and  French.  In  May  FRA  published  a  re-
port  on  ‘Child-friendly  justice  –  Perspectives  and 
experiences of professionals on children’s partici-
pation in civil and criminal judicial proceedings in 
10  EU  Member  States’.  The  launch  of  the  report

took  place  on  5  May  in  Brussels  during  two  live 
radio  debates  with  members  of  the  European 
Parliament.  FRA’s  fieldwork  findings  are  based 
on  interviews  with  professionals  who  work  with 
children involved in criminal and civil proceedings, 
primarily in cases of sexual abuse, domestic vio-
lence,  neglect  and  custody  conflicts.  The  report 
draws on country reports prepared under contract 
by FRA’s research network FRANET.

27

Annual activity report 2015

Supporting the European legal 
protection of children

On  the  occasion  of  Universal  Children’s  Day  on 
20  November,  FRA  launched  the  Handbook  on 
European law relating to the rights of the child in 
cooperation  with  the  Council  of  Europe  and  the 
European Court of Human Rights. Serving as a ref-
erence on how EU and Council of Europe law and 
case-law accommodate the specific interests and 
needs  of  children,  the  handbook  is  designed  for 
non-specialist  legal  professionals,  judges,  pub-
lic  prosecutors,  child  protection  authorities,  and 
other  practitioners  and  organisations  responsi-
ble for ensuring the legal protection of the rights 
of the child. It addresses issues such as equality, 
personal identity, family life, alternative care and 
adoption,  migration  and  asylum,  child  protection 
against violence and exploitation, as well as chil-
dren’s  rights  within  criminal  justice  and  alterna-
tive proceedings.

Furthermore,  FRA  published  a  report  on  violence 
against children with disabilities, looking at laws to pro-
tect children from violence. Preliminary findings in this 
respect were shared with the Council of the European 
Union’s Working Party on Fundamental Rights, Citizens 
Rights and Free Movement of Persons (FREMP) as well 
as the Informal Member States Experts Group on Rights 
of the Child.

FRA was invited to present its work and expertise in 
the area of rights of the child at:

 n the ‘9th European Forum on the Rights of the Child’, 
organised by the European Commission in Brussels 
in June;

 n the  19th  annual  European  Network  for  Ombudsper-
sons for Children (ENOC) in Amsterdam in September;

 n the 12th conference entitled ‘Helping children victims 
of crime’, which took place in October in Warsaw;

 n the seventh annual dialogue with the Commission 
for  Citizenship,  Governance,  Institutional  and  Ex-
ternal Affairs (CIVEX) of the EU’s Committee of the 
Regions in November;

 n an  expert  meeting  on  the  policy  needs  for  data 
on  crime  in  November,  coordinated  by  DG  Home, 
bringing  together  Commission  services,  Member 
State representatives and independent experts;

 n the  advisory  panel  of  the  Polish  Ombudsman  for 
Children,  composed  of  practitioners  and  legal  ex-
perts, where FRA also met NGOs active in this area 
as well as representatives of the relevant ministries;

 n the Council of Europe’s meeting of the Committee 
of  Experts,  joining  discussions  with  regard  to  the 
draft of a strategy on children’s rights;

 n the European Commission’s Expert Group on Rights 

of the Child;

 n several national-level events, including discussions 
with key-stakeholders in Estonia, Montenegro, Bul-
garia, Austria and Sweden.

In March, FRA organised an experts’ meeting at its 
premises on child protection to present findings of its 
research on child protection systems and discuss prom-
ising practises and common challenges.

Moreover, FRA and UNICEF, in partnership with the 
European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights, 
organised an event on access to justice for children in 
June on the margins of the 9th European Forum on the 
Rights of the Child.

In October FRA offered its expertise at an online seminar 
on interviewing children victims and witnesses of crime, 
organised by CEPOL. Furthermore, the agency provided 
feed back  on  the  Eu ro pea n  A sylu m  Su ppor t 
Office’s (EASO) Practical Guide for Family Tracing in Malta 
and was part of an expert group providing input to the 
development of training modules for professionals by 
the International Juvenile Justice Observatory (IJJO).

The agency was also invited to provide its expertise to 
the Informal Justice and Home Affairs ministers’ meet-
ing for the revision of the Brussels II regulation on juris-
diction regarding parental responsibility in Luxembourg. 
Furthermore, FRA provided data to the Commission’s 
DG Justice for the development of a reflection paper on 
the ‘Coordination and cooperation in integrated child 
protection systems’.

In 2015 FRA’s website for children, which was launched 
as part of its website section on the rights of the child 
in 2014, was enriched by the addition of five animation 
films on raising children’s awareness of their rights.

FRA has also mainstreamed children’s rights into other 
areas of its work, such as the fundamental rights of 
LGBTI people, violence against women and, in particular, 
migration and asylum –for example, information on 
FRA’s report on ‘Guardianship systems for children 
deprived of parental care in the European Union’ can 
be found under the thematic area ‘Immigration’.

Issues encountered

It remains challenging to reach out to all EU Member 
States in situations where it would take ’28 efforts’ and 

28

Achievements of the year

meet the demands of all stakeholders. Therefore, good 
use must be made of multipliers. In addition, a focus on 
strategic requests from the European Parliament and 
cooperation with more Commission Directorates Gen-
eral (CONNECT, EMPL, HOME) could help in providing 
advice in a focused and systematic manner. Moreover, 
efforts should be made to intensify cooperation with 
international organisations (OHCHR, UNCRC).

1�8�  Achievements in the 

thematic area ‘Access to 
justice’

FRA’s main objectives:

 ·

contributing to the EU’s efforts to enhance mech-
anisms,  judicial  and  non-judicial,  for  ensuring 
access to justice at EU and Member State levels, 
which  serve  to  underpin  fundamental  rights 
compliance.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

Ensuring access to justice

In October, FRA launched a pilot version of ‘Clar-
ity’,  which  stands  for  the  ‘Complaints,  Legal  As-
sistance and Rights Information Tool for You’, an 
online tool that directs people to competent non-
judicial bodies that can deal with their particular 
fundamental  rights  issue(s)  in  a  given  EU  Mem-
ber State. The tool, which was also introduced in 
a short video clip available on FRA’s website, was 
presented  in  various  contexts  (e.g.  the  Council’s 
Working  Party  on  E-Law,  FREMP,  and  the  Euro-
pean Parliament’s Petitions Committee). Since the 
launch  of  Clarity  there  have  been  over  500  sub-
missions of the form. The 2015 Council conclusions 
on the application of the Charter of Fundamental 
Rights  welcomed  the  Clarity  tool  and  underlined 
the  need  for  its  further  development.  National 
representatives  of  the  Council’s  Working  Party 
on E-Law are currently discussing ways to ensure 
full coverage of all bodies in all states, its further 
translation  into  EU  languages,  and  its  eventual 
transfer to the European e-Justice Portal.

FRA provided input to a number of events focusing on 
access to justice, including:

 n a meeting with the UN High Commissioner for Hu-

man Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, in January;

 n training for Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Counsel-

lors in February in Brussels;

 n a visit to the FRA premises by the German parlia-

mentary committee in February;

 n a presentation of FRA’s police manual in March and 
an  online  seminar  on  effective  strategies  to  ad-
dress  violence  against  women  in  April,  organised 
by CEPOL;

 n a  conference  of  the  European  Network  of  Equal-
ity  Bodies  (Equinet)  in  June,  focusing  on  the  role 
and importance of the EU Charter of Fundamental 
Rights in safeguarding fundamental rights;

 n an  EU  Rule  of  Law  Oversight  discussion  in  the 
framework of an academic event in London in June;

 n the  launch  of  the  Council  of  Europe-FRA-  Euro-
pean  Network  of  National  Human  Rights  Institu-
tions (ENNHRI)-European Network of Equality Bod-
ies  (Equinet)  Collaborative  Platform  on  Social  and 
Economic Rights in Strasbourg in October;

 n the final conference of the EU-funded ‘Pilot project 
for  development  of  indicators  to  measure  the  im-
plementation  of  the  European  Charter  of  women 
and  men  in  local  life’,  organised  by  the  Council  of 
European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) in Oc-
tober in Brussels;

 n conferences  on  empowering  workers  with  dis-
abilities in the EU and on protection of fundamental 
rights in the EU organised by the Academy of Euro-
pean Law in December and June, respectively;

 n the European External Action Service’s (EEAS) hu-
man rights dialogue with Belarus and the Associa-
tion of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN);

 n the European Development Days - the leading fo-
rum  in  Europe  for  international  development  and 
cooperation;

 n a public hearing on the protection of the rights of 
people with disabilities, organised by the European 
Parliament’s Petitions Committee.

FRA presented its survey findings on violence against 
women  at  a  number  of  conferences  and  national 
events – for example, in Estonia, the Czech Republic, 
Germany, Ireland and Spain. The agency also took part 
in a Council of Europe conference on monitoring the 
implementation of the Istanbul Convention. Moreover, 
a campaign in Vienna aiming to strengthen cooperation 
between victim support centres and hospitals reflected 
on the results of FRA’s EU-wide violence against women 
survey.

29

Annual activity report 2015

Providing valuable research data

In June, the European Parliament adopted a reso-
lution  on  the  EU  Strategy  for  equality  between 
women and men post-2015. Significant reference 
was  made  to  FRA’s  survey  on  violence  against 
women, the report on ‘Discrimination against and 
living conditions of Roma women in 11 EU Member 
States’, and ‘Being Trans in the EU – Comparative 
analysis  of  the  EU  LGBT’.  In  this  connection,  FRA 
also  provided  researchers  access  to  its  violence 
against  women  survey  data  set,  to  support  fur-
ther use and assessment of the survey results. By 
the end of the year, a number of researchers from 
academic  institutions  and  research  agencies  had 
made  use  of  the  opportunity  to  further  analyse 
the survey results, adding to the body of knowl-
edge developed based on FRA’s survey.

In 2015 the European Parliament adopted a resolution 
concerning the Progress on equality between women 
and men in the EU in 2013, and the resolution on the EU 
Strategy for equality between women and men post-
2015, referring to the results of FRA’s survey on violence 
against women. Over the course of the year, several 
members of the European Parliament used this survey’s 
data as an evidence base for written and oral parlia-
mentary questions.

The European Commission used the results of FRA’s 
violence against women survey extensively in 2015 – for 
example, in the Commission’s ‘Strategic Engagement 
for Gender Equality 2016-2019’, the ‘Report on equality 
between women and men 2014’, and the roadmap ‘(A 
possible) EU Accession to the Council of Europe Conven-
tion on preventing and combating violence against 
women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention)’. 
Furthermore, the Commission’s call for proposals for 
action  grants  to  support  transnational  projects  to 
combat sexual harassment and sexual violence against 
women  and  girls  used  results  from  FRA’s  violence 
against women survey as the evidentiary basis for 
taking this action.

In June 2015 the European Institute for Gender Equality 
(EIGE) launched the second edition of its Gender Equal-
ity Index with a ‘satellite domain’ on violence, which 
EIGE based on FRA’s violence against women survey 
data. These survey results were also used in the report 
published by EIGE in November 2015 ‘An analysis of the 
Victims’ Rights Directive from a gender perspective’. 
The OSCE in 2015 started an initiative to replicate the 
FRA survey on violence against women in ten non-EU 
countries. The survey’s results were also referenced in 
reports by UN Women, the United Nations Economic 
Commission for Europe, and a number of civil society 
organisations.

In addition, FRA published a call for tender entitled ‘Pre-
testing and feasibility assessment for the FRA Funda-
mental Rights Survey’. The results of the study will 
assist FRA in developing the full-scale Fundamental 
Rights Survey, which will contribute to the measure-
ment of trends in fundamental rights over time. On 
10 February, FRA held the first consultation meeting, 
bringing together, among others, representatives of the 
European  Commission,  the  Council  of  Europe,  the 
OHCHR, Equinet, Eurofound and the OECD to discuss the 
expectations for the planned survey.

Furthermore,  together  with  the  European  Court  of 
Human Rights, FRA finalised a handbook on access to 
justice, which profited from earlier input by the Council 
of Europe’s European Commission for the Efficiency of 
Justice  (CEPEJ).  The  handbook,  which  is  due  to  be 
launched in the second quarter of 2016, aims to raise 
awareness and knowledge among judges and other 
legal practitioners about the main legal and jurispru-
dential principles in the area of access to justice.

In August FRA launched a report on the freedom to 
conduct a business (Article 16 of the EU Charter), which 
analyses this freedom in the context of access to justice 
and implications for specific population groups. The 
report was presented at a European Commission (DG 
GROW) event organised for Member States and other 
Directorate Generals; at a FREMP meeting; at business 
and entrepreneurship events; and to members of the 
European Parliament working on relevant files (e.g. on 
female entrepreneurship).

In addition, FRA continued its research in the area of 
criminal law, such as on the fundamental rights aspects 
of  EU  law  on  the  transfer  of  persons  sentenced  or 
awaiting trial or on the right to interpretation and trans-
lation and the right to information of suspects or per-
sons accused in criminal proceedings in the EU, which 
was requested by the European Commission in 2014. In 
this connection, the agency was involved in several 
exchanges with key stakeholders and gave presenta-
tions on preliminary results, including at the 45th Plenary 
Meeting  of  the  European  Judicial  Network  (EJN)  in 
November.

Issues encountered

In the area of criminal justice, coordinating with various 
other actors to ensure that research undertaken on the 
European Commission’s request does not overlap with 
that of others remains a challenge (including with other 
Commission-funded research).

30

Achievements of the year

1�9�  Achievements in the 

thematic area ‘Victims 
of crime’

FRA’s main objectives:

 · becoming a main actor in the promotion of the 
fundamental rights of crime victims, in particular 
as regards the right of victims to have access to 
justice,

 · making visible the invisible victims of, in particu-

lar, hate crime.

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

Strengthening victim support 
structures

FRA seized many opportunities to present findings 
from  its  report  on  ‘Victims  of  crime  in  the  EU:  the 
extent  and  nature  of  support  for  victims’.  The  re-
port, which was launched in January 2015, examines 
the  different  support  services  provided  for  victims 
across  the  28  EU  Member  States,  in  line  with  the 
2012 Victims’ Rights Directive. FRA’s expertise in this 
area will provide guidance to Member States when 
implementing  the  directive  and  further  improving 
victim support structures. FRA completed all EU lan-
guage versions of a summary of this report. The re-
port findings are very topical and timely, given the 
transposition deadline for the Victims’ Rights Direc-
tive  of  November  2015.  Information  on  promising 
practices  from  FRA’s  research  on  victims  of  crime 
was used by the European Commission for a guid-
ance document on the Victims’ Rights Directive.

In June, FRA hosted a European Commission-coordi-
nated regional event with experts from eight Member 
States to discuss the implementation of the Victims’ 
Rights Directive. The focus of this event was the state 
of play of the implementation as well as the exchange 
of best practices.

In addition, FRA participated in the Annual Conference 
of the European umbrella organisation ‘Victim Support 
Europe’, a conference of the European Institute for 
Gender Equality (EIGE), as well as a Luxembourg Presi-
dency event.

To  mark  the  European  Day  of  Victims  of  Crime  on 
22 February, FRA created an infographic to raise aware-
ness of victim support services and their role in helping 
crime victims have effective access to justice in the EU.

FRA’s activities in the area of victims of crime are also 
linked  to  other  thematic  areas  of  work,  such  as 

discrimination, racism, rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, 
transgender  and  intersex  people  (LGBTI),  violence 
against women, the rights of the child, people with 
disabilities and, in particular, migration and asylum. 
FRA’s project on severe labour exploitation, described 
in  the  section  on  ‘Immigration  and  integration  of 
migrants, visa and border control and asylum’, also 
relates to victims of crime, as does the work on children 
and justice, described in the section on ‘The rights of 
the child’. Publications referring to the area ‘victims of 
crime’ include, among others:

 n a report on child-friendly justice;

 n a paper entitled ‘Equal protection for all victims of 
hate crime – The case of people with disabilities’;

 n a  report  on  ‘Severe  labour  exploitation:  workers 

moving within or into the European Union’.

Issues encountered

No particular issues or challenges were encountered 
during the reporting period.

1�10�  Achievements in 
the thematic area 
‘Cross-cutting activities’

Main achievements, activities and 
deliverables

FRA chaired the EU Agencies Network in the period 
1 March 2014 to 28 February 2015. The coordination of 
the network rotates between the agencies for periods 
of one year. The network was set up with the aim of 
improving the coordination, information exchange and 
agreement of common positions on issues of shared 
interest among agencies. During this time FRA strength-
ened relations between agencies and the new European 
Parliament and European Commission while helping to 
raise the visibility of agencies’ work among Member 
States, stakeholders and the people of Europe. Towards 
the end of FRA’s chairmanship on 20 February, all EU 
agencies signed a joint statement to strengthen funda-
mental rights protection in all areas of their work.

FRA also continued to provide relevant inputs to national 
governments. For example, FRA co-organised an event 
in Estonia with the agency’s NLOs, where it presented 
its report on children and justice. This contributed to the 
government’s own effort to review the Estonian national 
law related to child protection to bring it in line with the 
Convention on the Rights of the Child. Moreover, FRA 
discussed fundamental rights challenges and achieve-
ments in the EU at the Polish Senate in July and addressed 

31

Annual activity report 2015

the Danish Parliament’s European Affairs Committee on 
how to safeguard fundamental rights in the EU in March. 
At an official hearing of the Italian Parliamentary Com-
mittee for the Security of the Republic – the parliamen-
tary  oversight  of  the  Security  Intelligence  System’s 
activities in Italy – FRA presented its findings on surveil-
lance by national intelligence services.

FRA also continued to take part in the Network of Justice 
and Home Affairs (JHA) Agencies – a thematic group of 
nine EU agencies, aiming to coordinate operational work 
and explore synergies in the areas of freedom, security 
and justice. In November the agency attended a meeting 
focusing in particular on the contribution and role of JHA 
Agencies  in  implementing  the  European  Agenda  on 
Migration and the European Agenda on Security.

FRA coordinated the Member States’ Working Party on 
Roma Integration Indicators, bringing together Member 
States’ national Roma contact points, the European 
Commission,  as  well  as  many  other  interested 
stakeholders.

The agency also cooperated with EU Member States in 
the framework of its Working Party on Hate Crime, 
established in response to Council Conclusions on com-
bating hate crime in the European Union. The aim of the 
working party is to assist Member States in designing 
and implementing relevant measures in this respect.

In addition, FRA addressed the European Parliament’s 
Committee on LIBE and discussed fundamental rights 
challenges with the European Parliament President as 
well as with the UN High Commissioner for Human 
Rights.

As a one-time initiative, FRA brought together its Net-
work of National Stakeholders and FRA bodies in Vienna 
in November to identify more synergies and opportuni-
ties for cooperation.

In February FRA contributed to a Council of Europe 
event on social rights. In May, FRA engaged in a forum 
held in Salzburg; composed of Central and South-East 
EU Member States, the forum discussed security and 
fundamental rights.

FRA, together with the Committee of the Regions, has 
jointly developed a condensed portable version of the 
online toolkit for officials entitled ‘Joining up fundamen-
tal rights’. The corresponding booklet, entitled ‘Making 
rights real: a guide for local and regional authorities’, is 
now available in German, French and Swedish.

FRA also developed further online tools for promoting 
fundamental rights – such as the Charterpedia, Case 
Law Data base, and Clarity – and has made its website 
partly available in all EU languages.

In 2015, FRA published awareness-raising video clips 
on children & justice in 9 EU languages and produced 
infographics on various thematic areas, the Charter, and 
EU agencies’ work.

FRA also sent 10 newsletters in EN, FR and DE to its 
6,500 subscribed stakeholders and 15 press releases, 
most of them in all EU languages, to its stakeholder and 
media contacts (approx. 1,350 contacts).

Issues encountered

No particular issues and challenges preventing FRA 
from meeting its objectives in the area of cross-cutting 
activities were encountered during the reporting period.

1�11�  Economy and efficiency 
of spending and non-
spending activities

According to the agency’s Financial Rules (Article 29), 
the principle of economy requires that the resources 
used by the agency in the pursuit of its activities shall 
be made available in due time, in appropriate quantity 
and quality and at the best price. The principle of effi-
ciency  concerns  the  best  relationship  between 
resources employed and results achieved.

Respect for these principles is continuously pursued 
through the implementation of internal procedures and 
predefined practices. These procedures ensure that 
activities are executed in an efficient manner (e.g. the 
different workflows contribute to efficient cooperation 
between staff, departments, etc.) and according to the 
principle of economy (e.g. the procurement rules ensure 
procurement in optimal conditions).

The  agency  is  continuously  fine-tuning  its  internal 
arrangements to improve the efficiency and economy 
of its operations. The following initiatives show how 
these principles are implemented.

In December 2015, the agency upgraded its datacentre 
cooling system with a new system, which is environ-
mentally friendly as it uses the outside temperature to 
cool its datacentre. Due to weather conditions in Vienna 
it is expected to reduce current electricity costs related 
to the cooling of the datacentre by 50 %. Furthermore, 
in 2015, the agency reduced its building maintenance 
and running costs by 7 % due to better organisation of 
related activities, ensuring cost efficiency. Finally, the 
agency continued to take advantage of the practices 
initiated in 2014 to utilise modern technologies like 
video conferencing systems to eliminate travel costs 
where possible. Over 50 video conferences took place 
in 2015.

32

2 

Management

Assurance is an objective examination of evidence to 
provide an assessment of the effectiveness of risk-man-
agement, control and governance processes. Manage-
ment, which monitors the functioning of the internal 
control systems on a continuous basis, and the internal 
and external auditors carry out this examination. Its 
results are documented and reported to the FRA Direc-
tor, including reports on:

 n Activity-based management:

 0 it reports on the management of the financial re-
sources (including planned and actual, as well as 
deviations)

 0 it  reports  on  the  management  of  human  re-
sources (including planned and actual, as well as 
deviations)

 0 it reports on activity-based costing;

 n ex post controls;

 n internal control standards (ICS) gap analysis;

 n the observations and recommendations by the Inter-
nal Audit Service (IAS) of the European Commission;

 n the observations and recommendations by the Eu-

ropean Court of Auditors (ECA);

 n the recommendations of the European Parliament.

This part outlines the control results and other relevant 
elements that support management assurance on the 
achievement of the internal control objectives, including 
the following aspects:

 n safeguarding of assets and information;

 n prevention,  detection,  correction  and  follow-up  of 

fraud and irregularities;

 n adequate management of the risks relating to the 
legality  and  regularity  of  the  underlying  transac-
tions, taking into account the multiannual character 
of  programmes  as  well  as  the  nature  of  the  pay-
ments (FRA Financial Rules, Article 32).

It looks at the management of FRA’s resources, financial 
and human, and assesses the results of internal and 
external audits, including the implementation of audit 
recommendations.

2�1�  Management Board

FRA carries out an annual risk assessment exercise, 
which includes an evaluation of potential risks, their 
likelihood of occurrence and the potential impact. The 
results of the exercise are summarised in a risk register. 
An extract of this risk register is annexed to the annual 
work programme (AWP). This annex presents the risks 
that the management considers relevant to the imple-
mentation of the AWP. It also presents the correspond-
ing preventative mitigating actions.

In 2015, no significant risks materialised that would have 
required a Management Board decision.

2�2�  Major events

 n effectiveness, efficiency and economy of  

Staff cuts

operations;

 n reliability of reporting;

In 2015, FRA’s establishment plan was decreased by 
two temporary agent posts (one administrator (AD) and 

33

Annual activity report 2015

one assistant (AST)) as a result of the additional staff 
cuts across the EU institutions, agencies and bodies (see 
Interinstitutional Agreement 2013/C 373/01).

director authorised nine budgetary transfers. The total 
amount  transferred  among  titles  amounted  to 
€964,245.

2�3�  Budgetary and financial 

management

The implementation rate of C1 credits maintained last 
year’s trend and remained at 100 %. Similarly, the can-
cellation rate of C8 committed appropriations remained 
low at 1.61 %.

The implementation rate of C1 payment appropriations 
under Title III was 30 %. This is in line with FRA’s plan-
ning for automatic carrying forward (i.e. C8s), as esti-
mated during the first quarter of 2015 and evolving 
during the financial year. In total, 28.38 % of appropria-
tions were automatically carried forward from 2015 to 
2016.

It should be noted that most of FRA’s operational pro-
jects have an implementation period of at least one 
year. In these cases, the agency is compelled to auto-
matically carry forward a high level of outstanding 
amounts at the end of the financial year.

Further information is provided in the report on budget-
ary and financial management.

Activity-based budgeting

In 2015, FRA executed in commitment appropriations 
€21,616,591 consisting of C1, C4 and R0 funds. Based on 
the traditional presentation of budget execution (i.e. 
Titles I, II and III), €13,458,755 was spent on overheads 
(Titles I and II), representing 62 % of overall expendi-
ture. The amount of €8,157,836 was spent on opera-
tional expenditure, representing 38 %, as shown in 
Figure 1.

Figure 2 presents the activity-based budgeting (ABB) 
of the budget execution. FRA’s expenditure is split as 
follows, compared with the traditional presentation:

 n 79 % for operational expenditure instead of 38 % 

for Title III;

 n 21  %  for  support  expenditure  (i.e.  overheads)  in-

stead of 62 % for Titles I and II.

In 2015, two budgetary transfers were submitted to the 
Management  Board  for  approval.  In  addition,  the 

Further details are provided in Annex IV.

Figure 1: Traditional presentation of budget execution

14,000,000

12,000,000

10,000,000

8,000,000

6,000,000

4,000,000

2,000,000

0

Source: FRA, 2015

34

Titles I & II 

Title III 

Management

Titles I & II 

Title III 

Figure 2: Activity-based budgeting (ABB) presentation of budget execution

18,000,000

16,000,000

14,000,000

12,000,000

10,000,000

8,000,000

6,000,000

4,000,000

2,000,000

0

Source: FRA, 2015

2�4�  Human resources 
management

In November 2015 the budgetary authority authorised 
two new AD posts in the agency’s establishment plan 
in relation to the ongoing asylum/migration situation 
and the deletion of one AST post in relation to the addi-
tional staff cuts for the redeployment pool.

Following the departure of the Director in April 2015, 
the new Director took office on 16 December 2015.

In 2015 the agency adopted a new policy on the engage-
ment and use of temporary agents (TA 2f i.e. the new 
category of staff introduced as of 1 January 2014) in the 
interest of coherent rules among EU agencies and with 
a  view  of  facilitating  their  mobility  both  within  an 
agency and across the agencies. New rules concerning 
unpaid leave for temporary and contract staff were also 
adopted in order to introduce the changes brought by 
the 2014 reform of the Staff Regulations.

HR further enhanced its technology based IT applica-
tions by introducing an online objectives setting tool 
and developing an online performance appraisal tool.

2015 was the last year of the agency’s first Action Pro-
gramme on Equal Opportunities and Diversity stemming 
from the Equal Opportunities and Diversity Policy. At 
the end of 2015, the agency adopted an Equality and 
Diversity Strategic Action Plan 2016–2020 in order to 
continue its efforts in promoting equality and diversity 
at the workplace. In addition, the agency decided to 
establish an Equality and Diversity Group.

In September 2015, the agency launched its third well-
being survey the results of which will be analysed and 
an action programme will be prepared by a working 
group in the course of 2016.

The agency applies the methodology agreed by all EU 
agencies. In 2015, two temporary agent posts were 
deducted due to staff cuts requirement namely, one 
operational and one neutral. On the other hand, one 
contract agent was hired under operations. The results 
of the benchmarking exercise for the year 2015 are 
shown in the Table A 4.2.

2�5�  Assessment by 

management

This section reports on and assesses the elements iden-
tified by management that support assurance on the 
achievement of the internal control objectives. Section 
B of Annex VI outlines the main risks, together with the 
control processes intended to mitigate them and the 
indicators used to measure the performance of the con-
trol systems.

2�5�1�  Control effectiveness as regards 
legality and regularity

FRA has set up internal control processes intended to 
ensure the adequate management of risks relating to 
the legality and regularity of the underlying transac-
tions, taking into account the multiannual character of 
programmes as well as the nature of the payments 
concerned. The control objective is to ensure that FRA 
has reasonable assurance that the total amount of any 

35

Annual activity report 2015

financial operation authorised during the reporting year 
which would not be in conformity with the applicable 
contractual or regulatory provisions does not exceed 
2 % of the authorised commitments.

FRA  implements  regularly  preventative  measures 
together with internal awareness raising activities, such 
as  regular  presentations  to  and  training  of  staff 
members.

Summary of materiality criteria

As regards the legality and regularity of the underlying 
transactions, the objective is to ensure that the esti-
mated annual risk of errors in commitments and pay-
ments  at  the  time  of  the  authorisation  of  the 
transactions is less than 2 %.

Regarding the legality and regularity of the underlying 
transactions, the objective is to ensure that the esti-
mated residual risk of error is less than 2 % at the end 
of the financial year. The residual risk of error is esti-
mated  by  the  residual  error  rate  obtained  from  an 
examination of a representative sample of transactions 
less any corrections made resulting from the supervi-
sory and control systems in place.

Recoveries resulting from ex post controls

At the end of the reporting period, the results of ex post 
controls did not reveal any amounts to be recovered.

2�5�2�   Control efficiency and 

cost-effectiveness

The principle of efficiency concerns the best relation-
ship  between  resources  employed  and  results 
achieved. The principle of economy requires that the 
resources used by the agency in the pursuit of its 
activities  shall  be  made  available  in  due  time,  in 
appropriate quantity and quality and at the best price. 
This subsection outlines the indicators used to monitor 
the efficiency of the control systems, including an 
overall  assessment  of  the  costs  and  benefits  of 
controls.

Qualitative analysis of the management 
review of the registry of exceptions and 
internal control weaknesses

The exceptions registered are analysed to identify spe-
cific areas of concern and actions for improvement, 
assisting the decision-making process. In addition, they 
enable the management team to handle exceptional 
circumstances with a reasonable degree of flexibility 
and in a transparent and justified way. IAS and ECA 
examined the exceptions during their audits and raised 
no observations.

The annual analysis of the level of compliance with the 
Internal control standards includes qualitative analysis 
and recommendations for improvement which are com-
municated to the Management.

Two of the 2015 exceptions had a value greater than 
€5,000. The total amount involved in these two excep-
tions was €22,000. They related to deviation from the 
financial  rules.  In  particular,  the  first  is  an  ex-post 
exception that refers to an increase of commitment that 
was done ‘a posteriori’. The second is an ex-ante excep-
tion, which, due to the nature of the services requested, 
was duly justified. None of these exceptions involved 
financial loss.

Qualitative analysis of the results of the 
supervisory controls on the procurement 
procedures

All procurement procedures were subject to a supervi-
sory review before the launch of the call for tender. The 
minutes of these controls are recorded on paper and 
corrective actions are introduced where necessary.

FRA has set up measures to quantify the costs of the 
resources and inputs required to carry out significant 
controls, as described in Section B of Annex VI, and 
estimates, insofar as it is possible, their benefits in 
terms of the amount of errors and irregularities pre-
vented, detected and corrected by these controls.

Overall, in 2015 the controls carried out by the agency 
for the management of the budget appropriations were 
cost effective, as the estimated quantifiable benefits 
exceeded the cost.

In particular, for procurements, an estimated €4,964 
was invested in controlling 14 procurement procedures 
for tenders with a total value of €4,257,000. Thus, 
0.12 % of the total estimated contract value was dedi-
cated to control and each procurement procedure cost 
an estimated average of €355.

The corrective actions included modification of the 
tender specifications, mainly in terms of the selection 
and award criteria. This improved the quality of the 
tenders and, as a result, the efficiency of these procure-
ment procedures.

The  procurement  procedures  are  to  a  large  extent 
a regulatory requirement which cannot be curtailed. In 
addition, as the risks outlined in Annex VI.B show a sig-
nificant proportion of the appropriations would be at 
risk if these controls were not in place.

For financial circuits, no amount was invested in con-
trolling financial transactions. FRA has no additional 
financial verification function.

36

Qualitative analysis of the results of the ex 
post supervisory controls

In accordance with Article 46 of its Financial Rules, in 
2015 the agency performed an ex post control exercise 
to verify missions and duty travel expenditures.

A total of 21 missions, four under Title I and 17 under 
Title III, amounting to a total of €18.388 were subject 
to a supervisory desk review.

The overall conclusion of the ex-post controls was that 
the transactions were done respecting the existent 
regulatory system, the ex-ante controls in place assur-
ing their conformity.

Four errors were identified with a financial implication 
that represents 0.69 % of the total value of the sample, 
meaning without materiality.

In  conclusion,  the  analysis  of  the  available  control 
results has not shown any significant weakness which 
could have a material impact on the legality and regu-
larity of the financial operations. The control objective 
for legality and regularity has thus been achieved.

For supervisory measures an estimated amount of 
€2,495 was invested in controlling 38 financial transac-
tions worth €18,388. Thus, 3 % of the total value of 
transactions checked ex post was dedicated to control. 
Each transaction or procedure checked ex post cost an 
estimated €66.

In addition, there are a number of non-quantifiable 
benefits resulting from the controls aimed at ensuring 
that the financed projects contributed to the achieve-
ment of objectives, and from the deterrent effect of ex 
post controls. Furthermore, FRA considers that the 
necessity of these controls is undeniable, as the totality 
of the appropriations could be at risk if they were not 
in place.

2�5�3�  Fraud prevention and detection

FRA has developed an anti-fraud strategy, evaluating 
the introduction of new controls, if necessary, after 
a dedicated risk assessment. The Management Board 
adopted the strategy during its December 2014 meet-
ing, together with a related action plan, which has been 
implemented during 2015.

In  principle,  the  controls  aimed  at  preventing  and 
detecting fraud are not unlike those intended to ensure 
the legality and regularity of transactions (unintentional 
errors). Still, FRA screens the population of transactions, 
contracts, projects and beneficiaries to identify those 
at a higher risk of fraud and subjects the latter to more 
in-depth monitoring controls. During the reporting year, 

no cases were transmitted to the European Anti-Fraud 
Office (OLAF) and/or the Commission Investigating and 
Disciplinary Office (IDOC) for investigation. In 2015 the 
agency was informed that an OLAF investigation was 
opened.

2�6�  Budget implementation 
tasks entrusted to other 
services and entities

No budget implementation tasks were entrusted to 
other services or entities during the reporting year.

2�7�  Assessment of audit 
results during the 
reporting year

This section reports on and assesses the observations 
and conclusions reported by auditors which could have 
a material impact on the achievement of the internal 
control objectives, and therefore on assurance, together 
with any management measures taken in response to 
the audit recommendations.

FRA is audited by both internal and external independ-
ent auditors: (1) the IAS and (2) the ECA.

Internal Audit Service (IAS)

In February 2015 the Internal audit service performed 
a follow up audit on two engagements performed at 
the end of 2013 namely the audit on HR management 
and the limited review on contract management.

As  a  result  all  the  recommendations  were  closed 
except:

 n one  which  was  rated  as  “very  important”  on  HR 
management and related to the issuance of the im-
plementing rules on reclassification by the Commis-
sion, not yet available at the time, and

 n one which was downgraded from “very important” 
to “important” related to contract management.

By the end of 2015 the agency has continued to provide 
evidence of implementation achieving the successful 
closure of the last open recommendation on contract 
management.

The recommendation on HR management has been 
fulfilled in February 2016 at the first Executive Board 
meeting, formal confirmation of closure was received 
in May 2016.

Management

37

Annual activity report 2015

European Court of Auditors (ECA)

ECA

Finally, the ECA observations did not include previously 
undisclosed issues related to transactions, control systems 
or the management representations in the CAAR. The 
agency agreed to the observations and responded by 
stressing the low level of cancellations it has every year, 
which implies a final outturn higher than 99 % and can be 
considered a best indicator of proper budget implementa-
tion, as well as taking the necessary corrective measures 
and executing the supplementary salary payments.

For the implementation of recommendations issued in 
previous years, FRA has implemented the relevant action 
plans as planned. In 2014, the ECA issued two comments 
on FRA’s annual accounts report, concerning the high 
level of carry-overs. The ECA declared, however, that the 
budgetary commitments were completed in a timely 
manner and that, because of the multi-annual nature of 
the agency’s operational projects, payments were made 
according to the planned schedule.

As a result of the assessment of the risks underlying the 
auditors’ observations together with the management 
measures taken in response the agency believes that the 
recommendations issued do not raise any assurance 
implications and are being implemented as part of the 
continuous efforts in terms of further improvements.

2�8�  Follow up of audit plans, 

audits and 
recommendations

IAS

All the recommendations issued by the IAS have been 
addressed and closed.

The agency confirmed that not only are the carry-overs 
planned in advance but also the level of cancellations of 
carry-overs is very low (less than 2 %), resulting to an 
overall budget consumption of 99 % of the EU subsidy.

Consequently, the current state of play does not lead 
to assurance-related concerns.

2�9�  Follow up of observations 
from the Discharge 
Authority

This section presents a summary of the observations and 
comments by the Discharge Authority (DA) on the imple-
mentation of the 2013 budget, as per Article 110 (2) of the 
Financial Rules, and the measures taken by FRA.

Observations regarding FRA

Observation DA

FRA’s reply and measures

Use of the Commission’s guidelines on 
whistleblowing

High level of committed appropriations 
carried over

Harmonisation of the rules concerning its 
M B and need to adopt the rules regard-
ing its staff

Harmonisation of the presentation of its 
annual accounts with those of other 
Union Agencies

The agency will continue to apply the Commission’s 
guidelines on whistleblowing until the Commission will 
adopt a new policy.

The agency will continue with a tight planning and 
monitoring of its carry-overs in order to maintain the 
low level of cancellations.

The agency revised and adopted harmonised rules for 
prevention of conflict of interest concerning its MB and SC. 
In addition, the agency has developed and adopted 
guidelines for prevention of conflict of interest for the staff.

Implemented

Ongoing

Implemented

Implemented

In 2014, the agency harmonised the presentation of its 
annual accounts with other Union agencies.

Implemented

Main observations regarding all EU agencies

Observation DA

FRA’s reply and measures

Reporting systems have to be further 
strengthened in effectiveness and results 
achieved in order to enhance the demo-
cratic accountability of the agencies.

Lack of visibility and democratic  
accountability of the agencies.

38

The agency has introduced a Performance Measure-
ment Framework which includes key performance 
indicators to measure the agency‘s effectiveness.

Implemented

Implemented

One of the key priorities included in the adopted agency 
Strategic plan 2013–2017 is to help enhancing the 
agency’s contribution to processes at national level.

Implemented

3 

Assessment of the effectiveness 
of the internal control systems

3�1�  Risk Management

The general risk environment in which the agency oper-
ates and the inherent risks of the agency’s processes 
is annually assessed with an exercise involving all 
management.

Key risks are identified and assessed in a risk register 
on the basis of the effectiveness of existing controls; 
whenever a risk is not considered to be at an acceptable 
level, specific preventative actions are agreed on and 
implemented.

During the financial year, no risks materialised.

In the context of the antifraud strategy, a specific fraud 
risk  assessment  was  implemented,  resulting  in  an 
action plan that was fully implemented by the end of 
the reporting year and is continually monitored.

3�2�  Compliance and 

effectiveness of Internal 
Control Standards (ICS)

FRA adopted a set of internal control standards, based 
on international good practice, aimed at ensuring the 
achievement of policy and operational objectives.

As regards financial management, compliance with these 
standards is a requirement. The agency put in place an 
organisational structure and internal control systems 
suited to the achievement of the control objectives, in 
accordance with the ICS and having due regard to the risks 
associated with the environment in which it operates.

The measures in place to ensure the effective imple-
mentation of ICS are adequate. In accordance with 
ICS No 15, FRA conducts various activities that have as 
purpose the assessment of the level of implementation 
and effectiveness of the internal control systems. The 
assessment and the consequent exercise of prioritising 
are done on the basis of the following sources: internal 
gap analysis, register of exceptions, ex post control, risk 
assessment, and audit findings (IAS and ECA).

Corrective actions already implemented 
in 2015

The agency had foreseen a number of measures to 
improve  the  effective  implementation  of  ICS  No  5 
“Objectives, performance indicators”, ICS No 11 “Docu-
ment management”, and the ICS on “Business continu-
ity”. By the end of the reporting year, these measures 
were satisfactorily implemented.

Internal gap analysis

In December 2015, an internal gap analysis (based on 
desk analysis of existing documentation, interviews 
and auditing bodies’ recommendations) was performed, 
aiming to provide a detailed assessment of the compli-
ance level of the Internal Control Standards. The result-
ing report gives the overview of the percentage of 
implementation for each standard and summarises a set 
of recommendations classified per priority.

As a result, FRA identified a number of measures to 
improve the effective implementation of ICS. These are 
expected to be fully implemented by the end of 2016.

39

Annual activity report 2015

Exceptions

Ex post controls

In addition to the gap analysis and following the provisions 
of ICS No 8 “Processes and procedures”, FRA has in place 
a process for the registration and authorisation of excep-
tions, the register being centrally maintained and regularly 
provided to the external auditing bodies (i.e. IAS, ECA).

The period under evaluation reveals that the internal 
control system based on strong ex ante controls is able 
to detect the most significant deviations from the finan-
cial regulation leading to the registration of the excep-
tions and allowing appropriate decision-making.

It  has  to  be  noted  that  the  preventative  measures 
agreed on in the past together with improved com-
munication have contributed to an increased awareness 
of the staff on the specific topic of budgetary and legal 
commitments and to better clarity of the contents in 
the procedures.

An  ex  post  control  exercise  is  implemented  on  an 
annual basis; the risk-based identification of target 
areas allows for an efficient use of resources and the 
clear identification of areas with a need of control.

In 2015 an exercise on mission management was com-
pleted, without identification of criticalities.

Conclusion

The agency annually assesses the effectiveness of its 
key internal control systems, relying on a number of 
monitoring measures and sources of information. The 
assessment concludes that the internal control stand-
ards are effectively implemented.

40

4 

Management assurance

This  part  reviews  the  assessment  of  the  elements 
reported in Parts II and III, and draws conclusions sup-
porting the declaration of assurance and whether it 
should be qualified with reservations.

4�1�  Review of the elements 

supporting assurance and 
possible reservations

The information reported in Parts II and III stems from 
the results of management and auditor monitoring con-
tained in the reports listed. These reports result from 
a systematic analysis of the evidence available. This 
approach provides sufficient guarantees as to the com-
pleteness and reliability of the information reported 
and results in a complete coverage of the budget man-
aged by the agency.

In conclusion:

 n there  were  no  reservations  listed  on  the  previous 

years’ annual activity reports;

 n all  IAS  recommendations  were  considered  ade-

quately implemented and have been closed.

 n the ECA issued a positive declaration of assurance 
for the financial year 2014 on legality and regularity 
of the transactions;

 n there  is  one  ongoing  observation  from  the  Euro-
pean  Parliament,  which  is  expected  to  be  imple-
mented within 2016.

4�2�  Reservations

Taking into consideration the above, no weaknesses 
were identified related to the financial management of 
appropriations inside the agency, so no reservations 
are made in this context in the declaration.

4�3�  Overall conclusion on 
assurance and 
reservations (if applicable)

In view of the control results and all other relevant 
information available, the AO’s best estimation of the 
risks  relating  to  the  legality  and  regularity  for  the 
expenditure authorised during the reporting year is 
between 0 % and 2 %, which implies an amount at risk 
of below €0.43 million.

The internal control strategy foresees the implementa-
tion of further controls during subsequent years aimed 
to detect and correct these errors. It is not possible to 
identify the specific errors and amounts which will be 
effectively corrected in the coming years.

Taking into account the conclusions of the review of the 
elements supporting assurance and the expected cor-
rective capacity of the controls to be implemented in 
subsequent years, it is possible to conclude that the 
internal controls systems implemented by the agency 
provide sufficient assurance to adequately manage the 
risks relating to the legality and regularity of the under-
lying transactions. Furthermore, it is also possible to 
conclude that the internal control systems provide suf-
ficient assurance with regard to the achievement of the 
other internal control objectives.

41

5 

Declaration of assurance

I, the undersigned,

Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights

In my capacity as authorising officer

Declare that the information contained in this report gives a true and fair view.

State that I have reasonable assurance that the resources assigned to the activities described in this report have been 
used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principles of sound financial management, and that the 
control procedures put in place give the necessary guarantees concerning the legality and regularity of the underlying 
transactions.

This reasonable assurance is based on my own judgement and on the information at my disposal, such as the results 
of the self-assessment, ‘ex-post’ controls, the observations of the Internal Audit Service and the lessons learned from 
the reports of the Court of Auditors for years prior to the year of this declaration.

Confirm that I am not aware of anything not reported here which could harm the interests of the European Union 
Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Vienna, 31 May 2016

Michael O’Flaherty

43

Annex I: Core business statistics

The main activities of FRA can be clustered in the following four groups:

 n Providing assistance and expertise to EU institutions and Member States;

 n Collecting data and conducting research and analysis on fundamental rights trends and challenges;

 n Cooperating  and  networking  with  Member  States,  Union  institutions,  research  centres,  national  bodies,  non-

governmental organisations;

 n Raising public awareness of fundamental rights and actively disseminating information about its work.

To better monitor and evaluate the performance of the agency and the impact made, based on the activities under-
taken, FRA has established a Performance Management Framework (PMF). The PMF consists of an intervention logic 
model and indicator framework. Below are charts linked to some of the key performance indicators (KPIs) reflecting 
FRA’s performance in 2015.

Objective
Provide assistance and expertise to EU institutions and 
Member States

Indicator

Number of hearings or presentations to institutional 
stakeholders across levels of governance

4  7 

48 

25 

27 

14 

15 

17 

Immigration

Information society 

83 

Racism 

Roma integration  

Discrimination 

Rights of the child 

Access to justice 

Victims of crime 

Cross-cutting 

The chart represents the FRA presentations and hearings at MS- and EU-level events as well as at events organised 
by other international organisations per thematic area. The high figure for the Immigration area is due to the numer-
ous presentations of the findings from the Severe forms of labour exploitation (SELEX) project, as well as due to the 
great interest in the area of migration and the ongoing refugee and migrant situation.

45

Annual activity report 2015

Objective
Formulate Opinions and other advice to EU Institutions 
and Member States

Indicator

 • Number of responses to requests 
for opinions and other advice

3 

11 

Immigration

Information society  

38 

Racism 

36 

5 

3 

9 

17 

Roma integration 

Discrimination

Rights of the child 

Access to justice 

Victims of crime 

The chart represents the FRA advice provided to EU institutions and MS in various forms, formally and informally. 
With the year marked by the ongoing refugee and migration situation, FRA was most active in providing evidence-
based advice related to fundamental rights concerns in the area of migration. In addition, the Commission requested 
FRA to provide first weekly and then monthly updates on the situation on the ground in the MS concerned.

Publish thematic reports and handbooks

Objective

Indicator
Number of publications produced

2 

1 

6 

4 

Immigration

9 

Information society  

Racism

Discrimination

Rights of the child 

2 

Access to justice 

Victims of crime 

Cross-cutting 

4 

4 

In 2015, FRA published a total of 32 publications. The chart reflects the distribution of the 2015 publications per the-
matic areas.

For many of the publications, although they belong to one thematic area, they cover issues relevant to other areas, 
as well – such as the publications from the thematic areas of Immigration and Racism, which also cover issues relevant 
to the thematic area Rights of the Child.

Objective

Disseminate targeted information to the right 
stakeholders and at the right time

Indicators
 • Number of relevant stakeholders receiving FRA information
 • Number of stakeholders receiving a copy of the publications

46

Annex I: Core business statistics

80,396

Printed publications disseminated

19,516

Views of FRA videos

Facebook and Twitter fan base 2011 - 2015

45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0

Jul-11
May-11

Sep-11

Nov-11

Jan-12

Mar-12

Jul-12
May-12

Sep-12

Nov-12

Jan-13

Mar-13

Jul-13
May-13

Sep-13

Nov-13

Jan-14

Mar-14

Jul-14
May-14

Sep-14

Nov-14

Jan-15

Mar-15

Jul-15
May-15

Sep-15

Nov-15

Facebook fans

Twitter followers

FRA continuously uses different channels to disseminate FRA information to its stakeholders and the general public. 
In 2015, 11 videos were produced, of which four are animated videos aimed at children and their better understanding 
of the rights of the child.

In 2015, FRA continued to use social media to share FRA information and reach the general public. The social media 
fan base is constantly increasing, with 9,888 new Facebook fans and 9,627 new Twitter followers in 2015.

29,055

35,000

30,000

25,000

20,000

15,000

10,000

5,000

0

16,494

20,868

13,591

3,810

5,715

2,724

3,149

Immigration

Information society

Racism

Discrimination

Rights of the child

Access to justice

Victims of crime

Cross-cutting

Publications from FRA’s website were downloaded 95,406 times.

In addition, the FRA-CoE Handbook on European Data Protection Law had an impressive 64,597 additional downloads in 2015 
from the CoE web site, including non-EU language versions – and in addition to the 13,992 downloads from the FRA website.

The Handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration was the most downloaded publication 
from FRA’s website in 2015, with 16,973 downloads.

47

Annual activity report 2015

Objective

Indicator

Develop effective networks with key partners and 
agency networks

Number of networking events organised

28

10

Immigration

5

6

Information society  

Racism 

Roma integration 

Discrimination 

Rights of the child 

Access to justice 

Cross-cutting activities 

3

3

2

3

FRA was active in organising a total of 60 events. Most of them, as expected, fell into the cross-cutting thematic area 
and were an opportunity for FRA and its stakeholders to discuss fundamental rights issues in various thematic areas.

In addition, thematic area-based events and expert meetings were organised to discuss specific thematic issues. 

Objective

Indicator

FRA’s assistance and expertise provided to support 
legal and policy developments related to fundamental 
rights

Number of references to FRA’s conclusions 
or recommendations or FRA’s activities 
in policies and legislation

3 

15 

4 

2 

7 

13 

5 

Immigration and asylum 

Information society  

Racism 

Roma integration 

Discrimination 

Rights of the child 

Access to justice*

Cross-cutting

66 

Findings from FRA data collection and analysis, publications and opinions, were referenced by EU and MS bodies and 
institutions, as well as by other international organisations and civil society organisations. 

The high number of references in the area of Access to justice is due to the findings from the Violence Against Women 
survey, which remains very relevant. 

*The total number of references (115) is not exhaustive and mostly refers to the first half of 2015.

48

Annex I: Core business statistics

Objective

Produce and/or disseminate effective 
evidence-based recommendations and 
conclusions from research findings, 
opinions and other policy advice to 
decision-makers and key stakeholders

Indicators
 • Proportion of key stakeholders that consider evidence and opinions 
provided by FRA to be: relevant, reliable, of high quality and useful

 • Proportion of key stakeholders and experts who consider 

that reliable, relevant and high quality information 
resulting from FRA Data collection, research and analysis 
activities is delivered to intended target group

Number of stakeholders coming across FRA's Focus Papers

Embedding fundamental rights in
the security agenda

Legal entry channels to the
 EU for persons in need of
international protection: a toolbox

Equal protection for all victims
of hate crime - The case of people
with disabilities
Implementing the UN CRPD:
An overview of legal reforms
in EU Member States

The fundamental rights situation
of intersex people

80 

53 

28 

98 

108 

40 

23 

34 

19 

76 

51 

34 

94 

42 

25 

0

20

40

60

yes 

80

no 

100

120

140

160

180

no answer 

FRA conducted a survey among its stakeholders on FRA’s Focus Papers. The results showed that, depending on the 
topic and interests of the stakeholders, FRA’s Focus Papers managed to reach 47 % to 67 % of the surveyed 
stakeholders.

Stakeholders’ opinion on the usefulness of FRA's Focus Papers for their work

16

40

18

4
6

77

Very useful  

Rather useful  

Not very useful  

Not useful at all  

Don't know /
difﬁcult to assess

No answer 

73 % of stakeholders that come across FRA’s Focus Papers find them (very and rather) useful to their work – an 
excellent result.

Only 6 % of surveyed stakeholders found FRA’s Focus Papers not very useful or not useful at all.

49

Annual activity report 2015

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

Use of FRA’s Focus Reports by stakeholders in their work

30

30

26

11

10

6

0

As information,
participate in For policy
As input to a report,
As input to a meeting,
!In a speciﬁc project
shared with members of
development
policy paper
workshop or informal
you work on
the networks you
or article
discussion

In my

advocacy work

4

Other

Stakeholders who answered that they find FRA’s Focus Papers (very or rather) useful to their work, mostly use the 
Focus Reports for input to a report, policy paper or article; as information to share with members of networks they 
participate in; and for input to a meeting, workshop or informal discussion.

50

Annex II: Statistics on financial management

Please refer to the report on budgetary and financial management at:

http://fra.europa.eu/en/about-fra/finance-and-budget/financial-documents

51

Annex III: Organisational chart

FRA’s structure in 2015 comprised the Directorate and five departments as shown below.

Figure A3.1: Organisational chart

DIRECTORATE

Policy
Advisor

ADMINISTRATION

HUMAN
RESOURCES
AND PLANNING 

EQUALITY AND
CITIZENS’S RIGHTS

FREEDOMS
AND
JUSTICE

COMMUNICATION
AND
OUTREACH

Quality
Management

Human
Resources

Roma and Migrant
Integration

Access to Justice

Finance and
Procurement 

ICT and Facility
Services 

Planning

Equality

Rights of the Child

FRANET and
Annual Report

Editing and
Production

Asylum,
Migration
and Borders  

Information
Society Privacy
and Data
Protection

Statistics and
Surveys

Cooperation with
EU Institutions
and EU MS

Cooperation with
Civil Society
and Awareness
Raising

Communication

53

Annex IV: Establishment plan

Table A4.1: Establishment plan

Permanent posts

Temporary posts

Category  
and grade

2015
(authorised posts)

2015
(actually filled as 
of 31/12/2015)

2015
(authorised posts)

2015
(actually filled as 
of 31/12/2015)

AD 16

AD 15

AD 14

AD 13

AD 12

AD 11

AD 10

AD 9

AD 8

AD 7

AD 6

AD 5

Total AD

AST 11

AST 10

AST 9

AST 8

AST 7

AST 6

AST 5

AST 4

AST 3

AST 2

AST 1

Total AST

AST/SC 6

AST/SC 5

AST/SC 4

AST/SC 3

AST/SC 2

AST/SC 1

Total AST/SC

Total

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

-

1

1

2

10

-

14

11

1

4

2

-

46

-

1

3

3

7

12

-

1

-

-

-

27

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

73

-

-

1

1

-

5

2

5

9

14

7

-

44

-

-

-

3

4

3

8

7

2

-

-

27

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

71

55

Annual activity report 2015

Table A4.2: Benchmarking against previous year results

Job Type (sub) category

Year N-1 (%)

Year N (%)

Administrative support and coordination 

Administrative Support 

Coordination 

Operational 

General operational activities 

Programme management and implementation 

Top operational coordination 

Evaluation & Impact assessment 

Neutral 

Accounting, finance, non-operational procurement, contract 
management and quality management, internal audit and control 

Linguistic activities 

17

15

2

70

9

58

3

-

13

10

3 

17

16

1

70

11

55

4

-

15

11

4

56

Annex V: Human and financial resources by 
activity

Table A5.1: Human resources by ABB activity

ABB Activity 

Human Resources by ABB activity 

Total person days 

Percentage 

Access to Justice 

Victims of crime 

Information society 

Roma integration 

The rights of the child 

Discrimination 

Immigration and integration of migrants, visa and 
border control and asylum 

Racism, xenophobia and related intolerance 

Communication and awareness-raising 

Cross-cutting activities 

Consultation and cooperation mechanism 

Research and stakeholder cooperation 

Total operational 

Support activities 

Total support activities 

Total agency days

             1,099 

                94 

              570 

              985 

              786 

             1,399 

             1,674 

              546 

             3,772 

              909 

              352 

              799 

           12,985 

             6,586 

             6,586 

19,571

5.6%

0.5%

2.9%

5.0%

4.0%

7.1%

8.6%

2.8%

19.3%

4.6%

1.8%

4.1%

66.3%

33.7%

33.7%

Note: 

 The above data rely on FRA’s time recording system, which is a component of the wider implementation of the activity-based management 
(ABM) in the agency. They represent the actual working time during the reporting year. Therefore, part time and absences (unpaid and 
leave other than the regular annual entitlement) are not reported.

Source:  FRA, 2015

Table A5.2: Financial resources by ABB activity

ABB Activity 

Access to Justice 

Victims of crime 

Information society 

Roma integration 

The rights of the child 

Discrimination 

Immigration and integration of migrants, visa and 
border control and asylum 

Racism, xenophobia and related intolerance 

Communication and awareness-raising 

Cross-cutting activities 

Consultation and cooperation mechanism 

Research and stakeholder cooperation 

Total operational 

Support activities 

Total support activities 

Total 

Direct 
expenditure 

Indirect expendi-
ture (overheads) 

           897,320 

              9,909

            287,591 

            734,290 

            900,005 

          1,865,687 

742,068 

63,471 

384,876 

665,093 

530,724 

944,635 

Total 

1,639,388 

73,380 

672,467 

1,399,383 

1,430,729 

2,810,322 

         1,514,821 

1,130,320

2,645,141 

            172,727 

            915,047 

            297,743 

            162,726 

            256,379 

          8,014,245 

                  -  

                  -  

          8,014,245 

368,671 

2,546,935 

613,776 

237,678 

539,502 

8,767,748 

4,447,007 

4,447,007 

13,214,755 

541,397 

3,461,981 

911,519 

400,404 

795,880 

16,781,993 

4,447,007 

4,447,007 

21,229,000 

57

Annex VI: Specific annexes related to Part II

A� Materiality criteria
Materiality is the basis for defining significant weaknesses in both qualitative and quantitative terms. The materiality 
criteria used by FRA and the method used to assess their significance are presented below.

Qualitative criteria are linked to failure in achieving FRA’s short-term objectives, reputational risks to FRA, significant 
weaknesses in the FRA control systems and repetitive errors. These involve use of resources, sound financial man-
agement, and legality and regularity of the transactions. Their significance is judged on the basis of:

 n the nature and scope of the weakness;

 n the duration of the weakness;

 n the existence of compensatory measures (mitigating controls which reduce the impact of the weakness);

 n the existence of effective corrective actions to correct the weaknesses (action plans and financial corrections) 

which have had a measurable impact.

In quantitative terms, a weakness is considered material in cases where the financial impact or risk of loss is greater 
than 2 % of FRA’s authorised commitments.

B� Internal control template(s) for budget implementation

Stage 1 – Procurement

A – Planning

Main control objectives: Effectiveness, efficiency and economy. Compliance (legality and regularity).

Main risks
It may happen (again) that…

Mitigating 
controls

How to determine 
coverage,  
frequency and depth

How to estimate the costs 
and benefits of controls

Control  
indicators

Non-applicable, as no medium or high 
risks were identified under this phase.

–

–

–

–

B – Needs assessment & definition of needs

Main control objectives: Effectiveness, efficiency and economy. Compliance (legality and regularity).

Main risks
It may happen (again) that…

Mitigating 
controls

How to determine 
coverage,  
frequency and depth

How to estimate the costs 
and benefits of controls

Control  
indicators

Non-applicable, as no medium or high 
risks were identified under this phase. 

–

–

–

–

59

Annual activity report 2015

C – Selection of the offer & evaluation

Main control objectives: Effectiveness, efficiency and economy. Compliance (legality and regularity). Fraud preven-
tion and detection

Main risks
It may happen 
(again) that…

Conflict of 
interest/unequal 
treatment of 
tenderers; for 
example, via 
biased selection 
criteria or partial 
evaluations 
(relating also to 
MB and SC).

Mitigating controls

Formal evaluation process, 
governed by dedicated internal 
procedures: Opening committee 
and Evaluation committee

Including a minimum number of 
five members in the selection 
panel for tenders above €60,000, 
and three in case of those below 
€60,000, reducing the risk of 
unequal treatment

Providing clear rules for the 
purchases up to €15,000

Declarations of conflict of interest 
are signed by the members of 
both the opening and evaluation 
panels 

Declarations of conflict of interest 
are signed by the members of MB 
and SC

How to determine 
coverage, fre-
quency and depth
100 % – all calls for 
tenders
Depth: all docu-
ments transmitted

100 % of the 
members of the 
opening committee 
and the evaluation 
committee

100 % of declara-
tions of conflict of 
interest are signed 
by the members of 
MB and SC 

Dedicated pages on the FRA 
website that assure the 
transparency of the information

100 % information 
available on the 
website 
Depth: compulsory 
for calls for tenders 
above €15,000

Exclusion and selection criteria 
documented and transparent, by 
including them in technical 
specifications

Existence of the Steering 
Committee

Admin supervision and AO 
approval of tender specifications

100 % of the tender 
specifications are 
scrutinised 

Depth: determined 
by the amount of 
the awarded 
contract

How to estimate the costs 
and benefits of controls

Control 
indicators

Effectiveness: 
numbers of 
complaints or 
litigation cases 
filed 

Number of 
requests for 
clarification 
regarding the 
tender

Efficiency: 
average cost of 
a tendering 
procedure 

Costs for closing 
a complaint / 
litigation

Costs: estimation of cost of 
staff involved

Benefits: compliance with 
FR 

Difference between the 
most onerous offer and the 
selected one 

Preventing the unequal 
treatment of tenderers, and 
therefore the potential 
complaints or litigation that 
may occur 
Costs: estimation of cost of 
staff involved

Benefits: amounts of 
contracts for which the 
control prevented the risk 
of litigation or fraud
Costs: estimation of cost of 
staff involved in the 
preparation, 
publication,screening and 
archiving of declarations 
signed

Benefits: potential 
irregularities prevented, by 
avoiding interference in the 
procurement procedure/
contracting 
Costs: estimation of costs 
for running the website 
(updating, maintenance, 
etc.).

Benefits: potential 
complaints that may be 
received from bidders 
concerning the access to 
information

Participation in competition 
of a sufficient amount of 
bidders 
Costs: estimation of cost of 
staff involved

Benefits: limiting the risk of 
litigation 

Limiting the risk of 
cancellation of a tender 

Amount of proposed 
contracts for which the 
supervisory and approval 
detected material error 

60

Annex VI: Specific annexes related to Part II

Stage 2 – Financial transactions

Main control objectives:  Ensuring  that  the  implementation  of  the  contract  is  in  compliance  with  the  signed 
contract.

Main risks
It may happen 
(again) that…
All pre-financ-
ing, accrual 
adjustments 
and guarantees 
not identified. 
Mistakes in 
transactions

Commitments, 
payments and 
recovery orders 
recorded with 
delay

Incomplete 
accounting 
systems

Mitigating controls

How to determine cover-
age, frequency and depth

How to estimate 
the costs and 
benefits of controls

Control  
indicators

Use of ABAC system for all 
the accounting records (all 
pre-financing payments are 
controlled via ABAC)
Guarantees controlled via 
ABAC
Training on ABAC compul-
sory for all nominated users 
Financial workflow based on 
‘four eyes’ principles 
(operational and financial 
checks in accordance with 
the financial workflow)

Centralised financial 
initiation
Each transaction is checked 
by AOD in its capacity as 
financial verifying agent

Each transaction checked by 
the accounting officer (i.e. 
accrual adjustments) 
Registration and authorisa-
tion of exceptions

100 % of the contracts are 
included in ABAC

Costs: costs for 
licencing of ABAC users 

Estimation of costs of 
staff involved 

Costs of training 
activities

Benefits: centralised 
control of the 
payments 

Access to information 
for all the actors 
involved 

Amount of irregulari-
ties, errors, and 
overpayments 
prevented by the 
controls 

Systematic weakness-
es detected and 
corrected

100 % of the guarantees are 
included in ABAC
100 % of ABAC users

100 % of the transactions 
are controlled 

Depth: all the transactions 
checked

100 % of transactions are 
verified 

Depth: riskier operations 
subject to in-depth controls
100 % of the transactions 
are checked 

Reported exceptions in line 
with the internal procedure

Effectiveness: 
% error rate 
prevented

Number of control 
failures

Number / amount 
of liquidated 
damages, if any 

Number of actions 
for improvement 
implemented 

Efficiency: late 
interest payment

Amount of 
damages paid 

Costs of the ex post 
controls with 
respect to the 
benefits

Average cost of an 
ex-post control

Review of exceptions 
reported

Depth: depending on the 
reporting of exception.

Ex-post controls

100 % once a year

Depth: look for the weakness 
in the procedures related to 
the reported exceptions 
Selected transactions 

Depth: the control sampling 
is risk based 

Note: 

ABAC: Financial Information Systems; AOD: Authorising Officer by Delegation

Stage 3 – Supervisory measures

Main control objectives: Ensuring that any weakness in the procedures (tender and financial transactions) is detected 
and corrected.

Main risks
It may happen 
(again) that…

Mitigating controls

Incomplete or 
inaccurate data in the 
information system 
related to contracts

Use of the ‘four eyes’ 
principle, including 
a check of the inputted 
information

Ex post controls

How to determine 
coverage, fre-
quency and depth
100 % verification of 
the information 
uploaded in the Tender 
Contract Maker (TCM) 
application 
Selected transactions
Depth: the control 
sampling is risk based 

How to estimate the 
costs and ben-
efits of controls
Costs: estimation of 
cost of staff involved 

Costs for the running of 
TCM (maintenance, 
updates, etc.)

Benefits: Preventing 
mistakes in drafting 
and implementing the 
contracts 

Control indicators

Effectiveness: number 
of errors undetected 
(related to irregulari-
ties and error)

Efficiency: cost of the 
errors undetected

Costs of the ex post 
controls with respect 
to the benefits

61

Annex VII: Specific annexes related to Part III

There are no specific annexes related to Part III.

63

Annex VIII: Draft annual accounts

Table A8.1: Outturn on C1 commitment appropriations in 2015 (in Mio €)

Chapter

Commitment appro-
priations authorised *

Commitments 
made

%

Title A-1 STAFF EXPENDITURE

A01100

Basic salaries

A01101

Family allowances

A01102

Expatriation and foreign-residence allowances

A01103

Secretarial allowances

A01113

Trainees

A01115

Contract Agents

A01130

Insurance against sickness

A01131

Insurance against accidents & occupational 
disease

A01132

Insurance against unemployment

A01140

Childbirth and death grants

A01141

Travel expenses for annual leave

A01150

Overtime

A01175

Interim services

A01178

External services

A01190

Salary weightings

A01200

Recruitment expenses

A01201

Travel expenses

A01202

Installation resettlement and transfer allowances

A01203

Removal expenses

A01204

Temporary daily subsistence allowances

A01300 Mission expenses and duty travel expenses and 

other ancillary expenditure

A01410 Medical service

A01420

Professional training of staff

A01430

Legal services

A01520

Staff exchanges

A01610

Social contacts between staff

A01620 Other welfare expenditure

A01630

Early childhood centres and creches

A01700

Entertainment and representation expenses

Total Title A-1

1

5.21

0.68

0.79

0.01

0.39

1.44

0.18

0.03

0.07

0.00

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.06

0.39

0.03

0.00

0.05

0.02

0.00

0.16

0.05

0.22

0.03

0.44

0.01

0.80

0.03

0.00

11.18

2

3=2/1

5.21

0.68

0.79

0.01

0.39

1.44

0.18

0.03

0.07

0.00

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.06

0.39

0.03

0.00

0.05

0.02

0.00

0.16

0.05

0.22

0.03

0.44

0.01

0.80

0.03

0.00

11.18

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

0.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

0.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00%

65

Annual activity report 2015

Title A-2 BUILDINGS EQUIP. & MISC OPERATING EXPENDITURE

A02000 Rent

A02010

Insurance

A02020 Water, gas, electricity and heating

A02030

Cleaning and maintenance

A02040

Fitting-out of premises

A02050

Security and surveillance of buildings

A02100

Hardware/Software

A02101

Software Development

A02102

Other external services for data processing

A02200 New purchases of equipment and installations

A02203 Maintenance use and repair of technical equip-

ment and installations

A02210

Furniture

A02230

Hire of vehicles

A02250

Library stocks purchase of books

A02252

Subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals

A02300

Stationery and office supplies

A02320

Bank charges

A02353

Departmental removals and associated handling

A02355

Publications and reproduction of documents

A02400 Postage and delivery charges

A02410

Telecommunications charges

A02411

Telecommunications equipment

A02550 Miscellaneous expenditure for meetings

A02601

Studies surveys consultations

Total Title A-2

Title B0-3 OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURE

B03211

Information society and, in particular, respect for 
private life and protection of personal data

B03230

Immigration and integration of migrants

B03311

Racism xenophobia and related intolerance

B03321

Discrimination

B03340

Roma integration

B03350

Rights of the child

B03620 Access to justice

B03630

Victims of crime & comp.

B03701

Research and data collection

B03711

Communication and awareness-raising

B03801

Bodies of the agency

B03802

Consultation mechanisms

B03900 Reserve for Title 3

Total Title B0-3

TOTAL FRA

0.57

0.01

0.10

0.31

0.00

0.12

0.41

0.23

0.05

0.07

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.02

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.12

0.00

0.01

0.01

2.04

0.29

1.51

0.17

1.87

0.73

0.90

1.03

0.01

0.26

0.92

0.30

0.16

0.00

8.15

21.36

0.57

0.01

0.10

0.31

0.00

0.12

0.41

0.23

0.05

0.07

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.02

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.12

0.00

0.01

0.01

2.04

0.29

1.51

0.17

1.87

0.73

0.90

1.03

0.01

0.26

0.92

0.30

0.16

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

0.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00%

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

8.15

21.36

100.00%

100.00 %

Note: 

 * Commitment appropriations authorised include, in addition to the budget voted by the legislative authority, appropriations carried over 
from the previous exercise, budget amendments and miscellaneous commitment appropriations for the period (e.g. internal and external 
assigned revenue). 

Source:  FRA, 2015

66

Figure A8.1: Outturn on C1 commitment appropriations in 2015 (% by chapter)

Annex VIII: Draft annual accounts

100 %

90 %

80 %

70 %

60 %

50 %

40 %

30 %

20 %

10 %

0 %

A-11 A-12 A-13 A-14 A-15 A-16 A-17 A-20 A-21 A-22 A-23 A-24 A-25 A-26 B-32 B-33 B-36 B-37 B-38 B-39

Table A8.2: Outturn on payment appropriations in 2015 (in Mio €)

Chapter

Payment appropria-
tions authorised *

Payments 
made

%

Title A-1 STAFF EXPENDITURE

A01100

Basic salaries

A01101

A01102

A01103

A01113

A01115

A01130

A01131

A01132

Family allowances

Expatriation and foreign-residence allowances

Secretarial allowances

Trainees

Contract Agents

Insurance against sickness

Insurance against accidents & occupational disease

Insurance against unemployment

A01140

Childbirth and death grants

A01141

A01150

A01175

A01178

A01190

Travel expenses for annual leave

Overtime

Interim services

External services

Salary weightings

A01200

Recruitment expenses

A01201

A01202

A01203

Travel expenses

Installation resettlement and transfer allowances

Removal expenses

A01204

Temporary daily subsistence allowances

A01300 Mission expenses and duty travel expenses and 

other ancillary expenditure

A01410

Medical service

A01420

Professional training of staff

A01430

Legal services

A01520

Staff exchanges

1

5.21

0.68

0.79

0.01

0.39

1.44

0.18

0.03

0.07

0.00

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.06

0.39

0.03

0.00

0.05

0.02

0.00

0.19

0.06

0.22

0.04

0.44

2

3=2/1

5.21

0.68

0.79

0.01

0.39

1.44

0.18

0.03

0.07

0.00

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.06

0.39

0.02

0.00

0.05

0.01

0.00

0.17

0.04

0.17

0.03

0.44

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

99.04 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

0.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

88.57 %

17.48 %

100.00 %

53.05 %

0.00 %

88.62 %

66.29 %

77.27 %

68.63 %

100.00 %

67

Annual activity report 2015

Chapter

Payment appropria-
tions authorised *

Payments 
made

%

A01610

Social contacts between staff

A01620

Other welfare expenditure

A01630

Early childhood centres and creches

A01700

Entertainment and representation expenses

Total A-1

Title A-2 BUILDINGS EQUIP. & MISC OPERATING EXPENDITURE

0.02

0.80

0.03

0.00

11.26

1

2

0.02

0.80

0.03

0.00

11.14

A02000

Rent

A02010

Insurance

A02020 Water Gas Electricity and Heating

A02030

Cleaning and maintenance

A02040

Fitting-out of premises

A02050

Security and surveillance of buildings

A02100

Hardware/Software

A02101

A02102

Software Development

Other external services for data processing

A02200

New purchases of equipment and installations

A02203

Maintenance use and repair of technical equipment 
and installations

A02210

Furniture

A02230

Hire of vehicles

A02250

Library stocks purchase of books

A02252

Subscriptions to newspapers and periodicals

A02300

Stationery and office supplies

A02320

Bank charges

A02353

A02355

Departmental removals and associated handling

Publications and reproduction of documents

A02400

Postage and delivery charges

A02410

Telecommunications charges

A02411

Telecommunications equipment

A02550

Miscellaneous expenditure for meetings

A02601

Studies surveys consultations

Total A-2

Title B0-3 OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURE

B03211

Information society and, in particular, respect for 
private life and protection of personal data

B03230

Immigration and integration of migrants

B03311

B03321

Racism xenophobia and related intolerance

Discrimination

B03340

Roma integration

B03350

Rights of the child

B03620

Access to justice

B03630

Victims of crime & comp.

B03701

B03711

Research and data collection

Communication and awareness-raising

B03801

Bodies of the agency

0.57

0.01

0.10

0.32

0.00

0.13

0.56

0.39

0.05

0.22

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.02

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.16

0.00

0.01

0.02

2.59

0.34

2.75

0.19

4.59

1.29

1.07

1.25

0.10

0.47

1.40

0.37

0.57

0.01

0.10

0.31

0.00

0.12

0.37

0.36

0.05

0.18

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.02

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.12

0.00

0.01

0.01

2.25

0.13

1.76

0.14

2.95

0.76

0.33

0.53

0.09

0.22

0.95

0.26

3=2/1

94.02 %

99.74 %

98.51 %

98.32 %

98.89%

100.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

97.36 %

100.00 %

90.49 %

65.16 %

92.08 %

100.00 %

85.41 %

0.00 %

100.00 %

100.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

90.02 %

52.63 %

70.15 %

95.13 %

91.83 %

74.86 %

0.00 %

97.95 %

50.00 %

86.86%

38.87 %

63.98 %

74.04 %

64.35 %

59.14 %

30.74 %

42.73 %

95.13 %

47.03 %

67.75 %

69.01 %

68

Annex VIII: Draft annual accounts

Chapter

Payment appropria-
tions authorised *

Payments 
made

%

B03802

Consultation mechanisms

B03900

Reserve for Title 3

Total B0-3

TOTAL FRA

1

0.17

0.00

14.00

27.85

2

0.06

0.00

8.20

21.59

3=2/1

38.59 %

0.00 %

58.59%

77.51 %

Note: 

  * Payment appropriations authorised include, in addition to the budget voted by the legislative authority, appropriations carried over 
from the previous exercise, budget amendments and miscellaneous commitment appropriations for the period (e.g. internal and external 
assigned revenue).

Source:  FRA, 2015

Figure A8.2: Outturn on payment appropriations in 2015 (% by chapter)

100 %

90 %

80 %

70 %

60 %

50 %

40 %

30 %

20 %

10 %

0 %

A-11 A-12 A-13 A-14 A-15 A-16 A-17 A-20 A-21 A-22 A-23 A-24 A-25 A-26 B-32 B-33 B-36 B-37 B-38 B-39

Table A8.3: Breakdown of commitments to be settled at 31 December 2015

Chapter

2015 Commitments to be settled

Commit-
ments 2015

Payments 
2015

RAL 2015

1

2

3=1-2

% to be 
settled

4=1-2//1

Title A-1 STAFF EXPENDITURE

A01100

Basic salaries

A01101

Family allowances

A01102

Expatriation and foreign-residence allowances

A01103

Secretarial allowances

A01113

A01115

Trainees

Contract Agents

A01130

Insurance against sickness

A01131

Insurance against accidents & occupational 
disease

A01132

Insurance against unemployment

A01140

Childbirth and death grants

A01141

Travel expenses for annual leave

A01150

Overtime

A01175

Interim services

A01178

External services

5.21

0.68

0.79

0.01

0.39

1.44

0.18

0.03

0.07

0.00

0.10

0.00

0.00

0.06

-5.21

-0.68

-0.79

-0.01

-0.38

-1.44

-0.18

-0.03

-0.07

0.00

-0.10

0.00

0.00

-0.06

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.39 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

69

Annual activity report 2015

Chapter

2015 Commitments to be settled

Commit-
ments 2015

Payments 
2015

RAL 2015

A01190

Salary weightings

A01200

Recruitment expenses

A01201

Travel expenses

A01202

Installation resettlement and transfer 
allowances

A01203

Removal expenses

A01204

Temporary daily subsistence allowances

A01300 Mission expenses and duty travel expenses 

and other ancillary expenditure

A01410 Medical service

A01420

Professional training of staff

A01430

Legal services

A01520

Staff exchanges

A01610

Social contacts between staff

A01620 Other welfare expenditure

A01630

Early childhood centres and creches

A01700

Entertainment and representation expenses

Total A-1

Title A-2 BUILDINGS EQUIP. & MISC OPERATING EXPENDITURE

A02000 Rent

A02010

Insurance

A02020 Water, gas, electricity and heating

A02030

Cleaning and maintenance

A02040

Fitting-out of premises

A02050

Security and surveillance of buildings

A02100

Hardware/Software

A02101

Software Development

A02102

Other external services for data processing

A02200 New purchases of equipment and installations

A02210

Furniture

A02230

Hire of vehicles

A02300

Stationery and office supplies

A02320

Bank charges

A02353

Departmental removals and associated 
handling

A02355

Publications and reproduction of documents

A02400 Postage and delivery charges

A02410

Telecommunications charges

A02411

Telecommunications equipment

A02550 Miscellaneous expenditure for meetings

A02601

Studies surveys consultations

Total A-2

1

0.39

0.03

0.00

0.05

0.02

0.00

0.16

0.05

0.22

0.03

0.44

0.01

0.80

0.03

0.00

11.18

0.82

0.01

0.10

0.31

0.00

0.12

0.41

0.23

0.05

0.07

0.00

0.00

0.02

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.12

0.00

0.01

0.01

2.28

2

-0.39

-0.02

0.00

-0.05

-0.01

0.00

-0.14

-0.04

-0.17

-0.02

-0.44

-0.01

-0.80

-0.03

0.00

-11.07

-0.82

-0.01

-0.10

-0.30

0.00

-0.11

-0.21

-0.20

-0.05

-0.04

0.00

0.00

-0.02

0.00

-0.01

0.00

-0.01

-0.08

0.00

-0.01

0.00

-1.95

3=1-2

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.02

0.01

0.05

0.01

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.11

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.00

0.01

0.19

0.03

0.00

0.03

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.04

0.00

0.00

0.01

0.33

% to be 
settled

4=1-2//1

0.00 %

11.43 %

82.52 %

0.00 %

46.95 %

0.00 %

11.35 %

25.32 %

22.50 %

41.25 %

0.00 %

7.57 %

0.25 %

1.52 %

1.68 %

0.94 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

2.63 %

0.00 %

9.90 %

47.24 %

12.29 %

0.00 %

46.32 %

0.00 %

0.00 %

10.71 %

90.02 %

35.56 %

0.00 %

9.26 %

32.66 %

100.00 %

2.05 %

100.00 %

14.41%

70

Annex VIII: Draft annual accounts

Chapter

2015 Commitments to be settled

Title B0-3 OPERATIONAL EXPENDITURE

B03211

Information society and, in particular, respect 
for private life and protection of personal data

B03230

Immigration and integration of migrants

B03311

Racism xenophobia and related intolerance

B03321

Discrimination

B03340

Roma integration

B03350

Rights of the child

B03620 Access to justice

B03630

Victims of crime & comp.

B03701

Research and data collection

B03711

Communication and awareness-raising

B03801

Bodies of the agency

B03802

Consultation mechanisms

Total B0-3

TOTAL FRA

Source:  FRA, 2015

Commit-
ments 2015

Payments 
2015

RAL 2015

1

2

3=1-2

% to be 
settled

4=1-2//1

0.29

1.51

0.17

1.87

0.73

0.90

1.03

0.01

0.26

0.95

0.30

0.16

8.18

-0.08

-0.53

-0.13

-0.24

-0.23

-0.16

-0.32

-0.01

0.00

-0.52

-0.18

-0.06

-2.46

21.64

-15.48

0.21

0.98

0.05

1.63

0.50

0.74

0.71

0.00

0.25

0.43

0.11

0.10

5.72

6.16

72.97 %

64.92 %

26.89 %

87.12 %

68.60 %

82.37 %

68.67 %

46.52 %

98.10 %

45.63 %

38.49 %

62.26 %

69.95 %

28.45 %

Figure A8.3: Breakdown of commitments remaining to be settled at 31 December 2015 (in Mio EUR)
3.00

2.50

2.00

1.50

1.00

0.50

0.00

A011  A012  A013  A014  A015  A016  A017  A020  A021  A022  A023  A024  A025  A026  B032  B033  B036  B037  B038 

71

Annual activity report 2015

Table A8.4: Draft Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2015

BALANCE SHEET*
Note

31.12.2015
€

31.12.2014
€

A. NON CURRENT ASSETS
Intangible assets
Property, plant and equipment
Financial assets
Long-term pre-financing
Long-term receivables and recoverables
B. CURRENT ASSETS
Inventories
Pre-financing
Receivables and recoverables
Financial assets
Cash and cash equivalents
TOTAL ASSETS
C. NON CURRENT LIABILITIES
Pension and other employee benefits
Provisions for risks and liabilities
Financial liabilities
Long-term liabilities to consolidated entities
TOTAL NON CURRENT LIABILITIES
D. CURRENT LIABILITIES
Employee benefits
Provisions for risks and liabilities
Financial liabilities
Payables
TOTAL LIABILITIES
E. NET ASSETS / LIABILITIES
Reserves
Accumulated result
B. Minority interest
TOTAL NET ASSETS / LIABILITIES

1,270,179
93,299
1,176,880
-
-
-
7,142,494
-
310,675
208,767
-
6,623,052
8,412,673
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,607,987
-
-
-
1,607,987
1,607,987
6,804,686
-
6,804,686
-
6,804,686

1,352,528
149,002
1,203,526
-
-
-

7,263,343
-
-
230,524
-
7,032,819
8,615,871
-
-
-
-
-

-
1,178,623
-
-
-
1,178,623

1,178,623
7,437,248

-

7,437,248

-
7,437,248

Note: 

 * The figures included in Table A8.4 are provisional, since they are, at this date, still subject to audit by the Court of Auditors. It is thus 
possible that amounts included in these tables may have to be adjusted following this audit.

Source:  FRA, 2015

72

Table A8.5: Draft 2015 Statement of Financial Performance

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE*

Annex VIII: Draft annual accounts

GNI based resources
VAT resources
Traditional Own Resources
Funds transferred from the Commission to other Institutions
Contributions of EFTA countries belonging to the EEA
Fines
Recovery of expenses
European Union contribution
Other operating revenue
TOTAL OPERATING REVENUE
Administrative expenses
Staff expenses
Fixed asset related expenses
Pensions
Other administrative expenses
Operating expenses
Centralized Direct Management
Centralized Indirect Management
Decentralized Management
Shared Management
Joint Management
Other operating expenses
TOTAL ADMINISTRATIVE AND OPERATING EXPENSES
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Financial revenues
Financial expenses
Share of net surpluses or deficits of associates and joint ventures 
accounted for using the equity method
SURPLUS/ (DEFICIT) FROM NON OPERATING ACTIVITIES
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FROM ORDINARY ACTIVITIES
Minority interest
Extraordinary gains (+)
Extraordinary losses (-)
SURPLUS/(DEFICIT) FROM EXTRAORDINARY ITEMS

ECONOMIC RESULT OF THE YEAR

2015
€

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
21,257,526
247,568
21,505,094
-13,993,477
-10,814,808
-479,074
-
-2,699,595
-8,144,179
-
-
-
-
-
-8,144,179
-22,137,656
-632,562
-
-
-

2014
€

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
21,072,054
254,148
21,326,202
-13,576,480
-10,472,284
-488,444
-
-2,615,752
-6,833,573
-
-
-
-
-
-6,833,573
-20,410,053
916,149
-
-
-

-632,562

916,149

-
-
-
-
-632,562

-
-
-
-

916,149

Note * The figures included in Table A8.5 are provisional, since they are, at this date, still subject to audit by the Court of Auditors. It is thus possible 
that amounts included in these tables may have to be adjusted following this audit.

Source:  FRA, 2015

73

Annual activity report 2015

Table A8.6: Average payment times for 2015

Maximum 
payment 
time (days)

Total 
number of 
payments

30

60

Total number 
of payments

Average 
payment time

2,410

234

2,644

17.71

Number of 
payments 
within 
time limit
2,031

228

2,259

Average Report 
approval 
suspension days

Average 
payment 
suspension 
days

Number of 
suspended 
payments

Legal times

Percentage

Percentage

Average 
payment 
times 
(days)

Number 
of late 
payments

379

6

385

15.73 %

2.56 %

14.56 %

84.27 %

97.44 %

85.44 %

10.56

21.72

11.68

Suspensions

% of total 
number

Total number 
of payments

Average 
payment 
times 
(days)

52.79

71

53.07

Amount of 
suspended 
payments

% of 
total 
amount

Total paid 
amount

0

45

47

1.78 %

2,644

642,900.61

4.30 % 14,959,242.62

Agency

GL Account

Description

Late interest paid in 2015

Amount (€)

0

Note: 

GL: General Ledger.

Source:  FRA, 2015

Table A8.7: Situation on revenue and income in 2015

Title

Description

Year of 
origin

Revenue and 
income recognised

Revenue and 
income cashed

Outstanding 
balance

2000

9000

European Union subsidy

Miscellaneous revenue

2015

2015

TOTAL FRA

Source: FRA, 2015

21,229,000.00

21,229,000.00

376,772.00

376,772.00

21,605,772.00

21,605,772.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

74

Table A8.8: recovery of undue payments

Income budget recovery 
orders issued in 2015

Total undue payments 
recovered

Total transactions in recovery 
context (incl. non-qualified)

% qualified/ 
total RC

Annex VIII: Draft annual accounts

Year of origin (commitment)

Nbr

0

RO amount

0.00

Nbr

0

RO amount

0.00

Nbr

0

RO amount

0.00

Sub-total 

Expenses 
budget

Income lines in 
invoices

Non-eligible in 
cost claims

Credit notes

Sub-total

GRAND TOTAL

Error

Irregularity

OLAF notified

TOTAL 
qualified

TOTAL RC (incl. 
non-qualified)

% qualified/
total RC

Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr Amount Nbr

Amount

Nbr Amount

18

18

83,185.15

83,185.15

18

83,185.15

Note: 

RC: Recovery Context; RO: Recovery Order.

Source:  FRA, 2015

Table A8.9: Ageing balance of recovery orders at 31/12/2015

Year of 
origin

Number at 
01/01/2015

Number at 
31/12/2015

Evolution

Open amount (€) 
at 01/01/2015

Open amount (€) 
at 31/12/2015

Evolution

2015

Totals

Source:  FRA, 2015

0

0

0

0

0.00 %

0.00 %

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00

0.00 %

0.00 %

Table A8.10: Recovery order waivers in 2015 > €100,000

Waiver  
central key

Linked RO 
central key

RO accepted 
amount (€)

LE account  
group

Commission 
decision

Comments

Total FRA

Number of RO waivers

0.00

0

Justifications: N/A

Note: 

RO: Recovery Order; LE: Legal Entity.

Source:  FRA, 2015

75

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Annual activity report 2015

Table A8.11: Census of negotiated procedures

Negotiated procedures – Contracts > €60.000

Count:

Total amount:

1

1

Type of contract Description

Amount (€)

Legal base

Direct service 
contract

Biometric data in 
large EU IT-
systems in the 
areas of borders, 
visa and asylum – 
fundamental 
rights 
implications

589,983.70

Art. 135 1.a) 
and Art 2. 
of the RAP

Contractor(s)

Number

Name

1

Eticas Research 
& Consulting

Address

Ferlandina  
49 08001 
Barcelona
Spain

Source:  FRA, 2015

Table A8.12: Building contracts

Building contracts

Count:

Total amount:

0

0

Contractor(s)

Number

Name

Address

Type of contract

Description

Amount (€)

Legal base

N/A

Source: FRA, 2015

Table A8.13: Contracts declared secret

The agency did not declare any contracts secret.

Source: FRA, 2015

76

Annex IX: Performance information included 
in evaluations

FRA as a public sector organisation must demonstrate its performance, achievements and impact. In the context of 
financial and budgetary constraints, there is an increased demand from internal and external stakeholders for good 
governance, accountability and transparency, greater effectiveness and delivery of tangible results. In order to 
effectively respond to these requests and following the requirements from the FRA’s Founding Regulation 168/2007 
and the Implementing Rules to the Financial Rules of the Agency, four projects were selected in 2015 to be ex-ante 
and ex-post evaluated. The evaluation activities for the following projects are on-going and the reports will be final-
ised in 2016.

EX-ANTE EVALUATIONS

Project title

Social inclusion and migrant participation in society

Thematic area

Immigration and integration of migrants, visa and border control and asylum

Project description

Total estimated 
budget

Budget per year

Project title

Thematic area

Project description

Desk research in the area of social inclusion and migrant participation in the EU societies, 
focussing on the development of fundamental rights indicators for EU as inclusive 
society. In order to assess the protection, respect, promotion and fulfilment of the 
fundamental rights of migrants, the agency will develop relevant indicators which will be 
gradually populated.

€545,213
(total budget)

€465,213 (2014)

€30,000 (2015)

€50,000 (2016)

Rights of crime victims to have access to justice – a comparative analysis

Victims of crime, including compensation to victims

An in-depth comparison of the situation of victims in a selected number of EU Member 
States, which represent different legal systems and traditions, will be undertaken. The 
research will be done at three levels: legal, institutional and practical. The project will 
draw on the agency’s previous research on victims of crime, and the results of its 
large-scale survey research that shows under-reporting of crime to the authorities

Total estimated 
budget

Budget per year

€558,000
(total 1st priority budget)
€550,000 (as 3rd priority)
(2014)

€8,000 (1st priority) 
(2015)

€550,000 (1st priority)  
(2016)

EX-POST EVALUATIONS

Project title

Thematic area

Project description

Data protection: redress mechanisms and their use

Information society, private life and personal data

The objectives of the project are (1) to map the existing judicial redress mechanisms in 
the EU Member States in relation to data protection rights, and (2) to assess the use and 
level of protection provided by redress mechanisms.

Total budget

€849,877.50

(budget per year)

€699,877.50 (2011)

€40,000.00 (2012)

€110,000 (2013)

Project title

Thematic area

Project description

Victim support services in the EU: An overview and assessment of victims’ rights in practice

Justice, victims of crime and judicial cooperation

A core component in meeting the rights, and needs, of victims is the provision of adequate victim 
support services in the EU; services that can provide victims with information and support at 
different stages, which can range from practical advice about how to claim compensation through 
to support when going to court. Through a combination of primary research and secondary data 
analysis, this project looks at victim support services across the EU.

End year

Total budget

2014

€1,291,053

(budget per year)

€358,864.50 (2011)

€400,000 (2012)

€472,189 (2013)

€60,000 (2014)

77

A great deal of information on the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights is available on the Internet.  
It can be accessed through the FRA website at fra.europa.eu.

HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS

Free publications:
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from the delegations in non-EU countries (http://eeas.europa.eu/delegations/index_en.htm);   
by contacting the Europe Direct service (http://europa.eu/europedirect/index_en.htm) or 
calling 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 (freephone number from anywhere in the EU) (*).

(*) The information given is free, as are most calls (though some operators, phone boxes or hotels may charge you).

Priced publications:
•  via EU Bookshop (http://bookshop.europa.eu).

HELPING TO MAKE FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS A REALITY FOR EVERYONE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

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FRA - EUROPEAN UNION AGENCY FOR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
Schwarzenbergplatz 11 – 1040 Vienna – Austria
Tel. +43 158030-0 – Fax +43 158030-699
fra.europa.eu – info@fra.europa.eu
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twitter.com/EURightsAgency

doi:10.2811/045913
ISBN 978-92-9491-264-0