REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the compliance of the European Banking Authority with the requirements regarding the location of its seat
Date: 2021-12-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Subjects: European Banking Authority, France, Ile-de-France, United Kingdom, operation of the Institutions, seat of institution, withdrawal from the EU

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 7.12.2021  COM(2021) 771 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the compliance of the European Banking Authority with the requirements regarding the location of its seat  
 
 
1 

INTRODUCTION 

In  the  context  of  the  United  Kingdom’s  withdrawal  from  the  Union,  the  other  27 
Member States, at the margins of the General Affairs Council on 20 November 2017, 
selected Paris, France, as the new seat of the European Banking Authority (EBA)1.  

The  location  of  the  EBA’s  seat  is  laid  down  in  Article  7  of  the  EBA  founding 
Regulation2 (“the EBA regulation”), which therefore had to be amended3 to move the 
seat  from  London  to  Paris.  In  addition  to  changing  the  location  of  the  seat,  the 
amendment to the EBA regulation also introduced certain new requirements regarding 
the location of the seat as well as an obligation for the Commission to publish a report 
by 30 March 2019 and every 12 months thereafter on EBA’s compliance with these 
requirements. 

According to Art. 7 of the EBA Regulation: “The location of the seat of the Authority 
shall not affect the Authority’s execution of its tasks and powers, the organisation of 
its governance structure, the operation of its main organisation, or the main financing 
of its activities, while allowing, where applicable, for the sharing with Union agencies 
of  administrative  support  services  and  facility  management  services  which  are  not 
related to the core activities of the Authority”.  

EBA has provided the necessary input to fulfill these reporting requirements. The first 
two reports were published in 20194 and 20205. This is the third report under the new 
reporting obligation.  

2 

EBA  HEADQUARTERS AGREEMENT 

A  Headquarters  Agreement  (hereinafter  “HQA”)  with  the  French  Government  was 
signed  in  Paris  on  6  March  2019.  In  accordance  with  Article  25  of  the  HQA,  EBA 
completed  the  internal  procedures  for  its  entry  into  force  on  4  March  2019,  and  it 
confirmed  their  completion  to  the  French  Ministry  of  Foreign  Affairs  in  June  2021. 
EBA is awaiting confirmation of completion of the procedures required by French law 
for the HQA to enter into effect – this includes ratification by the French Parliament. 
The signature of the HQA has not affected EBA’s operations and governance.    

In  addition  to  reflecting  the  requirements  of  Protocol  No  7  on  the  privileges  and 
immunities of the European Union6, the HQA entitles EBA staff members to a special 
residence permit FI (Fonctionnaire International), attesting their status as international 
civil servants in France (applicable also to family members). EBA has been engaging 
with the Protocol Office of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and Customs 

1 General Affairs Council (Art. 50), 20 November 2017:  
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2017/11/20/european-banking-authority-to-
be-relocated-to-city-country/  
2 Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 
establishing a European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority) (OJ L 331, 15.12.2010, 
p. 12). 
3  Regulation  (EU)  2018/1717 of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  14  November  2018, 
amending Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 as regards the location of the seat of the European Banking 
Authority (OJ L291, 16.11.2018, p. 1). 
4 COM(2019) 451 final. 
5 COM(2020) 317 final. 
6 OJ C202, 7.6.2016, p. 266-272 

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to  ensure  a  smooth  process  in  relation  to  the  arrival  of  staff  and  their  families  in 
France,  the  provision  of  special  residence  permits,  and  the  application  of  tax 
privileges  to  EBA.  As  of  July  2021,  231  staff  and  family  members  have  received 
special residence permits and two additional applications are being processed. 

Furthermore, pursuant to the HQA, EBA staff relocating from London to Paris could 
purchase or import a vehicle tax-free within twelve months of the date of their arrival 
in France. To date, 38 staff members have benefitted from the possibility of VAT-free 
purchase  and/or  importation  of  a  vehicle  and  its  registration  under  diplomatic 
privilege. 

Article 9 of the HQA exempts EBA from  VAT incurred on official expenses where 
the invoice amount net of VAT is greater than EUR 150. In practice, EBA is paying 
the VAT on French purchases, and on purchases where the MOSS7 scheme applies, 
and is reclaiming this VAT from the French government. As of July 2021, EBA has 
claimed reimbursement of EUR 1,938,479.84, all of which has been received. 

In  accordance  with  Article  19  of  the  HQA,  the  French  Government  opened  the 
European School of Paris-La Défense) in Courbevoie in September 2019. The school 
offers a comprehensive curriculum from kindergarten to the European Baccalaureate 
to the children of the staff of EU bodies established in the Paris Region, as well as for 
pupils  with  an  international  background.  In  addition  to  the  accreditation  for  the 
nursery,  primary  and  the  secondary  cycle  up  to  year  5,  this  year  the  Board  of 
Governors  of  the  European  Schools  have  unanimously  granted  accreditation  for  the 
secondary  school  years  (years  6  and  7).  This  provides  access  to  the  European 
Baccalaureate. As from September 2021, the English-language section comprises the 
entire  cycle  from  nursery  to  the  last  year  of  secondary  education.  The  French 
language section provides a complete nursery and primary cycle. For the 2020-2021 
school  year,  20  children  of  EBA  staff  members  were  enrolled  at  the  school,  all  of 
them in the English-language section. 

3 

EBA GOVERNANCE, OPERATIONS AND EXECUTION OF TASKS 

EBA’s tasks and powers, the organisation of its governance structure, the operation of 
its main organisation, and its main financing were not affected by the relocation of the 
EBA’s  seat.  EBA  has  been  fully  operational  in  its  new  offices  in  Paris  from  the 
beginning of June 2019. 

The relocation of the EBA’s seat to Paris has had no impact on the main financing of 
EBA  activities  by  the  EU  and  the  national  competent  authorities.  Separate  to  this 
financing, the French government is providing 8.5 million euros to cover costs of the 
Paris  offices.  This  funding  is  divided  between  1.5  million  euros  for  set-up  costs, 
which  has  already  been  received  and  spent,  and  7.0  million  euros  for  ongoing  lease 
costs, which is to be received over the course of the nine years of the lease so as to 
smoothen  out  the  budgetary  impact.  To  date,  EBA  has  invoiced  and  received  EUR 
5,075,000 under this agreement. 

The UK authorities are still liable for unsettled VAT claims valued at EUR 581,000 in 
EBA’s accounts. 

7 https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/taxation/vat/vat-digital-services-moss-scheme/index_en.htm 

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Sharing of administrative support services with other Union agencies 

EBA  has  signed  a  Service  Level  Agreement  with  ESMA  for  the  provision  of 
accounting services and since April 2021, EBA is providing these services to ESMA. 
EBA’s  Accounting  Officer  and  Accounting  Assistant  are  shared  between  two 
agencies  which  allows  for  more  efficient  use  of  resources.  ESMA’s  Management 
Board  appointed  EBA’s  Accounting  Officer  as  ESMA’s  Accounting  Officer  with 
effect from 1 July 2021. 

EBA and EIOPA are jointly implementing a project for developing tools to support a 
supervisory  reporting  framework  development  process,  which  includes  data  point 
model  releases,  full  validation  rules  lifecycle  and  the  XBRL  taxonomy  packages.  A 
project manager from EIOPA is seconded to EBA for the duration of the project. 

EBA and EIOPA share a Private Cloud and associated infrastructure services, offered 
by  a  third  party  provider,  that  they  jointly  designed  and  continuously  monitor  and 
enhance. The most recent such enhancement being a Security Operations Centre  that 
the  agencies  designed  together  and  started  using  recently.  EBA  and  EIOPA  also 
already work together in defining their future Cloud services and the migration path 
towards them, starting in 2022. 

EBA and ESMA also coordinate closely with regard to their procurement procedures. 
The table below summarises activity in this area. 

Lead agency  

EBA  

EBA  
EBA  

EBA  

ESMA  

ESMA  

Participating 
agencies  
ESMA  

ESMA  
ESMA + 9 other 
agencies  
ESMA, EUISS9 
EUSPA10  
EBA  

EBA  

Procedure  

Status  

FWC8signed 2021  

Waste management 
services  
Office plant service   FWC signed 2021  
Data protection 
consultancy  
Medical services  

Ongoing  

Ongoing  

Interim staff 
services  
Courier services  

FWC signed 2021  

Ongoing  

EBA  is  acting  as  the  liaison  between  the  Euro  system  Procurement  Coordination 
Office (EPCO) and the three ESAs, coordinating the discussions to identify and join 
procurement  procedures  run  by  EPCO.  Lately,  the  ESAs  were  able  to  join  two 
framework contracts under the umbrella of EPCO: Language eLearning services; and 
IT, banking and finance advisory services. 

EBA and ESMA also participate in a network of procurement officers of international 
organisations based in Paris. 

8 Framework contract 
9 European Union Institute for Securities Studies 
10 The European Union Agency for the Space Programme. 

3 

 
 
                                                           
Coordination on COVID-19 

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, EBA has maintained its operations, carrying out 
its  full  range  of  tasks.  EBA  has  been  in  regular  and  close  contact  with  ESMA  and 
international  organisations  based  in  France  (OECD  and  Interpol)  to  share  good 
practices  regarding  measures  during  the  lockdown  as  well  as  plans  related  to  the 
return to office. 

EBA has lead the initiative of the home office contribution to its staff and coordinated 
the development of guidelines with EIOPA and ESMA to ensure as much alignment 
as possible across the ESAs. 

EBA also  initiated and coordinated a joint  letter to  the French authorities to  include 
EU  Agencies’  staff  and  their  families  based  in  France  in  the  national  vaccination 
programme. In total, the executive directors of seven agencies signed a letter sent in 
January  2021.  EBA  staff  and  their  eligible  family  members  have  subsequently 
successfully received vaccinations as part of that programme. This has also supported 
EBA’s planned move from a virtual to a hybrid working environment. 

EBA  and  ESMA  have  also  closely  coordinated  their  gradual  return  to  office 
approaches with a view to ensure as much alignment as possible.  

4 

CONCLUSIONS 

Based on the available information, the EBA’s execution of its tasks and powers, its 
governance structure, its main organisation, and the financing of its activities have not 
been  affected  by  the  relocation  of  its  seat  to  Paris,  nor  by  the  administrative 
cooperation  arrangements  with  ESMA  and  EIOPA  described  above,  which  are  not 
related to the core activities of EBA. 

4