2009 discharge: European Agency for Safety and Health at Work EU-OSHA

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Georgios STAVRAKAKIS (S&D, EL) on discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, MEPs approve the closure of the Agency’s accounts. However, they make a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies (see DEC/2010/2271):

• performance: once again, Members call on the Agency to set out a comparison of operations carried out during the year for which discharge is to be granted and in the previous financial year so as to enable the discharge authority to assess more effectively the Agency's performance from one year to the next. They welcomes the Agency's initiative of launching "foresight" on the safety and health impact of technological innovations in "green jobs" by 2020;
• governance of the Agency: Members find the Agency's governance costs to be 1.35 % of the budget, as it has an 84-member Governing Board and employs 64 staff (figures for the 2008 financial year). They stress that practical, everyday business of the Agency is run by the 11 Member State Bureau, appointed by the Governing Board;
• carryover appropriations: Members are concerned that the Court of Auditors reported once again in 2009 carry forwards of EUR 3.5 million of the operational activities. They stress that this situation indicates delays in the implementation of the Agency's activities and is at odds with the budgetary principle of annuality. They call on the Agency to reduce the increased cancellation rate and inform the discharge authority of the actions taken;
• internal audit: Members acknowledge that all "very important" recommendations issued by the Internal Audit Service (IAS) to the Agency were adequately implemented and closed except the recommendation on validation of accounting systems. They support the idea of developing cooperation within the existing Inter-Agency Accountants Network to come up with common requirements and develop a common methodology for validation of the accounting systems in agencies.