2010 discharge: European GNSS Agency (GSA)

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010, as part of the 2010 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the European Global Navigation Satellite System Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the European Supervisory Authority (GNSS).

In 2010, the tasks and budget of this Authority were as follows:

• description of the Authority's tasks: the GNSS Supervisory Authority, located in Brussels, was set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1321/2004. Its main task is to manage the public interests relating to the European GNSS programmes and to act as the regulatory authority for the programme during the deployment and operational phases of the Galileo Programme. Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and the Council reduced the responsibilities of the Authority to the control of the security of Galileo systems and to the preparation of their commercialisation.
• GNSS' budget for the 2010 financial year: the Authority's budget for 2010 amounted to EUR 15.9 million (compared to EUR 44.4 million the previous year). The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 42 as compared with 35 the previous year.

The complete version of the Agency's final accounts may be found at the following address: www.gsa.europa.eu