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2013 discharge: European Medicines Agency (EMA)

2014/2102(DEC)

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Ryszard CZARNECKI (ECR, PL) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the financial year 2013.

The committee recommended that the European Parliament grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2013.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2013 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members called on the Parliament to approve the closure of the Agency’s accounts. They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

  • Centre’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Centre for the financial year 2013 was EUR 251.56, representing an increase of 13.07 % compared to 2012. The overall contribution of the Union to the Centre's budget for 2013 amounted to EUR 40 937 951.
  • Commitments and carry-overs: Members noted that budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2013 resulted in a relatively low budget implementation rate of 96.76 % and that the payment appropriations execution rate was 83.49%. They noted the Agency's compliance with the principle of annuality and the timely execution of its budget.

Members also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures, internal controls and internal audits and the prevention and management of conflicts of interest.

They acknowledged from the Agency that the transparency criteria for partner, patient, healthcare and consumer organisations had been revised during 2014 in order to increase the transparency of funding. They noted the adoption of the document with detailed criteria regarding the evaluation of financial information from patients, consumers and healthcare professionals organisations. This document was used to assess the organization’s eligibility to participate in the dialogue with the Agency.

The committee regretted that the policies on proactive publication of clinical trial data recently adopted by the Agency went against the transparency provisions of Regulation (EU) No 536/2014 by allowing companies to redact data based on potential jeopardy of commercial interests. It called on the Agency to report to the discharge Authority on this issue.