European Banking Authority (EBA): location of the seat
The Commission presented a report on the European Banking Authority's (EBA) compliance with the requirements regarding the establishment of its seat.
In the context of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union, the EBA Regulation had to be amended to move the headquarters from London to Paris. In addition to the change of seat, the amendment to the EBA regulation also introduced new requirements for EBA in relation to its seat and 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.
The EBA provided the necessary input to fulfill these reporting requirements. This first report under the new reporting obligation is published after 30 March 2019 since full operations in Paris did not start until 3 June 2019.
According to the information available, the report concludes that the performance of the EBA's tasks and competences, its governance structure, its main organisation and the financing of its activities have not been affected by the transfer of the EBA headquarters to Paris, nor by the administrative arrangements for cooperation with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), which are not linked to the core activities of the EBA.
The report notes in particular the following points:
Headquarters agreement
The agreement was signed at a ceremony in Paris on 6 March 2019 and has not affected the EBA’s operations and governance. The agreement: (i) establishes the privilege for staff relocating from London to Paris of purchasing a car tax–free within twelve months of relocation, a privilege that has been extended to staff with French nationality; (ii) commits the French government to engage in a process to establish a European School in the Paris Region.
The EBA has also engaged with the Protocol office of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs and with the French customs authorities 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 the EBA.
Governance
The EBA received special funding from the French government to assist with the relocation costs:
- EUR 1.5 million to be used as a contribution to the costs of fitting out the Paris offices. This has been received and paid;
- EUR 7 million to be used as a contribution to the rent and building charges of the Paris offices. To date the EBA has received EUR 2.5 million of this amount. The balance will be received over the duration of the lease on the offices in Paris.
Until the arrival of the EBA’s new Chairperson on 1 May 2019, the EBA’s alternate chairperson acted as the EBA’s Interim Chairperson.
Senior management has been operative from Paris as of 30 March 2019 where EBA secured limited temporary offices in the Europlaza building (the building of the new premises of the EBA). Full operations in Paris started on 3 June 2019 when all staff took up their duties in the EBA’s new headquarters in the Europlaza building.
EBA data centre relocation
With its data centre hosting contracts expiring in 2019, EBA decided to migrate its data centre to an Interagency Community Cloud environment, in line with its hosting strategy and ahead of the expected March 2019 Brexit date.
EBA, in close collaboration with the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), designed, planned, contracted and fully implemented the transfer of its hosted data and infrastructure services. This ensured no disruption to the Agency’s activities.
The EBA has joined two inter-institutional procurement procedures led by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA): for information and communications technology (ICT) consultancy services, and for facility management consultancy services.