2003 discharge: European Maritime Safety Agency

Having examined the revenue and expenditure account for the financial year 2003 and the balance sheet of revenue and expenditure at 31 December 2003 of the European Maritime Safety Agency and the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency, the Council recommends that the European Parliament give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2003.

To recall, EUR 0.5 million in appropriations have been carried forward from the financial year 2003 to the financial year 2004 and EUR 1.2 million have been cancelled.

Observations in the Court of Auditors' report in relation to the financial year 2003 call for certain comments by the Council, which are annexed to this Recommendation.

The Council welcomes the fact that the Court of Auditors has been able to obtain reasonable assurance that the Agency's annual accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2003 are reliable and that the underlying transactions, taken as a whole, are legal and regular. However, some observations need to be made.

The Council invites the Agency to follow the Court's remarks regarding the duties of the authorizing officer and the accounting officer, in order to ensure that the Agency's financial regulation is respected. The Agency should also improve the checks on salary payments made to its employees and strengthen its computer system to deal with the increase of the Agency's activities.