Activites

• 2017/04/27 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T8-0165/2017 summary

    The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in respect of the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2015. The vote on the decision on discharge covers the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex IV, Article 5 (1) (a) to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure). Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the Agency’s annual accounts for the financial year 2015 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 512 votes to 106 with 2 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies. These recommendations may be summarised as follows: Agency’s financial statements: Parliament noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 114 412 841 representing an increase of 0.26 % compared to 2014. Legality and regularity of transactions: It stated that the Agency paid 50 % of the cost for after-school care of staff children in the European School in Helsinki. This contribution is limited to EUR 1 000 per child per year, amounting to approximately EUR 95 000 in 2015. Parliament took note that this measure was not communicated to the budgetary authority in the framework of the budget procedure. The Agency will communicate this measure to the budgetary authority in its 2018-2020 programming document. The Agency already updated the remarks on the relevant budget line by including the information about this measure in the first amendment to the Agency’s 2016 budget. Parliament also made a series of observations regarding budgetary and financial management, commitments and carry-overs, transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and internal audits and controls. On the prevention and conflicts of interests, it stated that the Agency has implemented a robust conflict of interest policy and a detailed anti-fraud strategy in order to contribute to a culture of high ethical behaviour among the staff and experts working for the Agency. Parliament took note that the Agency developed a new integrated regulatory strategy which brings all REACH and CLP processes together to reach the aims of relevant regulations, as well as the 2020 goals of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. Communication: Parliament welcomed the improvement of the way in which information on chemicals is presented on the Agency’s website, which helps companies and consumers to make more use of it. It noted that the discussion platform between the Agency and non-governmental organisations is a useful forum for discussing the main issues of interest to civil society.

• 2017/04/26 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2017/03/28 Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading
  • A8-0086/2017 summary

    The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Inés AYALA SENDER (S&D, ES) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) for the financial year 2015. The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the agency’s budget for the financial year 2015. Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2015 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on 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: Agency’s financial statements: Members noted that the final budget of the Agency for the financial year 2015 was EUR 114 412 841 representing an increase of 0.26 % compared to 2014. Legality and regularity of transactions: Members stated that the Agency paid 50 % of the cost for after-school care of staff children in the European School in Helsinki. This contribution is limited to EUR 1 000 per child per year, amounting to approximately EUR 95 000 in 2015. Members took note that this measure was not communicated to the budgetary authority in the framework of the budget procedure. The Agency will communicate this measure to the budgetary authority in its 2018-2020 programming document. The Agency already updated the remarks on the relevant budget line by including the information about this measure in the first amendment to the Agency’s 2016 budget. Members also made a series of observations regarding budgetary and financial management, commitments and carry-overs, transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures, the prevention and management of conflicts of interests and internal audits and controls. On the prevention and conflicts of interests, Members stated that the Agency has implemented a robust conflict of interest policy and a detailed anti-fraud strategy in order to contribute to a culture of high ethical behaviour among the staff and experts working for the Agency. Lastly, Members took note that the Agency developed a new integrated regulatory strategy which brings all REACH and CLP processes together to reach the aims of relevant regulations, as well as the 2020 goals of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development.

• 2017/03/22 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • CONT CONT/8/07494 AYALA SENDER Inés S&D
  • ENVI LA VIA Giovanni EPP
• 2016/10/04 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • CONT CONT/8/07494 AYALA SENDER Inés S&D
  • ENVI LA VIA Giovanni EPP
• 2016/07/11 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2016)0475 summary

    PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2015, as part of the 2015 discharge procedure. Analysis of the accounts of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union. The EU's operational expenditure of these institutions takes different forms, depending on how the money is paid out and managed. From 2014 onwards, the Commission classifies its expenditure as follows: Direct management: the budget is implemented directly by the Commission services. Indirect management: the Commission confers tasks of implementation of the budget to bodies of EU law or national law, such as the EU agencies. Shared management: under this method of budget implementation tasks are delegated to Member States. About 80 % of the expenditure falls under this management mode covering such areas as agricultural spending and structural actions. This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2015 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective. It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), with a view to granting discharge. Discharge procedure: the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, "releases" the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU. The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge. The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made. Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including the ECHA. The European Chemicals Agency: the Agency, which is located in Helsinki (FI), was created by Council Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 of the European Parliament and the Council to help businesses comply with the legislation in force, promote the safe use of chemicals, provide information on chemicals and assess hazardous substances. As regards the Agency’s accounts, these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2015: Commitment appropriations: -          committed: EUR 115 million; -          paid: EUR 113 million; -          carried-over: 0. Payment appropriations: -          committed: EUR 126 million; -          paid: EUR 111 million; -          carried-over: EUR 13 million. For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the ECHA.

  • DG {u'url': u'http://ec.europa.eu/info/departments/budget_en', u'title': u'Budget'}, GEORGIEVA Kristalina

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2016)0475
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A8-0086/2017
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T8-0165/2017

Votes

A8-0086/2017 - Inés Ayala Sender - Décision

A8-0086/2017 - Inés Ayala Sender - Am 1

A8-0086/2017 - Inés Ayala Sender - Résolution

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)