PURPOSE: presentation by the Court of Auditors of its report on the annual accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) for the financial year 2009, together with the Agency's replies.

CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks and objectives conferred on it by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court of Auditors, in the context of the discharge procedure, addresses to the European Parliament and the Council a Statement of Assurance on the reliability of the annual accounts, as well as of the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them of each EU institution, body or agency, on the basis of an external, independent audit.

This audit also covered the annual accounts of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

In the Court's opinion, the Agency's annual accounts presented "fairly, in all material respects", its financial position as of 31 December 2009 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation.

The Court also stated that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year ended 31 December 2009 were, "in all material respects, legal and regular".

The report again confirmed that the Agency's 2009 final budget amounted to EUR 53.3 million and that it employed 212 agents during the financial year.

The report also included comments on the Agency's budgetary and financial management, together with the Agency's replies. The main comments are as follows:

The Court's comments:

• the procedures for drawing up the budget were not sufficiently rigorous and led to a significant number of budgetary transfers. This situation shows that the linkages between the budget and the work programme need to be improved;
• more than 75% of the procurement procedures launched in 2009 were negotiated procedures, which is not in compliance with the Agency's Financial Regulation;
• weaknesses and lack of transparency in certain recruitment procedures.

The Agency's replies:

• continuation of efforts to improve planning and monitoring and, consequently, the number of budget transfers;
• measures to better inform the budgetary authority of procurement procedures  in order to comply with the provisions of the financial regulation;
• updating of recruitment procedures to ensure an even more transparent and non-discriminatory recruitment procedure.

Lastly, the Court of Auditor's report contained a summary of the Agency's activities in 2009 in the following areas:

• organisation of workshops and other events;
• training for inspectors in charge of Port State Control;
• inspections and visits;
• setting in place of technological tools such as SafeSeaNet and CleanSeaNet (satellite monitoring);
• signature of contracts for anti-pollution vessels;
• drills and exercises with the anti-pollution vessels
• EMSA Maritime Support Services operating on a 24/7 basis.

The European Parliament adopted by 529 votes to 75, with 31 abstentions a decision to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Maritime Safety Agency for implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2009.

Noting that the Agency's annual accounts for the financial year 2009 are reliable, and the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament approves the closure of the Agency's accounts. However, it makes a number of recommendations that need to be taken into account when the discharge is granted (in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the resolution on financial management and control of EU agencies - see DEC/2010/2271):

• budget transfers: Parliament considers it a matter of concern that the Court of Auditors has again noted a high number of budget transfers in 2009 and urges the Agency to improve its planning and monitoring in order to reduce the number of budget transfers;
• a posteriori commitments: Parliament calls on the Agency to further reduce the number of a posteriori commitments (i.e. legal commitments that were entered into before the corresponding budgetary commitments were made);
• procurement procedure: Parliament urges the Agency to correctly apply procurement procedures and notes with satisfaction that in the Annual Report of 2009 the Agency has included a specific Annex on negotiated procedures, in order to inform the budgetary authority;
• human resources: Parliament urges the Agency to redress the present weaknesses, namely : the lack of respect for the anonymity of candidates completing written tests, the lack of compliance with the predefined criteria, and the inconsistency of criteria for short-listing candidates;
• internal audit: Parliament notes that the Agency does not employ a full time Internal Audit Capability (IAC) but shares the IAC with the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA). It considers this shared service to be a best practice that should be promoted among other Agencies.