10.12.2014 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 442/267 |
REPORT
on the annual accounts of the Euratom Supply Agency for the financial year 2013, together with the Agency’s replies
(2014/C 442/31)
INTRODUCTION
1. |
The Euratom Supply Agency (hereinafter ‘the Agency’), located in Luxembourg, was created in 1958 (1). Council Decision 2008/114/EC, Euratom (2) replaced the preceding Statutes of the Agency. The Agency’s main task is to ensure a regular supply of nuclear materials, in particular nuclear fuels, to EU users, by means of a common supply policy based on the principle of equal access to sources of supply. |
2. |
From 2008 up to and including 2011, the Agency did not receive a budget of its own to cover its operations. The Commission bore all costs incurred by the Agency when implementing its activities. For 2012 and 2013, the Agency was granted its own budget by the Commission, which however only covers a minor part of its expenditure. |
STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE
The management’s responsibility
The auditor’s responsibility
Opinion on the reliability of the accounts
Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts
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10. |
The comments which follow do not call the Court’s opinions into question. |
COMMENTS ON THE RELIABILITY OF ACCOUNTS
11. |
The notes to the Agency’s 2013 annual accounts explain that all salaries and some additional costs for administrative services were paid directly from the Commission’s budget. The salary costs are disclosed, but no details are provided on the costs for the administrative services. Therefore the extent to which the Agency is dependent upon the Commission is not fully visible. |
COMMENTS ON INTERNAL CONTROLS
12. |
There is insufficient documentation of the main elements of the Agency’s internal controls, such as a risk management and control strategy, procedures to monitor performance, an assessment of the functioning of the internal control system and a code of professional standards. |
FOLLOW-UP OF PREVIOUS YEARS’ COMMENTS
13. |
An overview of the corrective actions taken in response to the Court's comments from previous years is provided in Annex I. |
This Report was adopted by Chamber IV, headed by Mr Milan Martin CVIKL, Member of the Court of Auditors, in Luxembourg at its meeting of 1 July 2014.
For the Court of Auditors
Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA
President
(1) OJ 27, 6.12.1958, p. 534/58.
(2) OJ L 41, 15.2.2008, p. 15.
(3) These include the balance sheet and the economic outturn account, the cash flow table, the statement of changes in net assets and a summary of the significant accounting policies and other explanatory notes.
(4) These comprise the budgetary outturn account and the annex to the budgetary outturn account.
(5) Articles 39 and 50 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013 (OJ L 328, 7.12.2013, p. 42).
(6) The accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer are derived from the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) issued by the International Federation of Accountants or, where relevant, the International Accounting Standards (IAS)/International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.
(7) Article 107 of Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013.
ANNEX I
Follow-up of previous years’ comments
Year |
Court's comment |
Status of corrective action (Completed/Ongoing/Outstanding/N/A) |
2011 |
Without calling into question the opinion expressed in paragraph 10, the Court wishes to draw again attention to the following matter. Article 54 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community provides that the Agency shall have financial autonomy. Article 7 of the Agency’s Statutes provides that ‘the expenditure of the Agency shall consist of administrative expenses of its staff and of the Committee, as well as expenses resulting from contracts entered into with third parties’. In fact, the Agency has not, since 2008, received a budget. That being the case, the European Commission has directly discharged the Agency’s expenses mentioned in Article 7 above. In the Court’s view, this situation is at odds with the Statutes of the Agency and the Court considers that the Agency and the Commission should, together with all interested parties, consider measures to eliminate this situation. |
Completed |
2012 |
Without calling into question the opinion expressed in paragraph 9, the Court wishes to draw attention to the following matter. Between 2008 and 2011, the Agency did not receive its own budget and the European Commission directly financed and discharged all expenditure. The Court had considered this situation to be at odds with the Statutes of the Agency. For 2012, following the Court’s comments, the Commission granted the Agency its own budget amounting to 98 000 euro (1 04 000 euro including financial revenue from own investments). Whereas Article 54 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community and Article 6 of the Agency’s Statutes provide that it shall have financial autonomy, most of the Agency’s expenditure (staff, office space and IT systems) is still financed directly by the Commission. As far as staff costs are concerned, this is foreseen in Article 4 of its Statutes. The provisions are contradictory which goes against the required financial autonomy of the Agency. |
Outstanding |
ANNEX II
Euratom Supply Agency (Luxembourg)
Competencies and activities
Areas of Union competence deriving from the Treaty |
Common supply policy for nuclear materials in accordance with the principles and the objectives (security of supply) set by the Euratom Treaty. The Euratom Supply Agency (ESA) was established directly by Article 52 of the Euratom Treaty, signed in 1957. The ESA is further governed by its Statutes, laid down by a Council decision on the legal basis of Article 54 of the Euratom Treaty. |
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Competences of the Agency (as defined in the Euratom Treaty, mainly Chapter 6 thereof, and Council Decision 2008/114/EC, Euratom of 12 February 2008 establishing Statutes for the Euratom Supply Agency) |
Objectives
Tasks As per the Euratom Treaty, the ESA is endowed with a right of option on nuclear materials produced in the territories of Member States and with an exclusive right to conclude contracts relating to the nuclear materials coming from inside the Community or from outside. In the light of the above, the ESA’s tasks include:
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Governance |
Director-General Appointed by the Commission, for an indefinite period of time. The DG’s duties and powers are determined, in particular, in the ESA’s Statutes. The Euratom Supply Agency’s Supervision by the Commission The Commission may issue directives to the Agency and possesses a right of veto over the Agency’s decisions. Moreover, certain decisions of the ESA are subject to prior Commission authorisation. Advisory Committee Composed from members of the Member States, who are appointed intuitu personae for a (renewable) three-year term. The AC assists the Agency in carrying out its tasks. It acts as a link between the ESA and both producers and users in the nuclear industry. The Committee may be consulted upon all matters in the Agency’s purview. It has to give its opinion on all matters listed in Article 13 of the Statutes. It normally meets twice every year. External audit European Court of Auditors. Discharge authority European Parliament. |
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Resources made available to the Agency in 2013 (2012) |
Budget 1 04 000 (1 04 000) euro, including contribution from the Commission: 98 000(98 000) euro. Staff on 31 December 2013 Total staff number: 18 (17) (including the Director-General). |
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Products and services provided in 2013 (2012) |
Security of supply ensured Transactions processed Some 279 (270) transactions, including contracts, amendments and notifications of the front-end activities, were processed by the Agency in 2013. Reports In 2013, the Agency issued:
Participation to activities of the Euratom Supply Agency’s Advisory Committee
Relations with other EU Institutions and International Cooperation Relation with the EC as described above. Each year the Agency has to submit to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission a report covering its activities in the previous year, as well as its work programme for the coming year. The ESA cooperates also with the international organisations, namely the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the OECD/NEA (Nuclear Energy Agency). In that context, the Agency participates in the joint NEA/IAEA Uranium Group and in the NEA High-Level Group on the Security of Supply of Medical Radioisotopes (HLG-MR). Security of supply of medical radioisotopes In September 2013, ESA was entrusted the chairmanship of the European Observatory on the Supply of Medical Radioisotopes to help implement a European Council policy towards ensuring continuity of supply for medical radioisotopes. |
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Source: Information supplied by the Agency. |
THE AGENCY’S REPLIES
12. |
The notes to the Agency’s 2013 final accounts include an estimate of salary costs. Precise data concerning the Agency’'s administrative costs covered by the Commission are owned by the latter. In our view, the fact that the Commission pays the salaries of the Agency’s staff (and some other administrative expenses) does not jeopardise per se the ESA’s independence while it enables economies of scale. |
13. |
In the Agency’s understanding, an appropriate risk management and control strategy is effectively in place. However, starting within the current year, the Agency will provide further, structured documentation on risk-assessment and risk-mitigation actions. |