5.12.2008   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 311/50

REPORT

on the annual accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2007 together with the Agency's replies

(2008/C 311/08)

CONTENTS

1-2

 INTRODUCTION

3-6

 STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

Tables 1 to 4

The Agency's replies

INTRODUCTION

1.

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (hereinafter referred to as the Agency) was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 2062/94 of 18 July 1994 (1). The Agency's task is to collect and disseminate information on national and Community priorities in the field of safety and health at work, to support national and Community organisations involved in the formulation and implementation of policy and to provide information on preventive measures.

2.

Table 1 summarises the Agency's competences and activities. Key data summarised from the financial statements drawn up by the Agency for the financial year 2007 are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4for information purposes.

STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE

3.

This statement is addressed to the European Parliament and the Council in accordance with Article 185(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 (2); it was drawn up following an examination of the Agency's accounts, as required by Article 248 of the Treaty establishing the European Community.

4.

The Agency's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 (3) were drawn up by its Director, pursuant to Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 2062/94, and sent to the Court, which is required to give a statement of assurance on their reliability and on the legality and regularity of the underlying transactions.

5.

The Court conducted its audit in accordance with the IFAC and ISSAI (4) International Auditing Standards and Codes of Ethics, insofar as these are applicable in the European Community context. The audit was planned and performed to obtain reasonable assurance that the accounts are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular.

6.

The Court has thus obtained a reasonable basis for the statement set out below:

Reliability of the accountsThe Agency's accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2007 are, in all material respects, reliable.Legality and regularity of the underlying transactionsThe transactions underlying the Agency's annual accounts, taken as a whole, are legal and regular.

This report was adopted by the Court of Auditors in Luxembourg at its meeting of 18 September 2008.

For the Court of Auditors

Vítor Manuel da SILVA CALDEIRA

President

(1)  OJ L 216, 20.8.1994, p. 1. The Regulation was last amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 1112/2005 of 24 June 2005 (OJ L 184, 15.7.2005, p. 5).

(2)  OJ L 248, 16.9.2002, p. 1.

(3)  These accounts were drawn up on 24 June 2008 and received by the Court on 26 June 2008.

(4)  International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and International Standards of Supreme Audit Institutions (ISSAI).

 

Table 1

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao)

Areas of Community competence deriving from the Treaty

Competences of the Agency as defined in Council Regulation (EC) No 2062/94 as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1112/2005

Governance

Resources made available to the Agency in 2007

(Data for 2006)

Products and services provided during 2007

Social provisions

The Community and the Member States (…) shall have as their objectives (…) improved living and working conditions, so as to make possible their harmonisation while the improvement is being maintained (…).

With a view to achieving the objectives of Article 136, the Community shall support and complement the activities of the Member States in the following fields: (a) improvement in particular of the working environment to protect workers' health and safety; (b) working conditions; (…)

(Extracts from Article 136 and 137 of the Treaty)

Objectives

In order to improve the working environment, as regards the protection of the safety and health of workers as provided for in the Treaty and successive Community strategies and action programmes concerning health and safety at the workplace, the aim of the Agency shall be to provide the Community bodies, the Member States, the social partners and those involved in the field with technical, scientific and economic information of use in the field of safety and health at work.

Tasks

—

To collect, analyse and disseminate information on national and Community priorities and on research.

—

To promote cooperation and the exchange of information, including information on training programmes.

—

To supply the Community bodies and the Member States with information they require to formulate and implement policies, in particular as regards the impact on small and medium-sized enterprises.

—

To make available information on preventive activities.

—

To contribute to the development of strategies and Community action programmes.

—

To set up a network comprising national focal points and topic centres.

1.   Governing board

Composition

—

one representative of the Government of each Member State.

—

one representative of the employers' organisations of each Member State.

—

one representative of the employees' organisations of each Member State.

—

three representatives of the Commission.

Members and alternate members from the first three categories shall be appointed from the members and alternate members of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work.

Task

To adopt the Agency's work programme, budget and annual general report.

2.   Bureau

Composition

—

Chairman and 3 vice-chairmen of the Board

—

Coordinators from each of the three interest groups

—

1 additional member from each of the groups and the Commission

Task

Overseeing the preparation and follow-up of the Board's decisions

3.   The director

Appointed by the Governing Board on a proposal from the Commission.

4.   Committees

Obligatory consultation of the Commission and the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work in respect of the work programme and budget.

5.   External audit

Court of Auditors.

6.   Discharge authority

Parliament acting on a recommendation from the Council.

Final budget:

—

14,9 million euro (14,1 million euro)

Including:

—

Community subsidy, DG Employment: 93,8 % (93,5 %)

—

Community subsidy, DG Enlargement: 2,9 % (4,5 %)

—

Miscellaneous revenue: 3,3 % (2 %)

Staff at 31 December 2007:

42 (40) posts in the establishment plan, of which,

Posts filled: 38 (33)

Posts vacant: 4 (7)

25 (26) other posts (auxiliary, contract, seconded national experts, and local staff).

Total staff: 63 (59)

assigned to

operational tasks: 47 (42)

administrative tasks: 9 (9)

mixed tasks: 7 (8)

Building the links — Networking:

—

Finalization and follow-up on 2nd external evaluation of the Agency's performance.

—

Institutional capacity building in Candidate and Potential Candidate Countries (PHARE and CARDS programmes).

Communicating Information:

—

European Safe Start! Summit — closing event of the European Week 2006 campaign on young workers.

—

Lighten the Load campaign — European campaign on work-related musculoskeletal disorders — EU 27+.

—

Healthy Workplace Initiative — SME- targeted campaign in EU 12, Turkey and Croatia (final round).

—

Multilingual web-based and printed information services on occupational safety and health.

—

Monitoring and evaluation: evaluation report of 2005 Stop that Noise campaign; online survey of website users; website benchmarking exercise.

Developing knowledge:

—

Information products for national and European Week campaign 2007 (MSDs) and 2008 (Risk Assessment).

—

Information products for projects on OSH & Economic Performance, the HORECA Sector, Mainstreaming OSH into Education, and Cleaning Workers.

—

General improvements to the quality and accessibility of Good Practice information on the Agency's website and to the on-line Thesaurus.

—

European Risk Observatory: data collection on HORECA, ageing workers and transport. Reports on emerging biological risks, emerging psychosocial risks, and occupational skin exposure and work-related skin diseases. Literature review on the occupational safety and health of migrant workers. Launch of Phase I of the European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER). Third workshop on ‘fostering research co-ordination in the EU’.

Source: Information supplied by the Agency.


Table 2

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao) — Implementation of the budget for the financial year 2007

(1000 euro)

Revenue

Expenditure

Source of revenue

Revenue entered in the final budget for the financial year

Revenue collected

Allocation of expenditure

Final budget appropriations

Appropriations carried over from the previous financial year

final

committed

paid

carried over

cancelled

available

paid

cancelled

Community subsidies

14 000

13 000

Title I

Staff

4 797

4 292

3 996

160

641

125

79

47

Other revenue

430

443

Title II

Administration

1 623

1 443

1 087

352

184

381

369

11

 

 

 

Title III

Operating activities

8 010

7 880

4 972

2 908

130

1 963

1 670

293

Assigned revenue

498

430

Assigned revenue

498

391

147

282

68

194

194

0

Total

14 928

13 873

Total

14 928

14 006

10 202

3 702

1 023

2 663

2 312

351

Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts. Revenue collected and payments are estimated on a cash basis.


Table 3

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao) — Economic outturn account for the financial years 2007 and 2006

(1000 euro)

 

2007

2006

Operating revenue

Community subsidy

12 682

11 730

Other subsidies

343

238

Other income

480

1 580

Total (a)

13 505

13 548

Operating expenditure

Staff expenditure

3 661

3 640

Fixed asset-related expenditure

137

139

Other administrative expenditure

1 991

1 825

Operational expenditure

7 222

8 028

Total (b)

13 011

13 632

Surplus/(deficit) from operating activities (c = a – b)

494

–84

Financial expenditure (d)

–3

–3

Surplus/(deficit) from non operating activities (e = d)

–3

–6

Economic result for the year (f = c + e)

491

–90

Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts.


Table 4

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (Bilbao) — Balance sheet at 31 December 2007 and 2006

(1000 euro)

 

2007

2006

Non-current assets

Intangible assets

44

71

Tangible assets

261

247

Long-term receivables

4

4

Current assets

Short-term pre-financing

330

435

Short-term receivables

38

27

Cash and cash equivalents

4 268

2 990

Total assets

4 945

3 774

Current liabilities

Provisions for risks and charges

70

63

Accounts payable

2 654

1 981

Total liabilities

2 724

2 044

Net assets

2 221

1 730

Reserves

Accumulated surplus/deficit

1 730

1 820

Economic result for the year

491

–90

Net capital

2 221

1 730

Source: Data supplied by the Agency. This table summarises the data provided by the Agency in its annual accounts.

THE AGENCY'S REPLY

1.

The Agency has taken note of the Court's report.