PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA) in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2012/568/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the CFCA for the financial year 2010.

CONTENT: with the present decision, and in accordance with Article 319 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Executive Director of the CFCA for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2010.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 10 May 2012 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 10/05/2012).

A parallel decision, 2012/569/EU, adopted on the same day, approves the closure of this Agency's accounts for the 2010 financial year.

The European Parliament adopted a decision on the granting of discharge to the Executive Director of the Community Fisheries Control Agency in respect of the implementation of the Agency's budget for the financial year 2010. This decision also approves the closure of the Agency’s accounts.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted a resolution containing a series of recommendations that need 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.

These recommendations may be summarised as follows:

Budgetary and financial management : Parliament notes that the Agency paid out 85.6% of the available payment appropriations (excluding expenditure from the other sources of revenue). It urges the Agency to respect the principle of annuality; Procurement procedures : Parliament calls on the Agency to take the necessary measures to ensure that procurement documents are duly signed and dated; Performance : it underlines the importance of the Agency's tasks and welcomes its efficient and effective performance, which its Committee on Fisheries was able to observe during its visit to the Agency in June 2010; Human resources : Parliament encourages the Agency to increase transparency in its recruitment procedures;

Internal audit : Parliament welcomes the Agency's initiative for having set up in 2008 an Internal Audit function (IAC) dedicated to providing support and advice to the Executive Director and management of internal control, risk assessment and internal audit. It notes that the Agency does not employ a full-time IAC but shares this service with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in Lisbon. It also notes that in 2010 the IAS performed an audit of budget execution. It observes that the notes that certain recommendations of the IAS, have been reported as implemented by the Agency and call on the Agency to implement the others.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Monica Luisa MACOVEI (PPE, RO) on discharge in respect of the budget of the Community Fisheries Control Agency and 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 2010.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts for the financial year 2010 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approve the closure of the Agency’s accounts. However, they make 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 draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies:

Budgetary and financial management : Members note that the Agency paid out 85.6 % of the available payment appropriations (excluding expenditure from the other sources of revenue). They urge the Agency to respect the principle of annuality. Procurement procedures: the committee calls on the Agency to take the necessary measures to ensure that procurement documents are duly signed and dated. Performance: it underlines the importance of the Agency's tasks and welcomes its efficient and effective performance, which its Committee on Fisheries was able to observe during its visit to the Agency in June 2010. Internal audit : Members note that the Agency does not employ a full-time IAC but shares this service with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in Lisbon. They also note that in 2010 the IAS performed an audit of budget execution. They observe that the notes that certain recommendations of the IAS, have been reported as implemented by the Agency and call on the Agency to implement the others.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2010 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2010 of the Community Fisheries Control Agency, as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2010, accompanied by the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2010.

However, the Council considers that observations made in the Court of Auditor's report call for a certain number of remarks:

the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts fairly present the financial position as at 31 December 2010 and the results of operations and cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Agency's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for that financial year are legal and regular; the Council calls on the Agency to respect the budgetary principle of annuality and to ensure that procurement documents are duly signed and dated ; it calls on the Centre to correct the weaknesses identified in its staff selection procedures, stressing the importance of ensuring transparency in the recruitment process .

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA), together with the Agency’s reply.

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

This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the CFCA.

In the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s Annual Accounts fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2010 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 considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year ended 31 December 2010 are, in all material respects, legal and regular.

The report confirms that the Agency’s 2010 budget amounted to EUR 11 million, and that the number of staff it employed at the end of the year was 54.

The report also makes a series of observations on the budgetary and financial management of the Agency, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:

The Court’s observations :

budgetary and financial management: some of the Agency's 2010 budget commitments related to expenditure for 2011 projects, contrary to the budgetary principle of annuality; procurement: weaknesses were noted in the Agency's procedures for ensuring that procurement documents are duly signed and dated; recruitment: with regard to staff selection procedures, neither the thresholds that candidates had to meet in order to be invited to the interview nor those necessary to be put on the reserve list were fixed in advance. These practices put at risk the transparency of the recruitment procedures.

The Agency’s responses :

in order to organise operational meetings and missions planned in advance for the first quarter of 2011 the Agency committed in 2010 budget. The Agency takes note of the comment of the Court and will take measures to prevent similar circumstances in the future. the Agency has adjusted the templates for the selection procedures and establishes a default threshold from the beginning, which can be used by the selection committee in order to ensure transparency.

Lastly the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Agency’s activities in 2010. These may be described as follows:

operational coordination: implementation of Joint Deployment Plan (JPD) for the cod fishery in the North Sea, Skagerrak, Kattegat and the Eastern Channel and Western Waters (West of Scotland and the Irish Sea), as well as in the Baltic Sea, and a JPD for bluefin tuna fishery in the Mediterranean Sea and Eastern Atlantic; capacity building; mapping of Member State training programmes for national fisheries inspectors; operation and maintenance of Vessel Monitoring System; setting up of the CFCA’s coordination room for the JDPs.

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010, as part of the 2010 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA).

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA).

In 2010, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

description of CFCA's tasks : the agency, which is located in Vigo, was created by Council Regulation (EC) No 768/2005 of 26 April 2005 . Its main task is to organise the operational coordination of fisheries control and inspection activities by the Member States in order to ensure effective and uniform application of the rules of the common fisheries policy; CFCA's's budget for the 2010 financial year : the Agency's 2010 budget amounted to EUR 11 million, compared with EUR 10.1 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 54 as compared with 49 the previous year.

The complete version of CFCA's final accounts may be found at the following address: http://cfca.europa.eu

PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010, as part of the 2010 discharge procedure.

Analysis of the accounts of the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA).

CONTENT: this Commission document sets out the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2010 as prepared on the basis of the information presented by the institutions, organisations and bodies of the EU, in accordance with Article 129 (2) of the Financial Regulation applicable to the EU's General Budget, including the Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA).

In 2010, the tasks and budget of this agency were as follows:

description of CFCA's tasks : the agency, which is located in Vigo, was created by Council Regulation (EC) No 768/2005 of 26 April 2005 . Its main task is to organise the operational coordination of fisheries control and inspection activities by the Member States in order to ensure effective and uniform application of the rules of the common fisheries policy; CFCA's's budget for the 2010 financial year : the Agency's 2010 budget amounted to EUR 11 million, compared with EUR 10.1 million the previous year. The number of staff employed by the Agency at the end of the year was 54 as compared with 49 the previous year.

The complete version of CFCA's final accounts may be found at the following address: http://cfca.europa.eu