PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) for the financial year 2012.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision 2014/605/EU of the European Parliament on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2012.

CONTENT: with the present decision, the European Parliament grants discharge to the Director of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work for the implementation of its budget for the financial year 2012.

This decision is in line with the European Parliament's resolution adopted on 3 April 2014 and comprises a series of observations that form an integral part of the discharge decision (please refer to the summary of the opinion of 3 April 2014).

Amongst the main observations made, Parliament requested that the Agency communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way , mainly through its website.

The European Parliament adopted a decision concerning the discharge to be granted to the Director of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012. The vote on the discharge decision approved the closure of the accounts (in accordance with Annex VI, Article 5(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament.

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Parliament adopted by 495 votes to 73, with 11 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations that form an integral part of the discharge decision and as well as the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies.

These recommendations are summarised as follows:

Role of the Agency : Parliament welcomed the continued contribution of the Agency in the promotion of high standards of safety and health at work in the Union. It pointed out the Agency’s important key activities in 2012, such as the Foresight project linked to risks associated with green jobs and the launch of the Healthy Workplaces Campaign. It looked forward to the Agency's new multiannual strategic programme, which is closely linked to the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy and will support the much needed and expected Union strategy on safety and health at work 2013-2020. Financing, budget and financial management : Parliament recalled that the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2012 was EUR 15.3 million. It noted at the same time that that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 94.64%. Carryovers : Parliament saw with concern that EUR 3.2 million (22% of the budget) had been carried over to 2013 and, that the high level of the carryover might be explained by the multiannual nature of certain projects. It also noted the cancellation rate for certain appropriations was mainly the result of frozen recruitment procedures. Performance : Parliament requested that the Agency communicate the results and impact its work has on European citizens in an accessible way, mainly through its website.

It also made a series of observations on transfers, procurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls.

Lastly, it acknowledged that the Agency will adopt a conflict of interest policy in 2014 based on the Commission's Guidelines on the Prevention and Management of Conflict of Interest in EU Decentralised Agencies and called on the Agency to inform the discharge authority upon the adoption of that policy.

The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Petri SARVAMAA (EPP, FI) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the financial year 2012, and called on the European Parliament to grant the Director of the Agency discharge in respect of the implementation of the Agency’s budget for the financial year 2012 .

Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2012 are reliable, and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular, Members approved 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.

· Financing, budget and financial management : Members recalled that the budget of the Agency for the financial year 2012 was EUR 15.3 million. They noted at the same time that that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2012 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 94.64 %.

· Carryovers: Members saw with concern that EUR 3 200 000 (22 % of the budget) had been carried over to 2013 and, that the high level of the carryover might be explained by the multiannual nature of certain projects. They also noted the cancellation rate for certain appropriations was mainly the result of frozen recruitment procedures.

Members also made a series of observations on t ransfers , p rocurement and recruitment procedures as well as comments on internal controls .

Lastly, they asked the Agency to strengthen transparency and prevent conflicts of interests, as well as make publicly available the Declarations of Interests of certain members.

Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2012 and the balance sheet at 31 December 2012 of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year 2012, accompanied by the Agency's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommends the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Director of the Agency in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2012.

The observations in the Court of Auditors' report call for certain comments by the Council which can be summarised as follows:

in general, the Council welcomes the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Agency's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its 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. Carry-overs of appropriations : notwithstanding this favourable finding, the Council calls on the Agency to continue to improve its financial programming and monitoring of the budget implementation, in order to reduce the level of commitments carried over and amounts cancelled at the end of the following year to the minimum necessary, in line with the budgetary principle of annuality.

PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) for the financial year 2012, 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 European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

In the Court’s opinion, the Agency’s Annual Accounts fairly present, in all material respects, its financial position as of 31 December 2012 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its financial rules and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.

The Court also considers that the transactions underlying the annual accounts of the Agency for the financial year ended 31 December 2012 are, in all material respects, legal and regular .

The report confirms that the resources available to the Agency in 2012 amounted to EUR 16.4 million.

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 :

carry-overs: the Court noted that the Agency’s 2012 budget amounted to EUR 15.3 million, out of which EUR 3.2 million (22 %) were carried over to 2013. The level of committed appropriations carried over is high for title II (infrastructure) at 36 % and for title III (operational expenditure) at 33 %. The delays mainly result from a decentralised organisation of procurement procedures which prevents effective monitoring of the implementation of the procurement plan. It states that in 2012, the cancellation rate was high at 9.5% which mainly resulted from frozen recruitment procedures and an anticipated salary increase which had not yet been paid out.

The Agency’s replies :

carry-overs: the Agency stated that cancellations were mainly related to ongoing recruitment procedures and posts being frozen as a precautionary measure until Management will be in a position to assess the impact of budget uncertainties and constraints over the upcoming period and upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework. As regards the non-paid out salary increases, the appropriations which could only be carried over for one year had to be cancelled in the absence of a decision by the Court of Justice.

Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Agency’s activities in 2012 . This is focused on the following:

European Risk Observatory: implementation and monitoring 6 specific objectives on research on risks related to OSH; dissemination of working environment information, exchange of good practice at workplace level; networking and coordination: further development of focal point network, the Governance of the Agency and liaison with European and International organisations, institutional capacity building in candidate and potential candidate countries.