THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes, and in particular Article 3 thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 empowers the Commission to delegate powers to the executive agencies to implement all or part of a Union programme or project, on its behalf and under its responsibility.
(2)
The purpose of entrusting the executive agencies with programme implementation tasks is to enable the Commission to focus on its core activities and functions which cannot be outsourced, without relinquishing control over, and ultimate responsibility for, activities managed by those executive agencies.
(3)
The delegation of tasks related to programme implementation to an executive agency requires a clear separation between the programming stages involving a large measure of discretion in making choices driven by policy considerations, this being carried out by the Commission, and programme implementation, which should be entrusted to the executive agency.
(4)
By Decision 2004/20/EC, the Commission created the ‘Intelligent Energy Executive Agency’ (hereinafter referred to as the Agency) and entrusted it with the management of Community actions in the field of renewable energy and energy efficiency.
(5)
Subsequently, the Commission amended the Agency’s mandate by Decision 2007/372/EC extending it to cover the management of new projects and programmes in the field of innovation, entrepreneurship and mobility and changing its name into ‘Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation’.
(6)
The Agency set up by Decision 2004/20/EC has demonstrated that outsourcing the management of specific operational programmes has enabled parent-Directorates-General to focus on policy-related aspects of the programmes. Given the continuing constraints in EU-budget delegating tasks to an executive agency proves to be more cost-efficient. The two interim evaluations of the Agency have shown that overall, the Agency is performing well and is an efficient and effective delivery mechanism for the initiatives for which it has operational responsibility.
(7)
In its Communication of 29 June 2011‘A budget for Europe 2020’, the Commission proposed to use the option of more extensive recourse to existing executive agencies for the implementation of Union programmes in the next Multiannual Financial Framework.
(8)
The cost-benefit analysis carried out in accordance with Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 has shown that expected costs will be EUR 295 million compared to EUR 399 million under the in-house scenario. On the benefit side, efficiency gains of EUR 104 million are to be expected by implementing the agency scenario compared to the in-house scenario. Furthermore, the alignment of more coherent programme portfolios with the Agency’s core competences and its brand identity will lead to significant qualitative benefits. Analysis has shown that by assembling the management of Horizon 2020 — The Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2014-2020 (hereinafter referred to as Horizon 2020), the Programme for the Competitiveness of Enterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises 2014-2020 (hereinafter referred to as COSME) and the Programme for the Environment and Climate Action (herein after referred to as LIFE), the Agency will profit from synergies, simplification and economies of scale. The pooling of all aspects of the Horizon 2020 ‘SME instrument’ will additionally provide a single point of access to potential beneficiaries and guarantee consistent service delivery. Within the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (herein after referred to as EMFF) in particular actions envisaged in the Integrated Maritime Policy strand correspond well to the current profile of the Agency related to innovation and competitiveness. Moving the management of the legacy for the Marco Polo programme (2007-2013) to the Innovation and Network Executive Agency will additionally centralize the management of infrastructure programmes for transport in the previously mentioned Agency and therefore provide beneficiaries with a single access point of funding.
(9)
In order to give executive agencies a coherent identity, the Commission has, as far as possible, grouped work by thematic policy area in establishing their new mandates.
(10)
The Agency should be entrusted with the management of LIFE succeeding the predecessor programme LIFE+, which under the Multiannual Financial Framework (2007-2013) is managed in-house by the Commission. Management of LIFE involves implementation of technical projects which do not entail political decision-making and requires a high level of technical and financial expertise throughout the project cycle. LIFE is characterised by projects which generate a large number of homogenous and standardised operations.
(11)
The Agency should be entrusted with the management of parts of COSME succeeding parts of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme under the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme 2007-2013 (hereinafter referred to as CIP), which are currently managed in part by the Agency and in part in-house by the Commission. Management of the parts of COSME to be delegated to the Agency involves implementation of technical projects which do not entail political decision-making and requires a high level of technical and financial expertise throughout the project cycle. Some parts of COSME are further characterised by projects which generate a large number of homogenous and standardised operations.
(12)
The Agency should be entrusted with the management of parts of the EMFF in the area of Integrated Maritime Policy (IMP), Control and Scientific Advice and Knowledge, succeeding similar activities which under the Multiannual Financial Framework (2007-2013) are managed in-house by the Commission. Management of EMFF involves implementation of technical projects which do not entail political decision-making and requires a high level of technical and financial expertise throughout the project cycle.
(13)
The Agency should be entrusted with the management of the following parts of ‘Horizon 2020’:
Parts of ‘Part II – Industrial Leadership’ which are characterised by projects which generate a large number of homogenous and standardised operations;
Parts of ‘Part III Societal challenges’ which involve implementation of technical projects that do not entail political decision-making and require a high level of technical and financial expertise throughout the project cycle.
(14)
The Agency should be entrusted with the management of the legacy of the actions already delegated to it as part of CIP under the Multiannual Financial Framework (2007-2013): ‘Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE II)’, the ‘Enterprise Europe Network’, ‘Your Europe Business Portal’, the ‘European IPR Helpdesk’, the ‘Eco-innovation initiative’ and the ‘IPorta Project’.
(15)
The Agency should be responsible for the provision of administrative and logistical support services in particular where centralisation of those support services would result in additional cost-efficiency gains and economies of scale.
(16)
The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises should be established. It should replace and succeed the Agency established by Decision 2004/20/EC as amended by Decision 2007/372/EC. It should operate in accordance with the general statute laid down by Regulation (EC) No 58/2003.
(17)
Decisions 2004/20/EC and 2007/372/EC should be repealed and transitional provisions should be set out.
(18)
The measures provided for by this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee for Executive Agencies,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: