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Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 0
Directorate-General for Internal Policies
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3
2. ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE- GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS 5
2.1 The Directorate-General (mission statement, operational context) 5
2.2 Key results and progress towards achieving objectives 10
3. RESOURCES MANAGEMENT 16
3.1 Human resources 16
3.2 Financial and budgetary management 17
4. EVALUATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL CONTROL, INCLUDING OVERALL ASSESSMENT OFCOST-EFFECTIVENESS 20
4.1 Assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of internal control 20
4.2 Assessment of the costs and benefits of the controls 21
4.3 Summary of internal and external audits 22
5. STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE 24
6. ANNEXES 26
I. Budgetary implementation overview 26
II. Budget implementation statement 2018 28
III. List of exceptions - derogations from the rules 32
IV. Results of assessments 35
V. Assessment of the implementation of the minimum internal control standards 36
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. Executive summaryOverall, the DG saw intensified legislativework, as is usually the case in the second halfof a legislative term. This increased activity isdemonstrated, of course, in the numbers offiles on the negotiating table and, conse-quently, also in the number of trilogues andother meetings, with the well-known logisticalchallenges of finding sufficient meeting slotsand interpretation facilities.
For 2019, yet a further increase of legislativework is expected given the strong time pres-sure to finalise dossiers before the end of thelegislative term.
Core business thus increased, from an alreadyhigh level in 2017, whilst the additional intensi-fied focus on parliamentary oversight and scru-tiny continued.
The Brexit process had clear implications forIPOL´s work in 2018 with substantial supportand expertise from IPOL committees, policydepartments and horizontal services, feeding
into the Parliament´s overall preparations andwork, including the provision of sector anal-yses.
The setting-up and running of temporary com-mittees and their secretariats again proved tobe an organisational challenge for the DG(staffing, meeting slots, quick planning of hear-ings and missions, consultation of confidentialdocuments, offices) which was mastered suc-cessfully, in close cooperation with other DGsconcerned. Two temporary committees suc-cessfully concluded their work during the yearand a third one was set up.
The human resources of DG IPOL were gener-ally appropriate for tackling the 2018 workload.However, staffing of the temporary committeesecretariats proved again to be a very difficultexercise. In fact, the staffing of these secretar-iats, in a context of cuts in human and budget-ary resources, without additional Contractagent funding for the units of origin concerned,might risk having adverse effects on the qualityof services provided to Members.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 4
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 5
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
2. Environment of the Directorate-General, objectives and results
2.1 The Directorate-General(mission statement,operational context)
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
Legislative work in 2018 was to a high degreeshaped by the dossiers of the Joint Declaration.The new Joint Declaration on the EU’s legisla-tive priorities for 2018-19, signed in December2017, combines unfinished files from the 2017Joint Declaration and adds new ones: It willcontinue to be of equally great importance forIPOL’s work up to the end of the legislativeterm.
Two temporary committees under the umbrellaof DG IPOL, TERR (Special Committee on Ter-rorism) and PEST (Special Committee on theEU authorisation procedure for pesticides),successfully concluded their work during theyear and a third one, TAX3 (Special Committeeon Financial Crimes, Tax Evasion and TaxAvoidance), was started. The rapid setting-upand staffing of these temporary committeeswas a considerable challenge. These tempo-rary committees resulted in extra coordinationefforts and work as regards staffing, offices andother organisational issues.
As already highlighted in last years’ AAR,equipping the temporary committees with ade-quate staff that guarantees the effective provi-sion of services to Members is proving moreand more difficult. The timing for the creation ofthese secretariats is very tight (as well as theshort time frame of the committee’s mandate)and implies immediate redeployment of experi-enced colleagues from other units, in mostcases from within DG IPOL.
Parliament’s new meeting pattern continued in2018. Meetings of less than 2.5 hours - bothwith and without interpretation - accounted formore than half of the meetings of IPOL. Thesemeetings were held to make progress notablyon legislative files in the Joint Declaration. Inaddition technical preparatory meetings (i.e. 3to 4 hour working sessions at administrativelevel) continued as a meeting pattern, makingit difficult and time-consuming to find enoughresources for all these to take place.
The impact of the IT outage resulting from the2017 incident at the EP Data Centre continuedin 2018. IPOL applications are still facing de-lays in their development and improvement, inparticular those related to the full digitalisationof the legislative process (e-Parliament).
During 2018, the outcome of the referendum onthe United Kingdom`s EU membership, of June
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 6
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
2016, had a considerable impact on IPOL com-mittees, research units and horizontal services.IPOL units were called upon to follow this pro-cess (as had been the case in 2017) and to pre-pare analytical material based on fact-findingwork to consider the impact of the withdrawalon the policy areas and legislation in their re-spective fields. Future work on this issue is of avery complex legal nature but the expertisebuilt up in committees and policy departmentsis ready to be mobilised during the subsequentphases of the UK withdrawal.
OBJECTIVES RELATED TO DG IPOL’SONGOING OPERATIONS
IPOL’s objectives for 2018 aimed to support theEuropean Parliament’s capacity to achieve itslegislative, budgetary and political priorities,which also unfolded from the reflection processon the Future of Europe.
These objectives were in detail:
1. In a year of intense legislative workload,continue to provide timely, coherent andhigh-quality support, concerning their legis-lative, budgetary/discharge and scrutinyfunctions, to parliamentary committees andbodies – including any new special and/orinquiry committees – to the Institution, to itsPresident and Members.
2. Continue to deliver high quality expertise forcommittees and other political bodies, in atimely and targeted way, underlining thespecific role of Policy Departments and Eco-nomic Governance Support Unit’s expert
1 Related Parliamentary Project: MFF and Mid-term review/revision: follow-upof related programmes and next steps
services and their added value to deliver tai-lor-made products for committees in linewith the 2017 CCC (Conference of Commit-tee Chairs) report on the expertise budgets.Ensure continuing innovation in their field ofexpertise and appropriate dissemination oftheir products. Maintain active and wide-ranging cooperation in full complementaritywith other services and DGs as well as withexternal networks.
3. Provide expertise and administrative sup-port promptly and efficiently in view of thework on the post-2020 MFF (Multiannual Fi-nancial Framework) and related multiannualprogrammes files. Organise and coordinatethe relevant committee activities in a proac-tive and efficient way, building on the exist-ing MFF network, making use of regular ex-change of information and the MFF data-base and based on the experiences of theongoing MFF instruments.1
4. Continue to provide the Brexit Coordinatorand the Brexit Steering Group upon requestwith analytical material ahead of the adop-tion of Parliament’s positions at any momentin the negotiations with the UK. Ensure goodcoordination among committees and withpolitical authorities in charge of the follow-upof the negotiations via the Conference ofCommittee Chairs and the Brexit SteeringGroup. Ensure that committees are kept in-formed to the extent possible on the state-of-play of the negotiations.2
5. Continue to ensure the implementation ofthe 2016 Better Law Making Agreement inthe daily operations of parliamentary com-mittees, through CCC monitoring and in the
2 Related Parliamentary Project: Brexit - committee contributions
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 7
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
preparation of the future Parliament reporton implementation and interpretation of thenew IIA (Interinstitutional Agreement). Inparticular: continue to ensure the annualprogramming, the support to the negotia-tions on the delineation criteria on dele-gated and implementing acts and on inter-national agreements; follow up the launchof the new delegated acts register; con-tinue to actively contribute to the setting upof an inter-institutional legislative data-base.3
6. With a view to delivering on the prioritiesidentified in the annual Inter-institutionalJoint Declarations before the end of this leg-islative term, provide enhanced legislative,administrative, expertise and logistical sup-port, which implies the availability of the nec-essary human, time and material resources,also bearing in mind the numerous otherlegislative files which should be finalised be-fore the end of the legislature. Ensure thatup-to-date overviews are provided to thePolicy Inter-DG Steering Groups to monitorthe progress of the files within the JD (JointDeclarations) and that the Steering Groupscontinue to serve as platforms to enhancecooperation with the other services involvedon the specific files.
7. Review the experiences with the Rules ofProcedure and on their implementation, as-sess practices, and organise the exchangeof best practices. Assist the AFCO workinggroup in the review process.4
3 Related Parliamentary Project: Follow-up to the Better Law-Making Agree-ment4 Related Parliamentary Project: Rules of Procedure - committee-related fol-low-up to the AFCO report5 Related Parliamentary Projects: Implementation reports, Expertise supportfor the scrutiny of the Eurozone, MFF and Mid-term review/revision: follow-up
8. Continue to encourage scrutiny-related ac-tivities in committees as for example imple-mentation reports, the implementation of theexisting MFF programmes, scrutiny of dele-gated acts, the scrutiny hearings related tothe Eurozone and the use of petitions inscrutiny. Analyse and report the experi-ences with implementation reports and de-cide if potential further steps are needed.5
9. Continue to follow-up on the Ombudsman’sproposals made in the context of her strate-gic inquiry on the transparency of trilogues;efficiently coordinate work with other DGsand other Institutions6 and in compliancewith the Secretary-General’s approach onthe coordination of relations with the Om-budsman, taking also into account the juris-prudence of the Court of Justice.
10. Further promote working in networks suchas the ones on Petitions, Legislative Proce-dures and Trilogues, MFF, Delegated andImplementing Acts, Gender mainstreamingand Communication in order to identify andshare best practices in the different policyfields.
11. Continue communicating about the com-mittee activities by making efficient use ofthe available platforms and tools and by co-operating with DG COMM services. Con-tinue to support with communication the vis-ibility and accessibility of the expertise pre-pared by the Policy Departments. Intensify
of related programmes and next steps, Political Work Programme, Petitionsand Citizens’ Enquiries Review6 Related Parliamentary Project: Enhancing the transparency of the legislativeprocess
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 8
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
the communication activities on selected pri-ority files with a view to contribute to the2019 European election campaign7.
12. Continue to provide quality assistance andfollow up on on-going projects
a) to ensure that the IT systems supportingthe work of parliamentary committees andbodies are always up-to-date and well in linewith the political requirements of the EP,bringing IT tools in line with the revisedRules of Procedure,
b) ensure that committee secretariatspromptly complete the ITER database withthe information on their ongoing legislativefiles and verify its accuracy in view of ITER’sfundamental role in the digitalisation of thelegislative process as well as the reportingobligations,
c) gradually, by actively contributing to thecorporate e-Parliament PPP project, to digi-talise the whole chain of activities supportingthe legislative and budgetary/budgetarycontrol work performed at committee andplenary level, so as to gain improvements interms of efficiency of processes and qualityof output8 and
d) continue digitalising the petitions processby upgrading the IT tools in order to providebetter and faster service for citizens.
13. Ensure the efficient management of Hu-man as well as Financial Resources to pro-vide adequate support to the respective par-liamentary and legislative work, particularlyin view of the future implementation of theAST mobility and taking into account theprovisions of the Financial Regulation and
7 Related Parliamentary Project: Legislation as Communication
the strategic decisions taken in the SEF ofthe Parliament and of DG IPOL.
14. Ensure flexibility in the allocation of humanresources and technical support to tempo-rary and enquiry committees so that they areput in a position to fulfil their mandate andbe fully operational from an early stage.
15. Continue to implement training paths whilecontinuously adapting the internal trainingoffer to the varying changing needs of theDG; prepare a recommendation for the es-tablishment of the exchange programme be-tween IPOL and Commission/Council in thelong term.
16. Following the metrics reporting covering2017, review the appropriateness of theIPOL specific metrics, in the light of the in-sights gained (also against the results of2016) and of the work invested in compilingthem. Continue the regular collection of thelead indicator on inter-service cooperation /network activation and fine-tune the conceptwhere necessary.
These objectives contributed to the achieve-ment of the strategic goals of Parliament’s re-newed Strategic Execution Framework (SEF),in particular on "completing the legislative cycle– reloaded", "linking the levels" and "succeed-ing 2019", as well as to the Parliamentary Pro-ject Portfolio 2017-2019. DG IPOL had elabo-rated a full set of strategic projects in thisframework. The 2018 milestones planned forthese new projects formed part of DG IPOL’sobjectives for that year.
8 Related Parliamentary Project: e-Parliament (corporate project)
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 9
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
The objectives were not changed during theyear. As regards the PPP, DG IPOL continuedwork on 11 projects as well as 10 subprojectsto the “committee handbook”.
DG IPOL staffed the secretariats for three tem-porary committees:
Special Committee on the EU authorisationprocedure for pesticides (PEST) – from Febru-ary 2018 until the end of the year. On 6 Decem-ber 2018, the work of the Special Committeeon the EU authorisation procedure for pesti-cides was finalised with a committee vote onthe draft report; on 16 January 2019, the politi-cal recommendations were adopted in plenary.
Special Committee on Terrorism (TERR) –from September 2017 until 13 November 2018.In November 2018 the work of the SpecialCommittee on Terrorism, which began in Sep-tember 2017, concluded with a vote on the re-port on findings and recommendations, and avote in plenary in December 2018.
The work of the Special Committee on Finan-cial crimes, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance(TAX3), set up in March 2018, is still ongoing.The vote in plenary on its political recommen-dations is expected during the March II partsession.
DG IPOL’s units, committee secretariats, aswell as policy departments and horizontal ser-vices supported Members throughout the yearon a broad spectrum of questions relating tothe different aspects of the ongoing Brexit ne-gotiations.
OBJECTIVES DERIVED FROM THE PPP
In the process of contributing to the Parlia-ment’s Strategic Execution Framework andParliamentary Project Portfolio (PPP), DGIPOL has elaborated a new set of strategic pro-jects for the PPP 2017 - 2019.
The 2018 milestones planned for these newprojects as well as remaining 2017 milestonesof old PPP projects formed part of DG IPOL’sobjectives for that year.
FEASIBILITY AND RISK ASSESSMENT
Most of DG IPOL’s objectives, as described un-der point one, are closely linked to political pro-cesses and decisions and it is difficult to attachany specific linked financial and non-financialrisks which might adversely affect them.
Similarly, assistance and expertise for the par-liamentary committees, as well as many hori-zontal issues - in the legislative and budgetaryfields particularly but also increasingly other“scrutiny measures”- are thus part and parcelof the DG's daily work but remain linked to po-litical decisions (for example decisions on thetimetable for a legislative file, or whether to re-quest a study or a workshop to accompanysuch a file, or whether to draw up a non-legis-lative report, etc.) both inside and outside theParliament.
Therefore, the achievement of the main objec-tives of the DG are very much dependent on
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 10
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
such political decisions but it is not consideredfeasible or appropriate to try and put a price onsuch political developments within the frame-work of this overview.
However, as far as ‘administrative risks’ areconcerned, which may of course also have aknock-on effect on the objectives described,the DG's risk register and risk assessments ismonitored and regularly updated.
Again, in 2018, the main risks were the follow-ing:
Risks related to the optimal functioning ofparliamentary committees;
Risks related to human resources;
Risks related to financial resources;
Risks related to the dependence on IT sys-tems;
Risks related to logistics, such as infrastruc-ture, including office space.
These risks and the associated efforts to miti-gate them are described in the general IPOLRisk Register, including a rating as to their like-lihood and seriousness. The risk files were up-dated in 2018 and will be updated once againin early 2019. DG IPOL also held meetings withthe Risk Manager to monitor the situation. Forthe first time in 2018, a Fraud Register and Pro-ject Risk Register has been added to the gen-eral Risk Register. The project selected out ofIPOL’s strategic projects for the PPP 2017-2019 was ‘legislation and communication’.
In previous reports, IPOL underlined the needfor improved “crisis management" and "busi-ness continuity management" mechanisms forunexpected events in the Parliament. DG IPOLhad therefore already welcomed the creation ofthe Business Continuity Management Unit, inline with the recommendations made by the In-ternal Auditor. During 2018 DG IPOL continuedto support the ongoing work in this area, nota-bly the elaboration of a more comprehensivecrisis & business continuity managementscheme in the European Parliament, as well asthe move to formalise and clarify responsibili-ties at a high management level through theCrisis & Business Continuity ManagementTeam (to be supported by the aforementionedUnit).
IPOL’s business continuity plan has been elab-orated and will be sent to the Secretary Gen-eral by end of February.
2.2 Key results and progresstowards achieving objectives
IPOL being a DG providing direct and tailor-made support to committee Members, most ofits work feeds into (and results in) processesand products which are political, such as legis-lative and non-legislative reports, opinions andamendments, committee meetings, trilogues,hearings and committee missions, etc.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 11
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
The fact that IPOL’s work feeds into the politicalsphere makes it difficult to link the DG’s objec-tives to performance indicators. Dimensions ofparliamentary work such as, for example, howlong it took to steer a report through Parlia-ment, how many amendments a report com-prised, whether and how instruments such ashearings or studies were used, how negotia-tions were handled and which elements a finalpiece of legislation includes, are political by na-ture and not subject to assessments by the ad-ministration.
IPOL considers its objectives for 2018 asachieved and no incidents are to be reported.IPOL staff has done its utmost to provide high-quality, fast and flexible support to committeesand to always find solutions to upcoming is-sues; it has maintained this service-culture andits standards also under extraordinary condi-tions, such as night trilogues.
Resources
As regards IT matters, in the framework of thee-Parliament corporate programme, DG IPOLremains committed to the objective of achiev-ing full digitalisation of the legislative workflowfor the beginning of the next legislative term.However, as a consequence of the IT outage inOctober 2017, some technical implementationswere delayed, leaving less time to perform ef-fective testing phases and therefore delayingall the improvements that would have enableda higher usage of the applications.
In this respect, IPOL proposed (in agreementwith DG EXPO and PRES) refined key perfor-mance indicators (KPIs) to measure the stateof play of implementation and enable a precisetargeting of the measures required to increasethe usage and the benefits of the programme.
During 2018, IPOL Business Analysts played asignificant role in the detailed analysis of theimpact of the changes in the Rules of Proce-dure on the IT systems.
As concerns logistics, a first comprehensiveEMAS audit of DG IPOL took place in 2018.The audit report includes references to DGIPOL achievements such as the reduction ofmissions, network printers, trunks, paperlesscommittees, etc.
In 2018, 53% of Strasbourg trunks were givenup by IPOL colleagues (145 out of 274).
During the second campaign launched by theEMAS unit in 2018, 117 IPOL colleaguesagreed to the voluntary removal of their generalpurpose waste bins IPOL colleagues (19% re-duction).
Finally, an EMAS network was created in 2018at DG level with each Directorate being repre-sented in it.
Also, IPOL committee secretariats continued toconsolidate the trend towards more paperlessmeetings by increasingly using “e-meeting” and“e-committee” features.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 12
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
The EMAS Square de Meeûs network contin-ued carrying out various successful initiatives,such as facilitating parking for bicycles and fur-ther improving reusing and recycling of station-ary. IPOL Logistics’ system for the manage-ment of office supply stocks set up in 2017,continued in 2018.
In the area of finance, IPOL procurement tem-plates for negotiated procedures with 3 and 5candidates were revisited in order to fully re-spond to what the operational units need and,also, to fully take into account changes intro-duced to the financial regulation revisions of2016 and 2018. While the 2016 revision con-cerned particularly exclusion, selection andaward criteria, the 2018 revision added newcontract clauses on intellectual property, dataprotection, e-procurement and Brexit; technicalchanges were also introduced in view of thecoming Financial Management System (FMS).
Furthermore, IPOL prepared extensive step-by-step guides on the financial aspects of or-ganising hearings, as well as on organisationcommittee missions outside the 3 places ofwork, focussing both on the basic financial prin-ciples and on the financial procedures to becarried out before, during and after the mis-sions.
In the human resources field, it is worth men-tioning that the first AST mobility procedurewas concluded.
In 2018, the occasional teleworking schemewithin DG IPOL is being increasingly used by
the staff. A pilot project on extra-time for officialmeetings, taking place after regular workinghours, which was introduced towards the endof 2017, continued to run through 2018.
In the field of learning and development, spe-cific training paths were implemented. The in-ternal training offer was further expanded to ca-ter for the changing needs of DG IPOL col-leagues. Also, a pilot for a short-term staff ex-change programme between DG IPOL, theCommission and Council services was run, inorder to assess the feasibility of establishingsuch an exchange scheme on a regular basis.
Obtained results (data against budgetitems)
The below are annual statistics to measuresome of the quantitative aspects of the DG'soutput, which also contribute to meeting the ob-jectives of the DG. They are linked - sometimesdirectly and sometimes indirectly - to practicallyall of the objectives:
525 parliamentary committee meetingswere organised (2017: 392). These, and all re-lated work prior to them, eventually led to thetreatment and vote of some 564 committee pro-cedures (2017: 477 procedures).
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 13
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
307 trilogue meetings were organised in2018 (251 such meetings in 2017, 135 in 2016and 226 in 2015).
With the upcoming end of the legislative term,activity on legislative files picked up considera-bly, particularly on the files included in the re-cently adopted Joint Declaration for 2018/19.At the beginning of January 2019, there werestill 241 open COD procedures under EP firstreading/Council reading.
Concerning budget resources managed di-rectly by DG IPOL, the following quantitativeanalysis can be made:
Concerning sub-item 1612-02 (professionaltraining): DG IPOL organised 50 external indi-vidual courses. Also, 12 “Unit External TrainingDays” - ex Away Days (6 in 2017, 11 in 2016)and 3 specific collective trainings (3 in 2017, 0in 2016) were organised.
Concerning sub-item 3042-01 (committees'missions): In total, 117 missions were organ-ised (96 in 2017, 79 in 2015), out of which 81had a financial impact against this line , i.e. or-ganisational costs such as rental of officespace and local transport (70 in 2017). Thenumber of missions thus increased comparedto last year, especially taking the temporarycommittees into account.
Concerning sub-item 3200-01 (external ex-pertise): The policy departments commis-sioned a total number of 159 items of externalexpertise (2017:239, 2016: 264). Of these, 12were long studies between EUR 60.000 andEUR 135.000 (2017: 10, 2016: 12), 59 weremedium studies between EUR 15.000 andEUR 60.000 and 88 were short studies of lessthan EUR 15.000. On 31 December 2018,IPOL policy departments had 9 framework con-tracts in place (2017: 9, 2016: 8). The DG alsodisposes of 4 CEI (call for expression of inter-est) lists (2016 and 2017: 4) , to further widenthe choice of expertise in some areas.
Importantly, some 330 publications were in-ternally produced, not drawing on any budgetfunds managed by IPOL (2017: 479, 2016:382, 2015: 352 and 2014: 218). This againdemonstrates a solid in-house expertise, whichnow makes up a very substantial part of activi-ties. And, in addition to this, both committeesand policy departments were as always in-volved in continuously updating the “EP factsheets”, numbering in their hundreds. Againsta backdrop of tight human resources budgets,this development was impressive.
The policy departments also organised 37workshops (2017: 45, 2016: 31) in which exter-nal experts participated and discussed withcommittee members. A total of 59 experts werereimbursed against this item (2017: 59, 2016:70). Further 20 experts were invited to sharetheir economic, financial and monetary exper-tise in preparatory meetings of Monetary Dia-
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 14
ENVIRONMENT OF THE DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
logue sessions organised by ECON; these ex-perts delivered 41 briefing papers prior to thesessions (2017: 32, 2016: 38).
The parliamentary committees organised121 hearings, including 23 by temporary com-mittees (2017: 133, 2016: 124, 2015: 100 and2014: 50). A total number of 204 guests atthese hearings were reimbursed for travelcosts against this item (2017: 167, 2016:127,2015: 183 and 2014: 104). Also, the PetitionsCommittee heard 187 petitioners (208 in 2017)at different hearings and meetings, 33 of whomwere reimbursed against this item.
Sub-item 3220-13 (books and subscrip-tions) was used 12 times for various books andsubscriptions (8 times in 2017, 16 times in2016, 30 times in 2015 and 7 times in 2014).
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 15
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 16
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
3 Resources management
3.1 Human resourcesThe decrease of 3 posts in 2018 is the resultof the final contribution of DG IPOL to the es-tablishment plan's reduction.
ESTABLISHMENT PLAN
AD AST AST/SC Total AD AST AST/SC TotalPermanent posts 280 235 13 528 281 237 12 530Temporary posts 4 1 0 5 4 2 0 6
Total 284 236 13 533 285 239 12 536
on 01/01/2017on 01/01/2018
STAFF NUMBERS AT 31.12.2018
AD AST AST/SC TotalOfficials 267 205 12 484Temporary Agents 8 9 0 17- on temporary posts 3 1 4
- on permanent posts 0 3 0 3
- on part time compensation 5 5 10
Contract Agents 7 4 24 35
Seconded National Expert (SNE) 22 22
Interims
Total 558
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 17
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
3.2 Financial and budgetarymanagement
INITIAL AND FINAL APPROPRIATIONS
Final appropriations amounted to EUR 5.35million compared to the EUR 5.57 million origi-nally available.
FINAL APPROPRIATIONS ANDAPPROPRIATIONS COMMITTED
Overall implementation stood at 90 % (88% in2017), corresponding to EUR 4.8 million com-mitted (4.6 million in 2017).
As in previous years, a certain margin also ex-isted with regard to the budgeting of fullamounts for temporary committees, as stipu-lated in the guidelines laid down by the Confer-ence of Committee Chairmen, which the run-ning temporary committees did not fully absorb.
For further details, please see annexes.
APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTED ANDPAYMENTS MADE
Payments on contracted appropriations stoodat 42% at year-end, a slight increase comparedto last year (34 %).
This relatively modest level of payments in yearn, and the consequently rather high level ofcarry-overs to year n+1, stems from the factthat research departments commission studies
and papers on the basis of political requests,during the financial year, from the committees.Many of these, particularly the more costlyones, are subject to time-consuming researchand rarely give rise to payments in the sameyear. This has a major effect on executed pay-ments against commitments.
Additionally, guests entitled to reimbursementssometimes send in their requests and receiptsonly after the end of the financial year, possiblywhen they prepare their private tax returns.This means that a significant portion of provi-sional commitments for travel and subsistenceallowances has to be carried over as well.
The final amount carried over to 2019 (EUR2.79 million) was lower than last year (EUR3.05 million). As a proportion of contractedcommitments, the ratio thus remained ratherstable.
Amounts carried over will then be paid the fol-lowing year at a rate that should approach100% (96 % on 2017 funds carried over to2018). Exceptions can relate to cases wherethe Parliament cancels a particular expertiseitem or considers that only part of the servicehas been delivered. They can also relate tocarry-overs for travel and subsistence reim-bursements, as the travel costs are not knownat the time of the carry-over. It is therefore nec-essary to make an estimation erring on the safeside.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 18
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
USE OF AUTOMATIC AND NON-AUTOMATIC CARRYOVERS FROM 2017 TO2018
The use of the appropriations carried over from2017 to 2018 was about 96 %.
For DG IPOL, which exclusively tenders forservices (mainly studies and briefing papers) itis not unusual that a small part of the carry-overs is in fact cancelled, but the DG tries tominimise this portion through active follow-upand reminders from the Finance Unit.
If some amounts are not finally used it can re-late to the fact that papers may occasionally berejected once received, either outright or (moreoften) in view of substantial modifications thatneed to be made. This is sound financial man-agement as studies of insufficient qualityshould not be paid for, or only paid for partially.
Also, there are some (minor) outstandingamounts, not finally used, that relate to carry-overs made on provisional commitments re-lated to travel reimbursements. This is difficultto avoid since the final costs are not known atthe time of the carry-overs procedure.
APPROPRIATIONS CORRESPONDING TOASSIGNED REVENUE
EUR 937,63 were recovered by EP corre-sponding to budget line 03200-01 expertise(see Annex 6.II.4). This amount being recov-ered late in the year will be carried over andspent in 2019.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 19
RESOURCES MANAGEMENT EVALUATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL CONTROM, INCLUDING OVERALLASSESSEMENT OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 20
EVALUATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL CONTROL, INCLUDING OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS
4. Evaluation and effectiveness ofinternal control, including overallassessment of cost-effectiveness
4.1 Assessment of theeffectiveness and efficiencyof internal control
IPOL’s financial activities include a mix of me-dium to low-value transactions. In terms ofvalue, some 90 % of the budget is related to thepurchase of expertise following requests fromparliamentary committees. A substantial num-ber of very low-value transactions is also han-dled and relate to reimbursement of experts forhearings.
The budget structure and detailed financial cir-cuits for the DG’s implementation of thesefunds are published and updated on its web-pages. A substantial update and check of thisinformation was made in 2014, at the requestof the Authorising Officer by Delegation (AOD),and is also done continuously by the FinanceUnit.
The AOD always includes an item of budget fol-low-up on every agenda of the Directors’ meet-ings (weekly). The implementation of all fundsis authorised at the level of Directorates, withthe respective Director as Authorising Officerby Sub-delegation (AOS), and in close cooper-ation with the Finance Unit in terms of ex-ante
control and advice. This cooperation betweenoperational departments and the Finance Unit,and also with the personnel and IT units forthose issues, reflect a strong culture of cooper-ation and communication in an essentially de-centralised structure with strong central sup-port functions.
The use of budget funds is transparent and un-der detailed scrutiny at all levels of the hierar-chy. Naturally, all basic concepts, such as thesegregation of duties, are fully respected.
The DG objectives are set annually, taking intoaccount the Parliamentary Project Portfolio inwhich DG IPOL presently manages 11 projectsand 10 sub-projects. The objectives are com-municated to staff in writing and orally in meet-ings. Delegations of powers are clearly definedand always communicated in writing.
Risk management within the DG has evolvedconsiderably over the past few years and theidentified risks and mitigating measures wereupdated once during the year, and will be up-dated again in early 2019.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 21
EVALUATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL CONTROL, INCLUDING OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS
In addition to the above, IPOL also operates anumber of other procedures and work practicesto continuously monitor and improve the com-pliance with the minimal norms for internal con-trol and their effective functioning.
For example, DG specific instructions on publicprocurement issues are also published and up-dated, including all relevant links to DG Fi-nance.
IPOL also runs an official working group to pro-mote knowledge and experience in the field ofprocurement and contract management. Thisgroup liaising with the Public Procurement Fo-rum is very useful to discuss and resolve issuesof concern for DG IPOL in detail, such as con-sequences of the new rules and their imple-mentation.
Regular meetings with all financial actors havealso been set up by the AO, implemented bythe Finance Unit, in order to continuously mon-itor and improve financial and contractual pro-cedures.
The AO has since many years operated a train-ing programme for newcomers, also includinga module on "financial circuits" to emphasisethe importance of correctly applying the exist-ing procurement, contractual and financialrules.
4.2 Assessment of the costsand benefits of the controls
Overall, the cost effectiveness of controls is as-sessed by the Resource Directorate in consul-tation with the Director General and his staff.This is done within the framework of the annualbudget procedure and the annual report proce-dure. By and large, the aspects of "methodol-ogy" and the DG´s approach are described andbuilt into the Annual Report itself.
It is considered that the effectiveness of con-trols and preventive measures is high with alarge degree of transparency, good coopera-tion and clear procedures, while at the sametime maintaining a lean establishment plan andan un-bureaucratic central structure.
In order to achieve efficiency of the control sys-tem, DG IPOL's scarce resources are gearedtowards preventing any erroneous and non-compliant expenditure in the first place, and itsworking methods were set up to achieve thisgoal.
Records of the overall results of financial con-trols are kept in the FINIP (IPOL Finance Unitinternal database) and FINORD, as well as inWeb-contracts. In our FINIP database the rec-ords include the following mandatory infor-mation:
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 22
EVALUATION AND EFFECTIVENESS OF INTERNAL CONTROL, INCLUDING OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF COST-EFFECTIVENESS
- identification of all transactions and opera-tions of the DG, together with the total amountof these items,
- identification of the ex-ante verifiers who car-ried out the control,
- information whether the result was positive ornegative, and, in case it was negative, it is re-ported as an exception or derogation describ-ing i.a. whether a) it referred to internal proce-dures or b) to contractual or regulatory provi-sions;
Importantly, DG IPOL also continued to dedi-cate a previously existing post of an ex-anteverifier purely for procurement issues and con-tractual advice as from January 2012. Thisstrategy has continued to give positive resultsduring the course of the last 6 years.
The focus on giving individual assistance to op-erational departments "ante ex-ante" i.e. be-fore submitting the files for the official ex-anteverification, thus continues in a successful way,preventing the risk of errors to a very high de-gree and thus keeping the error rate for legalityand regularity extremely low.
In connection with the Annual Report, the ex-isting measures are considered in the light of
the year in question. So far, they have alwaysbeen deemed appropriate and adequate.
Given the strong focus on ex-ante advice andchecks (preparative and preventive work) aswell as considering the annual budgets andstaff resources available, ex-post controls havenot been considered appropriate from the pointof view of cost-benefit. Full and strong cooper-ation is of course afforded to any actions in thisrespect by the Court of Auditors and/or the In-ternal Auditor.
4.3 Summary of internal andexternal audits
In the field of public procurement, DG IPOL hasconsistently implemented all recommended im-provements, included those by the internal au-ditor. Only one older issue remains: the crea-tion of a common database or webpage forsupplier quality assessment sheets. It shouldhowever be noted that these are already nowfully available through the Finance Unit. This is-sue is still pending mainly due to other prioritiesimposed by the legislator, such as the new Fi-nancial Management and Document Manage-ment Systems.
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 23
STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE
Annua l acti vity report 2018 DG !POL, European Parliament . 24
Statement of assurance
I, the undersigned; Riccardo Ribera d'Alealä
Director-General of Internal Policies
hereby declare, in my capacity as authorising officer by delegation, that I have reasonable assurance that:
- the information contained in the report presents a true and fair view;
- the resources assigned to the activities described in the report have been used for their intended purpose and in accordance with the principle of sound financial man- , agement;
- the control procedures put in place give the necessary guarantees concerning the le- gality and regularity of the underlying transactions.
This reasonable assurance is based on my own judgement and on the information at my disposal, such as the results of self-assessment and remarks by the Internal Audit Ser vice, as well as the lessons learned from the reports of the Court of Auditors for financial years prior to that for which this declaration is being made.
I also confirm that I am not aware of any fact not set down herein that could be prejudicial to the interests of the Institution.
Done at Brussels
On · 15102/2019
Si
STATEMENT OF ASSURANCE
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 25
DECLARATION D’ASSURANCE
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 26
ANNEXES
Annexes
I. Budgetary implementation overview
Annual activity report 2018DG IPOL, European Parliament 27
ANNEXES
IPOLCode Appropriation type Type de crédits EUR ou % Formule
Appropriations of 2018 Crédits 2018A Initial appropriations Crédits initiaux 5.571.000,00B Final appropriations Crédits finaux 5.355.000,00C Commitments Engagements 4.814.633,67D Commitments in % of final appropriations Engagements en % des credits finaux 90% D=C/BE Payments Paiements 2.019.060,55F Payments in % of commitments Paiements en % des engagements 42% F=E/CG Cancellations of 2018 final appropriations Annulations de crédits finaux 2018 540.366,33 G=B-C-K
HCancellations appropriations in % of finalappropriations
Annulations en % des crédits finaux 10% H=G/B
Appropriations carried overfrom 2018 to 2019
Crédits reportésde 2018 à 2019
I Automatic carryovers from 2018 to 2019Crédits reportés automatiquement de 2018à 2019
2.795.573,12 I=C-E
JAutomatic carryovers from 2018 to 2019 in %of commitments
Crédits reportés automatiquement de 2018à 2019 en % des engagements
58% J=I/C
K Non-automatic carryovers from 2018 to 2019Crédits reportés non-automatiquement de2018 à 2019
0
LNon-automatic carryovers from 2018 to 2019in % of final appropriations
Crédits reportés non-automatiquement de2018 à 2019 en % des crédits finaux
0% L=K/B
Appropriations carried overfrom 2017 to 2018
Crédits reportésde 2017 à 2018
M Automatic carryovers from 2017 to 2018Crédits reportés automatiquement de 2017à 2018
3.054.796,60
NPayments against automatic carryovers from2017 to 2018
Paiements sur crédits reportésautomatiquement de 2017 à 2018
2.929.560,10
OPayments against automatic carryovers from2017 to 2018 in % of automatic carryoversfrom 2017 to 2018
Paiements sur crédits reportésautomatiquement de 2017 à 2018 en %des crédits reportés automatiquement de2017 à 2018
96% O=N/M
PCancellations of automatic carryovers from2017 to 2018
Annulations de crédits reportésautomatiquement de 2017 à 2018
125.236,50 P=M-N
QCancellations of automatic carryovers from2017 to 2018 in % of automatic carryoversfrom 2017 to 2018
Annulations de crédits reportésautomatiquement de 2017 à 2018 en %des crédits reportés automatiquement de2017 à 2018
4% Q=P/M
R Non-automatic carryovers from 2017 to 2018Crédits reportés non-automatiquement de2017 à 2018
0,00
SPayments of non-automatic carryovers from2017 to 2018
Paiements sur crédits reportés non-automatiquement de 2017 à 2018
TPayments against non-automatic carryoversfrom 2017 to 2018 in % of non-automaticcarryovers from 2017 to 2018
Paiements sur crédits reportés non-automatiquement de 2017 à 2018 en %des crédits reportés non-automatiquementde 2017 à 2018
- T=S/R
UCancellations of non-automatic carryoversfrom 2017 to 2018
Annulations de crédits reportés non-automatiquement de 2017 à 2018
U= R-S
VCancellations of non-automatic carryoversfrom 2017 to 2018 in % of non-automaticcarryovers from 2017 to 2018
Annulations de crédits reportés non-automatiquement de 2017 à 2018 en %des crédits reportés non-automatiquementde 2017 à 2018
V=U/R
Assigned revenue in 2018 Recettes affectées 2018
WAppropriations from assigned revenue in 2018(current)
Crédits de recettes affectées courants2018
937,63
X Assigned revenue carried over to 2018Crédits de recettes affectées reportés à2018
0,00
YBalance of commitments on assigned revenuecarried over to 2018
Solde des engagements reportés à 2018sur crédits de dépenses spécifiques surrecettes affectées
0,00
ZPayments in 2018 against appropriations fromassigned revenue (current and carried-over)
Paiements sur crédits de recettes affectées2018 (courants et reportés)
0,00
AAPayments in 2018 against assigned revenue in% of assigned revenue in 2018 (current andcarried-over)
Paiements sur crédits de recettes affectées2018 en % des crédits de recettesaffectées 2018 (courants et reportés)
0% AA=Z/(W+X+Y)
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
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ANN
EXES
II.B
udge
t im
plem
enta
tion
stat
emen
t201
8
1.C
urre
ntap
prop
riatio
ns a
s at
the
end
of D
ecem
ber-
Fina
ncia
lye
ar 2
018
(nat
ure
0)
2.Au
tom
atic
car
ryov
ers
as a
t the
end
of D
ecem
ber-
Fina
ncia
lye
ar 2
018
(nat
ure
2)
3.N
on-a
utom
atic
car
ryov
ers
as a
t the
end
of D
ecem
ber-
Fina
n-ci
al y
ear 2
018
(nat
ure
6)N
/A
4.Sp
ecifi
c ex
pend
iture
app
ropr
iatio
ns/a
ssig
ned
reve
nue
as a
tth
e en
d of
Dec
embe
r-Fi
nanc
ial y
ear 2
018
(nat
ure
7)
5.Sp
ecifi
c ex
pend
iture
app
ropr
iatio
ns/a
ssig
ned
reve
nue
carri
edov
er a
s at
the
end
of D
ecem
ber-
Fina
ncia
l yea
r 201
8 (n
atur
e5)
N/A
6.Sp
ecifi
c ex
pend
iture
com
mitm
ents
/ass
igne
d re
venu
e ca
rried
over
as
at th
e en
d of
Dec
embe
r-Fi
nanc
ial y
ear 2
018
(nat
ure
3)N
/A
7.Sp
ecifi
c ex
pend
iture
app
ropr
iatio
ns/e
xter
nal a
ssig
ned
reve
nue
as a
t the
end
of D
ecem
ber-
Fina
ncia
l yea
r 201
8 (n
atur
e 9)
N/A
Ann
ex 6
.II.
1 -
Cur
rent
app
ropr
iati
ons
Sub-
item
Initial
appr
opriat
ions
Tran
sfer
s /
Amen
ding
Budg
ets
App
ropr
iation
sCo
mmitmen
tsdo
neApp
ropr
iation
sav
ailabl
e%
Committe
dPa
ymen
tsdo
neSt
ill t
o be
paid
% P
aid
12
34
56=
4-5
7=5/
48
9=5-
810
=8/5
1612
-02
* Fo
rmat
ion
prof
essi
onel
le85
.000
,00
0,00
85.0
00,0
052
.956
,56
32.0
43,4
462
,30%
44.1
11,5
68.
845,
0083
,30%
Tot
al c
hapt
er 1
685
.000
,00
0,00
85.0
00,0
052
.956
,56
32.0
43,4
462
,30%
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11,5
68.
845,
0083
,30%
0302
0-09
* F
rais
de
réce
ptio
n et
rep
rése
ntat
ion
com
m.p
arle
m.
66.0
00,0
00,
0066
.000
,00
39.6
29,0
826
.370
,92
60,0
4%24
.467
,21
15.1
61,8
761
,74%
0304
2-01
* R
éuni
ons
des
com
mis
sion
250.
000,
000,
0025
0.00
0,00
226.
662,
1423
.337
,86
90,6
6%20
8.79
7,35
17.8
64,7
992
,12%
Tot
al c
hapt
er 3
031
6.00
0,00
0,00
316.
000,
0026
6.29
1,22
49.7
08,7
884
,27%
233.
264,
5633
.026
,66
87,6
0%
0320
0-01
* A
cqui
sitio
ns d
'exp
ertis
e : p
oliti
ques
inte
rne
de l'
UE
5.11
5.00
0,00
-216
.000
,00
4.89
9.00
0,00
4.48
8.46
7,19
410.
532,
8191
,62%
1.73
4.76
5,73
2.75
3.70
1,46
38,6
5%03
220-
13 *
Liv
res
et in
scri
ptio
ns55
.000
,00
0,00
55.0
00,0
06.
918,
7048
.081
,30
12,5
8%6.
918,
700,
0010
0,00
%
Tot
al c
hapt
er 3
25.
170.
000,
00-2
16.0
00,0
04.
954.
000,
004.
495.
385,
8945
8.61
4,11
90,7
4%1.
741.
684,
432.
753.
701,
4638
,74%
TO
TA
L5.
571.
000,
00-2
16.0
00,0
05.
355.
000,
004.
814.
633,
6754
0.36
6,33
89,9
1%2.
019.
060,
552.
795.
573,
1241
,94%
Use
of
curr
ent
appr
opriat
ions
as
at 3
1 Dec
embe
r 20
18 (so
urce
: FI
NORD
)
Situ
ation
of c
urre
nt a
ppro
priation
sSi
tuat
ion
of p
aymen
ts
Ann
ex 6
.II.
2 -
App
ropr
iati
ons
carr
ied
over
fro
m 2
017
Sub-
item
App
ropr
iation
sca
rried
over
Paym
ents
don
eSt
ill t
o be
paid
% P
aid
12
34
= 2-
35
=
1612
-02
* Fo
rmat
ion
prof
essi
onel
le4.
352,
404.
348,
603,
8099
,91%
Tot
al c
hapt
er 1
64.
352,
404.
348,
603,
8099
,91%
0302
0-09
* F
rais
de
réce
ptio
n et
de
repr
ésen
tatio
n5.
098,
404.
374,
3972
4,01
85,8
0%03
042-
01 *
Réu
nion
s de
s co
mm
issi
on21
.400
,00
15.3
14,3
76.
085,
6371
,56%
Tot
al c
hapt
er 3
026
.498
,40
19.6
88,7
66.
809,
6474
,30%
0320
0-01
* A
cqui
sitio
ns d
'exp
ertis
e : p
oliti
ques
inte
rne
de l'
UE
3.02
3.94
5,80
2.90
5.52
2,74
118.
423,
0696
,08%
0322
0-13
* L
ivre
s et
insc
ript
ions
0,00
0,00
0,00
N.A
Tot
al c
hapt
er 3
23.
023.
945,
802.
905.
522,
7411
8.42
3,06
96,0
8%
TO
TA
L3.
054.
796,
602.
929.
560,
1012
5.23
6,50
95,9
0%
Use
of
appr
opriat
ions
car
ried
ove
r fr
om 2
017
as a
t 31
Dec
embe
r 20
18(sou
rce:
FIN
ORD
)
Situ
ation
of a
ppro
priation
s ca
rried
over
DG IPOL
Situation des crédits de dépenses spécifiques/RA
Exercice:
Page01/
Edité le
07/02/2019 à 15:32
2018
(en EUR)
01
03...
032..
0320.
03200
03200-01
Total Titre
Total Général
0,00
0,00
Acquisition d'expertise
Acquisition d'expertise : études, experts
et autres personnalités,
évaluation d'impact (politiques internes de
l
Poste
Intitulé
Virements
Crédits
an. cumulés.
Crédits
Actuels
Engagements
Contractés
%
Util.
Paiements
Effectués
Soldes des
Engag. E.C.
937,63
937,63
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
937,63
937,63
937,63
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
937,63
0,00
937,63
937,63
0,00
0,00
0,00
0,00
937,63
Crédits
Disponibles
03...
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
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ANN
EXES
III.
List
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tions
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from
the
rule
s
Annu
al a
ctiv
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port
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33
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Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
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34
ANN
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EVAN
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VER
/CAN
CEL
LATI
ON
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
8D
G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
35
ANN
EXES
IV.
Res
ults
of a
sses
smen
tsTh
ere
are
no p
osts
ava
ilabl
e in
DG
IPO
L fo
r ex-
post
eva
luat
ions
.
Onl
y in
the
fram
e of
the
annu
al c
arry
-ove
rexe
rcis
e, IP
OL
ex-a
nte
ver-
ifier
s m
ay c
ontro
l the
resp
ectiv
e tra
nsac
tions
ex-
post
bas
ed o
n co
stef
fect
iven
ess
and
perfo
rman
ce.
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
8D
G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
36
ANN
EXES
V.As
sess
men
t of t
he im
plem
enta
tion
of th
e m
inim
um in
tern
al c
ontr
ol s
tand
ards
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
8D
G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
37
ANN
EXES
SELF
-ASS
ESSM
ENT
SUM
MAR
Y TA
BLE
STAN
DAR
DAC
HIE
VED
ALM
OST
PAR
TLY
STAR
TED
TO B
EST
ARTE
D/N
.A.
Secti
on 1:
miss
ionsta
temen
t and
value
s
1.Du
ties
2.Et
hical
and o
rgan
isatio
nal v
alues
Secti
on 2:
Hum
an re
sour
ces
3.Al
locati
on of
staff
and m
obilit
y
4.St
aff as
sess
ment
and d
evelo
pmen
t
Secti
on 3:
Plan
ning a
nd ris
k man
agem
ent
5.Ob
jectiv
es an
d per
forma
nce i
ndica
tors
6.Ri
sk m
anag
emen
t pro
cess
Secti
on 4:
Oper
ation
s and
contr
ol ac
tivitie
s
7.Op
erati
onal
set-u
p
8.Pr
oces
ses a
nd pr
oced
ures
9.Su
pervi
sion b
yman
agem
ent
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
8D
G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
38
ANN
EXES
STAN
DAR
DAC
HIE
VED
ALM
OST
PAR
TLY
STAR
TED
TO B
EST
ARTE
D/N
.A.
10.B
usine
ss co
ntinu
ity
11.D
ocum
ent m
anag
emen
t
Secti
on 5:
Infor
matio
n and
finan
cial re
portin
g
12.In
forma
tion a
nd co
mmun
icatio
n
13.A
ccou
nting
and f
inanc
ial in
forma
tion
Secti
on 6:
Evalu
ation
and a
uditin
g
14.E
valua
tion o
f acti
vities
15.E
valua
tion o
f inter
nal c
ontro
l sys
tems
16.A
uditr
epor
ts
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
8D
G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
39
ANN
EXES
CO
MM
ENTS
ON
TH
E O
UTC
OM
E O
F TH
E AN
NU
AL S
ELF-
ASSE
SSM
ENT
OF
MIC
S PE
RFO
RM
ANC
E
Stan
dard
s as
sess
ed a
s ‘a
chie
ved’
–go
od p
ract
ices
List
ofe
xam
ples
(N°
of s
tand
ard(
s) in
bra
cket
s):
R
ole,
obj
ectiv
es a
nd m
anda
tepu
blis
hed
on IP
OLn
et(1
);
R
egul
ar tr
aini
ng fo
r new
com
ers
(2);
St
aff a
lloca
tion
and
recr
uitm
ent b
ased
on
IPO
L’s
need
s an
d pr
iorit
ies;
(3);
D
ialo
gue
with
line
man
ager
for a
nnua
l ass
essm
ent i
n pl
ace
(3, 4
);
O
bjec
tives
of t
he D
G a
re d
efin
ed a
nd c
omm
unic
ated
eac
h ye
ar (5
);
C
ompi
latio
n of
bo
th
oper
atio
nal
and
stra
tegi
c m
etric
s si
nce
01.0
7.20
16; I
POL
lead
indi
cato
r (ac
tive
invo
lvem
ent o
f int
erna
l act
ors
inal
l sta
ges
of th
e le
gisl
ativ
e cy
cle)
end
orse
din
201
7(5
);
W
eekl
y m
onito
ring
of m
ain
budg
et im
plem
enta
tion
done
by
the
DG
'sFi
nanc
e U
nit i
n co
oper
atio
n w
ith a
ll op
erat
iona
l dep
artm
ents
(5);
IP
OL
Ris
kR
egis
ter
upda
ted
regu
larly
in c
lose
coo
pera
tion
with
and
assi
stan
ce fr
om th
e EP
Ris
kM
anag
er (6
);
D
eleg
atio
n of
pow
ers
esta
blis
hed;
iden
tific
atio
n of
sen
sitiv
e po
sts
and
miti
gatio
n pr
oced
ures
in p
lace
as
wel
l as
staf
f mob
ility;
list o
f IPO
L Fi
nan-
cial
Age
nts
tabl
e pu
blis
hed
on IN
TRAn
et (7
);
Fi
nanc
ial c
ircui
ts in
line
with
Fin
anci
alR
egul
atio
n in
pla
ce a
nd p
ub-
lishe
d on
IPO
Lnet
; de
taile
d ch
eckl
ists
for
initi
atio
n,ve
rific
atio
n an
d ar
-ch
ivin
g co
ntin
uous
ly u
pdat
ed a
nd p
ublis
hed
(8);
Ex
cept
ions
and
Der
ogat
ions
are
regi
ster
ed in
the
Fina
nce
Uni
t's d
ata
base
FIN
IP a
nd in
Web
Con
tract
s (8
);
Bu
dget
fol
low
-up
figur
es o
n ev
ery
agen
da o
f th
eD
irect
ors’
(AO
S)w
eekl
y m
eetin
gs (9
)
O
n a
polit
ical
leve
l, th
eC
onfe
renc
e of
Com
mitt
ee C
hairs
revi
ews
the
budg
et in
Sep
tem
ber f
orpo
tent
iala
djus
tmen
ts a
nd re
-allo
catio
ns in
ac-
cord
ance
with
the
Com
mitt
ees’
need
s (9
)
Ba
ck-u
p in
pla
ce to
ens
ure
the
cont
inui
ty o
f ope
ratio
ns;(
10).
Fi
nanc
iala
rchi
ves,
of t
he D
G c
entra
lised
and
man
aged
by
in th
e D
G's
Fina
nce
unit;
all
proc
edur
es p
ublis
hed;
in a
dditi
on, d
estru
ctio
n o
f all
fi-na
ncia
l doc
umen
ts f
ulfil
ling
the
con
ditio
ns e
stab
lishe
d b
y D
G IP
OL'
sR
eten
tion
Sche
dule
Doc
umen
t (11
, 12)
;
R
ules
pub
lishe
d on
IPO
LNET
(12,
13)
;
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
8D
G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
40
ANN
EXES
Stan
dard
s as
sess
ed a
s ‘a
lmos
t ach
ieve
d’–
furt
her w
ork
re-
quire
d
El
abor
atio
n of
IPO
L bu
sine
ss c
ontin
uity
pla
n in
pro
gres
s(1
0);
O
n-go
ing
regu
lar u
pdat
e an
d re
visi
on o
f tai
lor-m
ade
IPO
L te
mpl
ates
and
best
pra
ctic
ein
pro
cure
men
t.Fu
ll ha
rmon
isat
ion
of I
POL
spec
ific
mod
els
for a
ll pr
oced
ures
in p
lace
(8).
A m
ajor
che
ck a
nd u
p-da
te o
f on-
line
base
d m
anua
ls /
tem
plat
es o
f fin
anci
al a
nd c
ontra
ctua
l pro
cedu
res
on th
e ne
w IP
OL
web
site
is b
eing
don
e si
nce
it ha
s be
en la
unch
ed in
Oct
ober
2014
. Mor
eove
r, co
ntin
uous
feed
ing
of a
“NEW
S" s
ectio
n in
Fi-
nanc
e U
nit's
web
-site
con
tain
ing
the
late
st re
plie
s to
rele
vant
que
stio
nsby
the
finan
cial
act
ors
allo
ws
impr
oved
effi
cien
cy o
f com
mun
icat
ion
with
all f
inan
cial
age
nts
and
Com
mitt
ee S
ecre
taria
ts(1
2);
Fo
llow
-up
a co
ntin
uous
im
plem
enta
tion
of r
ecom
men
datio
ns (
e.g.
IPO
L w
orki
ng g
roup
to im
prov
e ef
ficie
ncy
ofpr
ocur
emen
t act
iviti
es).
In20
18IP
OL
‘Neg
otia
ted
Proc
edur
e’ t
empl
ates
with
3 an
d 5
cand
idat
esha
vebe
enup
date
d by
the
offic
ialI
POL
wor
king
gro
upon
pro
cure
men
tan
d co
ntra
ct m
anag
emen
tto
fully
ada
pt th
em to
the
2016
and
2018
revi
-si
ons
of th
eFi
nanc
ial R
egul
atio
n (8
);
An
nual
rev
isio
n of
con
trol f
ram
ewor
k in
con
nect
ion
with
the
ann
ual
activ
ity r
epor
t. Su
ch a
“m
etho
d” s
houl
d st
ill be
bet
ter
defin
ed,
even
thou
gh th
e co
ntro
l fra
mew
ork
is c
ontin
uous
ly m
onito
red
and
impr
oved
,no
tabl
y th
roug
h th
e Fi
nanc
e U
nit a
nd p
artic
ular
ly th
e us
e of
the
DG
sw
ebpa
ges
(15)
Stan
dard
s as
sess
ed a
s ‘p
artly
ach
ieve
d’ o
r ‘st
arte
d’–
wea
k-ne
sses
and
pra
ctic
esN
A Stan
dard
s as
sess
ed a
s ‘to
be
star
ted’
or ‘
non-
appl
icab
le’
NA
Oth
er c
omm
ents
Fr
om a
pur
ely
polit
ical
asp
ect,
cont
rol s
tand
ard
5 is
, how
ever
, par
tially
non-
appl
icab
le. T
his
is d
ue to
the
fact
that
the
mos
t im
porta
nt o
bjec
tives
of th
e D
G a
re o
f a p
oliti
cal n
atur
e an
d m
ostly
dep
end
on p
oliti
cal d
eci-
sion
s. T
hey
do n
ot l
end
them
selv
es e
asily
to
mea
sure
men
t th
roug
hqu
antit
ativ
e in
dica
tors
. In
his
rece
nt a
udit
repo
rt n°
16/
18 o
n th
e An
nual
Activ
ity R
epor
ting,
the
Inte
rnal
Aud
itor
conf
irmed
the
spec
ific
natu
re o
f“p
oliti
cal
DG
s” c
ompa
red
to p
urel
y “a
dmin
istra
tive
DG
s” a
nd r
ecom
-m
ende
d th
at th
e fu
ture
obj
ectiv
e-se
tting
fram
ewor
k fo
r the
ann
ual r
epor
t-in
g sh
ould
take
this
diff
eren
ce b
ette
r int
o ac
coun
t.
M
ulti-
annu
al p
rogr
amm
ing
is n
ot a
n in
tegr
al p
art o
f the
cur
rent
sys
tem
of a
n an
nual
"ad
min
istra
tive
wor
k pr
ogra
m".
With
the
intro
duct
ion
of a
"Stra
tegi
c Ex
ecut
ion
Fram
ewor
k" (
SEF)
, m
ultia
nnua
l as
pect
s fe
atur
em
ore
prom
inen
tly.
Annu
al a
ctiv
ity re
port
201
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G IP
OL,
Eur
opea
n Pa
rliam
ent
41
ANN
EXES
Th
e D
Gdo
es n
ot o
pera
te a
n ex
-pos
t eva
luat
ion
syst
em. G
iven
the
need
to
care
fully
wei
gh t
he b
enef
its o
f su
ch c
ontro
ls c
ompa
red
to th
ere
sour
ces
need
ed to
impl
emen
t the
m, i
t is
cons
ider
ed m
uch
mor
e ef
fec-
tive
to c
once
ntra
te li
mite
d re
sour
ces
on e
x-an
te c
ontro
ls in
conj
unct
ion
with
con
tinuo
us in
form
atio
n an
d tra
inin
g. T
his
is p
artic
ular
ly s
o gi
ven
the
DG
s re
lativ
ely
mod
est
annu
al b
udge
t. N
ever
thel
ess,
inf
orm
al e
x-po
stco
ntro
ls c
an b
e m
ade
whe
n de
emed
per
tinen
t.