Sittings · Document
On the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) No 649/2012 and (EU) 2019/1021
Committee on Budgets · Rapporteur: Hélder Sousa Silva
BUDGETARY ASSESSMENT
for the Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) No 649/2012 and (EU) 2019/1021
(COM(2025)0386 – C100141/2025 – 2025/0207(COD))
The Committee on Budgets has carried out a budgetary assessment of the proposal under Rule 58 of the Rules of Procedure and has reached the following conclusions:
The Committee on Budgets,
– having regard to Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (Financial Regulation),
– having regard to Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2020/2093 of 17 December 2020 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the years 2021 to 2027,
A. whereas this proposal is aimed at strengthening the governance of the European Chemicals Agency (the Agency), while enabling it to effectively perform the tasks assigned to it under existing legislation and allowing its mandate to evolve in line with new responsibilities arising from adopted or forthcoming initiatives;
B. whereas the Agency is partially self-financed, with sources of income deriving from three different regulations; whereas this has required the establishment of three separate budgets and staffing plans, leading to operational inflexibility and a significant administrative burden; whereas the fees received by the Agency are highly volatile and non-linear in terms of amount and timing, mainly as a result of their one-off nature and their dependence on the strategic decisions of chemicals industry players;
C. whereas the Joint Statement of Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 19 July 2012 on decentralised agencies was signed by the three institutions after the creation of the Agency;
D. whereas in 2025, fees charged to industry accounted for around 30 % of the Agency’s general revenues, with fees charged under the REACH Regulation and the CLP Regulation representing the largest share of those fees;
E. whereas revenues from REACH fees are extremely difficult to forecast, as they are usually one-off and there is a reduction of up to 95 % for small and medium-sized enterprises;
F. whereas the Agency currently operates under a universal budgeting model, whereby revenues derived from fees charged to the chemicals industry and the balancing contribution from the EU are not segregated, possibly creating cross-subsidisation between the two;
1. Insists that the resources allocated to the Agency must be in line with the tasks entrusted to it, and notes that, at this stage, the proposal appears to provide sufficient financial and human resources for the planned changes, since the proposal’s estimated financial impact for the remaining period of the current multiannual financial framework (MFF) is limited to EUR 0.577 million in staff expenditure as operational appropriations under Heading 1, and an estimated EUR 2.956 million in administrative appropriations for the post-2027 MFF;
2. Stresses that, should additional responsibilities be granted to the Agency in the course of the negotiations, the financial implications will need to be assessed and the legislative financial and digital statement accompanying the proposal will have to be revised accordingly, in order to ensure that the financial and human resources allocated by the legislative proposal match the tasks entrusted to the Agency;
3. Reiterates that any new tasks entrusted to decentralised agencies should be financed through fresh appropriations, and that redeployments from other programmes and priorities should be limited and examined with due care;
4. Welcomes the abolition of the requirement for segregated budgets and their grouping into a single budget line for the EU budget contribution to the Agency, which simplifies the Agency’s budgeting model, enhances transparency and allows for year-on-year comparisons, taking into consideration the additional tasks attributed to the Agency;
5. Welcomes the abolition of the requirement for segregated staffing plans, which removes operational impediments that affect the management of human resources, thus allowing the Agency to better adjust staff allocations in the light of its workload and thereby improve its productivity;
6. Underlines the importance of regularly assessing the level of fees in the light of changes in costs, in line with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715;
7. Considers that, given the volatility of the revenues received by the Agency from fees and charges, the creation of a reserve for the Agency promotes the long-term sustainability of its financial model, increases its resilience to possible future crises and protects the financial interests of the EU’s budget and taxpayers; affirms that the creation of a reserve for the Agency makes it, at present, an exception among partially self-funded EU decentralised agencies, and requires close monitoring of the Agency’s operations as well as assessment in the near future;
8. Determines that the proposal is compatible with the MFF, the system of own resources, the Interinstitutional Agreement of 16 December 2020 and the budgetary principles laid down in the Financial Regulation.
AMENDMENTS
As part of its budgetary assessment, the Committee on Budgets also submits the following amendments to the proposal:
Amendment 1
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 25
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| 25. The Agency has experienced difficulties to accurately predict the income from fees and charges even with the most advanced statistical techniques due to the paucity of information on the drivers of demand from duty holders. This impacts the operations of the Agency and requires recurrent amendments to the budget by the Management Board. Therefore, the Agency should be allowed to create a reserve from the surplus of its revenues from fees and charges, subject to the conditions set out in this Regulation. This will allow the Agency to mitigate the consequences of large fluctuation in income from fees and charges. Specifically, the creation of such reserve will allow the Agency to increase the sustainability of its financing model without prejudice to the annual Union contribution and multiannual financial programming. The detailed rules on the parameters, the calculation and the operation of the reserve should be laid down in the Agency’s financial rules and should include the requirements set out in this Regulation. The calculation of the amount of the annual contribution to the reserve or of the amount made available from the reserve, to be included in the draft budget of the Agency, should follow a methodology mechanically applied by the Agency every year. | 25. The Agency has experienced difficulties to accurately predict the income from fees and charges even with the most advanced statistical techniques due to the paucity of information on the drivers of demand from duty holders. The Agency commits to continuously improve its forecasting methods. This impacts the operations of the Agency and requires recurrent amendments to the budget by the Management Board. Therefore, the Agency should be allowed to create a reserve from the surplus of its revenues from fees and charges, subject to the conditions set out in this Regulation. This will allow the Agency to mitigate the consequences of large fluctuation in income from fees and charges. Specifically, the creation of such reserve will allow the Agency to increase the sustainability of its financing model without prejudice to the annual Union contribution and multiannual financial programming. The detailed rules on the parameters, the calculation and the operation of the reserve should be laid down in the Agency’s financial rules and should include the requirements set out in this Regulation. The calculation of the amount of the annual contribution to the reserve or of the amount made available from the reserve, to be included in the draft budget of the Agency, should follow a methodology mechanically applied by the Agency every year. The establishment of such a reserve for a partially self-financed EU agency operating under the universal budgetary model is a unique case and does not set a precedent for other EU agencies. |
Amendment 2
Proposal for a regulation
Recital 38 a (new)
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| (38a) The implications of this Regulation for the Union budget have been assessed+ pursuant to Article 310(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Sufficient financial and human resources should be provided for its implementation, while considering the impact of the financing on other Union programmes or policies and ensuring its compatibility with the multiannual financial framework, the system of own resources and the corresponding interinstitutional agreement, as well as with the budgetary principles laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council[1]. | |
| ____________________ | |
| + Pro memoria: Budgetary assessment of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets of (XX) 2026 on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Chemicals Agency and amending Regulations (EC) No 1907/2006, (EU) No 528/2012, (EU) No 649/2012 and (EU) 2019/1021 (COM(2025)0386). | |
| [1] Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2024 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (OJ L, 2024/2509, 26.9.2024, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/2509/oj). |
Amendment 3
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 4 a (new)
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| 4a. Fees and charges levied under Union sectoral legislation shall be set at a level sufficient to cover the costs of the services provided in accordance with that legislation; |
Amendment 4
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 4 b (new)
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| 4b. Within the limits of the budget adopted in accordance with Union budgetary rules, the Agency shall determine the internal allocation of financial resources across its activities and tasks, in line with its mandate and programming documents. |
Amendment 5
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 5 – point a
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| (a) the Agency shall make contributions to the reserve solely from end-of-year budget results within the meaning of Article 99(4) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715, where those results are positive and stemming from fee and charges revenues collected that are higher than the budgeted amounts in a given year; | (a) the Agency shall make contributions to the reserve solely from end-of-year budget results within the meaning of Article 99(4) of Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715, where those results are positive and stemming from fee and charges revenues collected that are higher than the budgeted amounts in the last amended budget approved by the Agency Management Board in a given year; |
Amendment 6
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 5 – point b
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| (b) at any moment, the reserve included in the year N in the draft budget for the year N+1 shall not exceed 8% of the total actual amount realised in the year N-1 of the Agency’s revenues from the fees and charges referred to in paragraph 3, point (b) and the Union contribution referred to in paragraph 3, point (a), and shall also not exceed 8% of the Agency’s total actual amount of the administrative and operational expenditure realised in the year N-1, whatever amount is lower; | (b) at any moment, the reserve included in the year N in the draft budget for the year N+1 shall not exceed 15% of the average of the total actual amount realised in the last five years of the Agency’s revenues from the fees and charges referred to in paragraph 3, point (b); |
Amendment 7
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 5 – point c a (new)
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| (ca) the Agency shall report annually, as part of its Annual Activity Report, on the reserve’s opening balance, inflows, outflows, and justifications. |
Amendment 8
Proposal for a regulation
Article 29 – paragraph 6
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| 6. The Commission may review the conditions for the reserve set out in paragraph 5, and is empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 46(1) to amend paragraph 5 on the basis of such review. | 6 The Commission shall present an assessment of the functioning of the reserve to the European Parliament and to the Council at the end of the fourth year of operation of the reserve. Where appropriate, the Commission shall present a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and to the Council with a view to adapting the reserve. |
Amendment 9
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 – paragraph 2 a (new)
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| 2a. The Agency shall monitor its costs and the Executive Director shall provide, in a timely manner as part of the Annual Activity Report delivered to the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission and the Court of Auditors, detailed and substantiated information on the costs to be covered by fees and charges that are within the scope of this Regulation. |
Amendment 10
Proposal for a regulation
Article 30 a (new)
| Text proposed by the Commission | Amendment |
| Article 30a | |
| Revision of the fees | |
| 1. No later than ... [two years after the date of application of this Regulation] and every three year thereafter, the Commission shall evaluate the budgetary adequacy and adapt accordingly the fees payable to the Agency, notably with regard to ensuring that the revenue derived from the fees when combined with other sources of the Agency’s revenue is sufficient to cover the cost of the services delivered. | |
| 2. No later than two years after the [date of application of this Regulation] and every three years thereafter, the Commission shall report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the budgetary adequacy of the fees payable to the Agency and on the coherence and consolidation of the fees. |
ANNEX: DECLARATION OF INPUT
Pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure, The rapporteur for budgetary assessment declares under his exclusive responsibility that he did not include in his budgetary assessment input from interest representatives falling within the scope of the Interinstitutional Agreement on a mandatory transparency register, or from representatives of public authorities of third countries, including their diplomatic missions and embassies, to be listed in this Annex pursuant to Article 8 of Annex I to the Rules of Procedure.