Evaluation results: the assessment of chafea's performancein 2014-2016

• Author: CSES, Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (European Commission), Maastricht University, PPMI
• Pages: 24-105

Study suppo rti ng t he eva luat ion of t he op erat ion of t he Consu m er s, Heal th,

Agr icult ure an d Food Execu tiv e Agen cy ( 201 4-2016)

24

4. EVALU ATI ON RESULTS: THE ASSESSM ENT OF CH AFEA’S

PERFORM ANCE I N 20 14 - 2 016

4.1 . Ta sk 2: Effe cti ven ess, ef ficie ncy an d co her enc e

4.1 . 1 . Eff ectivene ss

In assessi ng the eff ect iven ess o f CHAFEA’s perfor mance in 2 014-20 16, t he evaluation

team fir st reviewed the actual op er at ions of CHAFEA and t o what ext ent t hey w ere in

lin e wi th the legal fram ewor k establ ishing t he Agency . Du ring the ev aluation, evi dence

was d ocum ent ed via desk research, analysis of t he relevant legal ( Com m i ssion

Decisions, D elegation Acts) and oper at ional ( AWPs and programm es, AARs and MoU

bet ween th e Agency and the parent DGs) documents, findings from t he f ir st set of

intervi ews with EC an d CHAFEA officials, surv eys of b eneficiar ies and ext ernal ex perts,

pr evious CBA st udie s and staff satisfa ction surv eys.

The followi ng thr ee k ey decisi on s changed the legal framew or k of CHAFEA du ring ou r

reference p eriod:

 Adop tion of t he Multi-annu al Financial Framework ( MFF) 2014- 2 020 on

2 Decem ber 20 13, laying down the m ulti-annual financial framew or k for the

year s 20 14-2020;1 0

 Adoption of t he Com mission Implement ing Decision of 17 December 201 3

(Est ab li shment Act of the Agency) No 20 13/ 770/ EC11 establishin g t he

Consum ers, Health and Food Execut i ve Agency and repealing Decision

2004 / 8 58/ EC;

 Adop tion of t he Commissi on I m p lementing Deci sion of 17 Decem b er 201 4 No

2014 / 9 27/ EU12 amending I m plem ent ing Decision 2013 / 7 70/ EU to transfor m

th e Consu mer s, Healt h an d Food Executi ve Agency into t he Consu mer s, Healt h,

Agr icult ure an d Food Execu tiv e Agen cy ( CHAFEA).

Our o verall approach to t ask 2 .1 focu sed on assessing t h e link between t he Ag en cy ’s

mandat e/r esponsibili ties and it s ext ernal govern ance fr amework, laid down by t he k ey

dev elop m en t s ou t li ned ab ov e, and t he key en ablers all ow ing CHAFEA t o perform its

tasks according to t he work programm es and needs of relev an t stakeholders. Below

we present the fin dings f or t he eff ectiveness p art of th e stud y.

To w hat e xten t w as t he CH AFEA op era ting a ccording t o t he le gal framew ork

estab lish ing it?

Based on t h e an al ysis of desk r esear ch and interview data, t h e ov er all r esu lt of our

evaluation for this question is that the Ag e ncy r e sp ect e d its l egal f r am e w or k in

10 Council Regula tion (EU, Eurat om ) No 131 1/ 2013 of 2 Decem b er 20 13 l aying dow n t he m ult i-

ann ua l fin ancial fr amew ork fo r t he y ears 2014-202 0 ( 201 3). OJL 347 , p . 88 4. < htt ps: / / eur-

lex.europa.eu/ legal-con te nt/ EN/ TXT/ ?ur i= CELEX% 3A3 20 13R1 31 1> .

11 Est abli shing Act (2013): Comm ission Im ple ment ing Decisi on 2 013/ 77 0/ EU of

17 December 20 13 estab lishin g t he ‘Con sum ers, Healt h an d Food Execut ive Agenc y’ an d

rep ealin g Deci sion 2004 /8 58/ EC. < ht t ps:/ / eu r-lex .europa.eu/ legal-

cont ent / EN/TXT/ ?ur i= cel ex: 32 013 D07 70> .

12 Est abli shing Act (2014): Comm ission Im ple ment ing Decisi on 2 014/ 92 7/ EU of

17 December 20 14 amen ding Im plem ent ing Decisio n 20 13/ 770 /EU i n or der to tran sfor m t he

‘Consu mer s, He alth and Food Ex ecuti ve Ag ency’ int o t he ‘Con sume rs, H ealth , Ag ricul tur e and

Food Execut ive Agency . Thi s new reg ulat ion s ervin g as legal basis for the exec utio n of the

pr omot ion actio ns wa s ado pted in 2014 and ent ered int o fo rce at t he en d of 201 5.

2014/927/EU, OJ L 3 63. < htt ps: / / eur-lex .eur opa.eu/ l egal-

cont ent / en/ ALL/ ?uri = CELEX: 320 14D 092 7> .

Study suppo rti ng t he eva luat ion of t he op erat ion of t he Consu m er s, Heal th,

Agr icult ure an d Food Execu tiv e Agen cy ( 201 4-2016)

25

2014 - 201 6. Despi t e an i ncrease in t he scope of i ts act ivities, the Agen cy successfull y

accomm od at ed the han dover of the n ew in format ion provisi on and pr om ot ion

measur es concerni ng agri cult ural product s im plem ent ed in t he in t er nal m ark et an d in

th ird count r ies. Followin g an extensiv e preparation process in 201 5-20 16, CHAFEA

support ed th e Com m ission servi ces by effectively contributing to th e objectiv es

pursued by the new pr og ram m es. Th ese p rogram m es w ere desi gned on t he pr inci pl e

of co mpl ement arity of EU acti ons as well as th e prom otion of coordi nation bet wee n t he

authorities of the Mem bers St ates responsible f or Healt h and Consum er issues. 1 3

CHAFEA’s activities in 2014-201 6, as planned in t he AWP and repor t ed in the An nu al

Activit y Reports, corr esp onded to th e tasks set out in t he relev ant Com m ission

Deci sion and the Delegat ion Act.

The Establishm ent Act of the Ag ency No 2 013 / 770/ EC adopted at the en d of 2013

served as the legal basis for the implem en tat ion of t he Public Healt h Program m e,

Consum er Programm e an d Food Saf et y Train in g Measures. In addi tion, th e Agency

was m andat ed w it h t h e im plem ent at ion of the legacy pr ogram m es in the

cor resp ondi ng areas.

The Ag en cy’s mandat e w as extended b y t he new Com m ission Implem en tin g Decision

No 2014 / 9 27/ EU,1 4 w hich cam e int o effect on 1 Jan uary 201 4. The k ey change

intr oduced by th e new Com m ission Implem enting Deci sion was th e ex tensi on of the

Agency ’s mandate. CHAFEA assum ed the m anagem ent of the inf or m at ion provision

and prom ot ion measu res concer ning agricultural products implem ented in th e internal

market and in t hir d countries as wel l as the coordination of high -level m i ssions. I n

relat i on to th e m an agem ent of the Publi c Healt h Progr amm e, Consum er Programm e

and Food Saf et y Tr aining Measures, the p rovisions rem ained the same as in t he

previou s Com m ission Implem en tin g Decision No 201 3/ 770/ EC. No changes w ere

foreseen or introdu ced in relat ion to t he provision of logistical an d administrat iv e

support to the specific program m es ( …), w hich w as foreseen in t he 20 13 Decisi on.

How ever , the new m and at e also t rig gered ch an ges in th e governance of CHAFEA as

new parent DGs, nam ely t h e Direct or ate-Gen eral for Just ice an d Con sumer s,

Directorat e-Ge nera l for Agri cult ure and Rural Dev elopment and Director at e-Gener al

for I nternal Mar ket , I ndustry , Entrepr en eur sh ip and SMEs, j oined t he Steer ing

Com m ittee.

The new decision indicated that CHAFEA w as r esp on sible f or the impl em ent ation of

technical proj ect s, which do not en t ail political decision -m ak in g but do requ ir e a high

lev el of techn ical and financial ex pert ise th roughout t he p roject cycle ( as pr ov ided f or

by Decision 2013 ) .15 This allowed the Com m ission t o specify t he ty pes of suppor t in

13 CHAFEA ( 2015a), 20 14 Annual Act ivit y Rep ort.

<ht tps: / / ec. eu ropa.eu/ info/ si tes/ info/ f iles/ activity- r epo rt- 2014-dg-sant e_aug ust 2 01 5_ en.pdf> ,

p.5.

14 Est abli shing Act (2014).

15 Ma nagem ent of the Public Healt h Prog ram me for the year s 20 08 t o 2 013 adop ted by D ecision

No 1350 /2 007/ EC, t he Co nsum er Pro gram me for the year s 20 07 to 2 013 adop ted by Decisio n

19 26/ 200 6/ EC, t he f ood safet y t rain ing measu res co vere d by Dir ectiv e 20 00/ 29/ EC, Reg ulat ion

(EC) No 8 82/ 200 4, Regulat ion (EC) No 19 05/ 20 06 an d De cision C(20 12) 15 48 an d t he

ma nagem ent of the agr eemen t w ith ANEC gov erne d by Regul atio n ( EU) No 1 025/ 20 12, all of

wh ich ar e cu rren tly im plem ente d by th e Agen cy, as we ll as the ma nagem ent of the Consum er

Prog ramm e f or t he years 201 4 t o 20 20 (6) , t he Pub lic Hea lth Pro gram me for the year s 20 14 to

20 20 ( 7) and the food safe ty trai ning me asures cover ed b y Reg ulat ion (EC) No 88 2/2 004 and

Dir ectiv e 20 00/ 29/ EC inv olve im plem entat ion of t echni cal p roj ects w hich do n ot entai l pol itica l

deci sion-m akin g an d re quir e a h igh level of t echn ical a nd f inanci al ex pert ise t hro ughou t t he

proj ect cycle.

Study suppo rti ng t he eva luat ion of t he op erat ion of t he Consu m er s, Heal th,

Agr icult ure an d Food Execu tiv e Agen cy ( 201 4-2016)

26

other docum ents, such as the Deleg ation Act and t he MoU1 6 signed at th e end of 20 16

bet ween CHAFEA and it s parent DGs. Sp ecific provisions of the MoU are an alysed in

greater det ail in subsequ en t quest ions in t h e effect iv eness and coherence p art s

(please r ef er to sect i on 4.1.3) of t he stu dy relat ing t o policy coher en ce. Thr ou gh ou t

th ese sect ions, t he eva lu ation h ig hlig hts several cases which imply that t h e Agency

played a key r ol e in the im plementation of cert ain tasks wh ich cou ld be r egar ded as

having hig h policy r elevan ce (i.e. high-level missions in t he Prom otion of Agricultu ral

Produ ct s Programm e involvin g the Com m issioner and som e procur ement services in

th e area of Substances of hum an origin ( SOHO) and Tobacco cont r ol ) . They al so

suggest t hat t h e Agency’s parent DGs could have potentially engaged in mi cro-

management of t h e Agency’s activit ies, and reveal ot her i ssues that h av e had

im plicat ions f or th e ef fect iven ess and coh erence of t he Agency’ s act ivi ties.

W as the operat ion of th e CHAFEA fle x ible e nou gh t o a cco m m od ate k ey

chan ges ( e sp . t hose ind uce d by t h e e x t e nde d m and a t e) , at the sa m e tim e

m aintain ing co ncor dance w it h t he legal f ra mew ork est ablishi ng the Agen cy?

CHAFEA’s operation was flex ible enough to accom m odate k ey changes w hich were

effect ivel y and sm oothly i ntr oduced (part icul arly in relation to t he Agency ’s extended

mandat e in 2014 ) . At the sam e t ime, t he Agency operated according t o t he legal

fram ework establishing it . Below w e presen t the k ey changes t hat affect ed CHAFEA’s

per for m ance bet w een 201 4-2016 and th e act ions t aken by t he Agency t o flexibly

adj ust its int ernal opera tion s and pr ocedures t o t he em erg ing chall enges and needs.

Key ch ange 1: im plem e ntation of the new M FF an d p rov isio ns of t he

I nt erinst itutional A gre ement

As m ent ioned in section 3.5, th e m ulti-annual finan cial (MFF) fr am ework 20 14- 202 0

cam e in to eff ect in 201 4. Based on t he MFF, the Comm issio n ser vices had to outsource

an incr ea sed share of t h e new sp endi ng pr og ram m es to the ex ecut i ve agencies. The

delegation package adopted in 201 3 pr ovid ed a baseli ne for t he r esour ces of execut ive

agencies f or the 201 4-20 20 period. Any fur ther delegation of task s to an EA also h ad

to be compat ible with the overall 5% staff reduction in all in stitut ions, agencies and

bod ies in accord ance wi th the Int eri nstit uti onal Agreem ent of 2 Decem ber 20 13.

These developm ent s con st ituted t he fir st maj or change t o the Agency ’s oper at ional

fram ework. CHAFEA ensur ed an eff ect i ve m anagem ent of t h e delegated progr ammes

fol lowing th e sta ffin g all ocati ons f oreseen in th e 20 13 CBA and u pdat ed SFS duri ng t he

first year of i m plementation of the progr ammes under t h e new MFF. I n t er v iews

revealed , however, that lim it ed resources allocat ed to t he horizontal fu nction s of t he

Agency , and it s relatively sm all size, p osed additional risks for CHAFEA. For m ore

det ails, please refer t o specific questions relat in g t o int ernal or ganisat ion and hum an

resou rce man agem ent in se ctio n 4.1.2 .

The late adopt ion of t he 2 014 AWP, wh ich also posed a challenge to the Agency’s

funct ioning in the Public Healt h area. For instance, ar ound 2 0-25 % of plann ed t enders

in t he Health pr ogramm e were n ot im plemented following the formal adoption of the

AWP an d Financing Decision. Aim ing t o en sure its r eadin ess, CHAFEA had completed

th e preparat ory w or k for all t he procurem en t s foreseen in the draft AWP and financial

16 CHAFEA, DG S ANTE, DG Agric ultu re a nd Rur al D evelo pmen t an d DG Just ice a nd Con sum ers

(2016), Mem oran dum of Under stand ing betw een the Cons umer s, H ealth , Ag ricul tur e and Food

Execu tiv e Ag ency and DG He alt h an d Food Saf ety , DG Agri cult ure and Rura l Dev elop men t, DG

Just ice a nd Co nsum ers, DG Int ern al m ar ket , I ndu stry , En tre pren eur ship and SMEs - Modal ities

and Proced ures of I nte ract ion. Docum ent Vers ion 1 .00 dat ed 0 9/ 12/ 201 6 14 :1 9.