Legal status
1. Eurofound shall be a Union agency. It shall have legal personality.
2. In each of the Member States Eurofound shall enjoy the most extensive legal capacity accorded to legal persons under national law. It may, in particular, acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property and be party to legal proceedings.
3. Eurofound shall have its seat in Dublin.
4. Eurofound may establish a liaison office in Brussels to further its cooperation with the relevant Union institutions in accordance with Article 11(6).
Privileges and immunities
Protocol No 7 on the Privileges and Immunities of the European Union shall apply to Eurofound and its staff.
Language arrangements
1. The provisions laid down in Council Regulation No 1 ( 9 ) shall apply to Eurofound.
2. The translation services required for Eurofound's functioning shall be provided by the Translation Centre.
Transparency and data protection
1. Eurofound shall carry out its activities with a high level of transparency.
2. Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 10 ) shall apply to documents held by Eurofound.
3. The Management Board shall, within six months of the date of its first meeting, adopt the detailed rules for applying Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
4. The processing of personal data by Eurofound shall be subject to Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 11 ) . The Management Board shall, within six months of the date of its first meeting, establish measures for the application of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 by Eurofound, including those concerning the appointment of a Data Protection Officer. Those measures shall be established after consulting the European Data Protection Supervisor.
Combating fraud
1. In order to facilitate the fight against fraud, corruption and other illegal activities under Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 12 ) , Eurofound shall, by 21 August 2019, accede to the Interinstitutional Agreement of 25 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the Commission of the European Communities concerning internal investigations by the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF) ( 13 ) and shall adopt appropriate provisions applicable to all its employees using the template set out in the Annex to that Agreement.
2. The Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and of on-the-spot inspections, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors who have received Union funds from Eurofound.
3. OLAF may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement or grant decision or a contract funded by Eurofound, in accordance with the provisions and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 and in Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 ( 14 ) .
4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, cooperation agreements with third countries and international organisations, contracts, grant agreements and grant decisions of Eurofound shall contain provisions expressly empowering the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits and investigations, in accordance with their respective competences.
Security rules on the protection of classified and sensitive non-classified information
Eurofound shall adopt security rules equivalent to the Commission's security rules for protecting European Union Classified Information (EUCI) and sensitive non-classified information, set out in Decisions (EU, Euratom) 2015/443 and 2015/444, where required. Eurofound's security rules shall cover, inter alia, and where appropriate, provisions for the exchange, processing and storage of such information.
Liability
1. Eurofound's contractual liability shall be governed by the law applicable to the contract in question.
2. The Court of Justice of the European Union (Court of Justice) shall have jurisdiction to give judgment pursuant to any arbitration clause contained in a contract concluded by Eurofound.
3. In the case of non-contractual liability, Eurofound shall, in accordance with the general principles common to the laws of the Member States, make good any damage caused by its departments or by its staff in the performance of their duties.
4. The Court of Justice shall have jurisdiction relating to compensation for damage as referred to in paragraph 3.
5. The personal liability of its staff towards Eurofound shall be governed by the provisions laid down in the Staff Regulations and in the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants.
Evaluation
1. In accordance with Article 29(5) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1271/2013, Eurofound shall carry out ex-ante and ex-post evaluations of those programmes and activities that entail significant spending.
2. By 21 February 2024, and every five years thereafter, the Commission shall ensure that an evaluation is carried out in accordance with the Commission guidelines to assess Eurofound's performance in relation to its objectives, mandate and tasks. The Commission shall consult members of the Management Board and the other main stakeholders during its evaluation. The evaluation shall, in particular, address the possible need to amend the mandate of Eurofound, and the financial implications of any such amendments.
3. The Commission shall report to the European Parliament, the Council and the Management Board on the findings of the evaluation. The findings of the evaluation shall be made public.
Administrative inquiries
The activities of Eurofound shall be subject to the inquiries by the European Ombudsman in accordance with Article 228 TFEU.
Cooperation with third countries and international organisations
1. In so far as is necessary in order to achieve the objectives set out in this Regulation, and without prejudice to the respective competences of the Member States and of the Union institutions, Eurofound may cooperate with the competent authorities of third countries and with international organisations.
To that end, Eurofound may, subject to the authorisation of the Management Board and after the approval of the Commission, establish working arrangements with the competent authorities of third countries and with international organisations. Those arrangements shall not create legal obligations incumbent on the Union or the Member States.
2. Eurofound shall be open to the participation of third countries that have entered into agreements with the Union to that effect.
Under the relevant provisions of the agreements referred to in the first subparagraph, arrangements shall be developed specifying, in particular, the nature, extent and manner in which the third countries concerned are to participate in the work of Eurofound, including provisions relating to participation in the initiatives carried out by Eurofound, financial contributions and staff. As regards staff matters, those arrangements shall, in any event, comply with the Staff Regulations.
3. The Management Board shall adopt a strategy for relations with third countries and international organisations concerning matters for which Eurofound is competent.
Headquarters Agreement and operating conditions
1. The necessary arrangements concerning the accommodation to be provided for Eurofound in the host Member State and the facilities to be made available by that Member State together with the specific rules applicable in the host Member State to the Executive Director, members of the Management Board, staff and members of their families shall be laid down in a Headquarters Agreement between Eurofound and Member State where the seat is located.
2. Eurofound's host Member State shall provide the necessary conditions to ensure Eurofound's functioning, including multilingual, European-oriented schooling and appropriate transport connections.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
