Agencies of the European Union

The agencies of the European Union (formally: Agencies, decentralised independent bodies, corporate bodies and joint undertakings of the European Union and the Euratom) are bodies of the European Union and the Euratom established as juridical persons through secondary EU legislation and tasked with a specific narrow field of work.

They are distinct from:

Overview

In contrast to other EU bodies established through secondary legislation, each of more than fifty such entities has its own juridical personality granted by the EU law, recognised across the EU, and in some cases, also across the EEA countries, Switzerland, Serbia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Turkey. Nevertheless, in relations with other non-EU third countries, they are in general not recognised as independent entities, thus being considered either parts of the juridical personality of the EU or the Euratom.

Some of the agencies, decentralised independent bodies and joint undertakings of the European Union and the Euratom are tasked with answering the need to develop scientific or technical know-how in certain fields, others bring together different interest groups to facilitate dialogue at European and international level.

Existing agencies

They are divided into the following groups:

Decentralised agencies of the EU

Distinct from the EU institutions, the agencies of the European Union are specialist bodies set up to advise the Institutions and Member States in areas that affect everyone living in the Union. They are located in member states across the EU, providing services, information, and know-how. The total budget of all the decentralised agencies is approximately 0.8% of the EU's annual budget.

Single market agencies

Single market agencies (under the former I Pillar)

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Est. Members and observers
European Agency for Safety and Health at Work EU-OSHA Bilbao  Spain 1994 members: EU states, European Commission
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training Cedefop Thessaloniki  Greece 1975 members: EU states
observers: Iceland, Norway
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions EUROFOUND Dublin  Ireland 1975 members: EU states, European Commission
observers: EFTA
European Environment Agency EEA Copenhagen  Denmark 1994 members: EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey
co-operating: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia
European Training Foundation ETF Turin  Italy 1994 members: EU states, European Commission
European Medicines Agency EMA Amsterdam (since 2019)

London (1995–2019)

 Netherlands

( UK till 2019)

1995 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament
observers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
European Union Intellectual Property Office EUIPO Alicante  Spain 1994 members: EU states, European Commission
Community Plant Variety Office CPVO Angers  France 1994 members: EU states, European Commission
Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union CdT Luxembourg City  Luxembourg 1994 members: EU states, European Commission
European Food Safety Authority EFSA Parma  Italy 2002 members: EU states
observers European Commission, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland
European Maritime Safety Agency EMSA Lisbon  Portugal 2002 members: EU states, European Commission, Iceland, Norway
European Aviation Safety Agency EASA Cologne  Germany 2003 members: EU states, European Commission, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland
observers: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC Stockholm  Sweden 2005 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament
observers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
European Union Agency for the Space Programme EUSPA Prague  Czech Republic 2021 members: EU states, European Commission
observers: Norway, European Space Agency
European Railway Agency ERA Valenciennes and Lille  France 2004 members: EU states, European Commission, Norway
European Fisheries Control Agency EFCA Vigo  Spain 2005 members: EU states, European Commission
European Chemicals Agency ECHA Helsinki  Finland 2007 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament
observers: Iceland, Norway
Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications BEREC Riga  Latvia 2010 members: EU states, European Commission
Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators ACER Ljubljana  Slovenia 2009
European Labour Authority ELA Bratislava  Slovakia 2019 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament

Common Security and Defence Policy agencies

Common Security and Defence Policy agencies (under the former II Pillar)

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Est. Members and observers
European Defence Agency EDA Brussels  Belgium 2004 members: EU states; European Commission
participant: Norway
European Institute for Security Studies EUISS Paris  France 2001
European Union Satellite Centre SatCen Torrejón de Ardoz  Spain 2002

Area of freedom, security and justice agencies

Area of freedom, security and justice agencies (under the former III Pillar)

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Est. Members and observers
European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training CEPOL Budapest (since 2014)

Bramshill (2005–2014)

 Hungary

( UK till 2014)

2005 members: EU states without Denmark
associates: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland
European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation Europol The Hague  Netherlands 1998 members: EU states
European body for the enhancement of judicial co-operation Eurojust The Hague  Netherlands 2002 members: EU states
European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT Systems in the area of freedom, security and justice eu-LISA Tallinn  Estonia 2012
European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex Warsaw  Poland 2016 members: EU states, except Ireland, Schengen Area states not members of the EU
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction EMCDDA Lisbon  Portugal 1993 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament, Norway
observers: Turkey
European Union Agency for Cybersecurity ENISA Athens  Greece 2005 members: EU states
European Union Agency for Asylum EUAA Valletta  Malta 2011
European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE Vilnius  Lithuania 2007 members: EU states
Fundamental Rights Agency FRA Vienna  Austria 2007 members: EU states, European Commission, Council of Europe

European supervisory authorities

European supervisory authorities (of the European System of Financial Supervision)

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Est. Members and observers
European Banking Authority EBA Paris (since 2019)

London (2011–2019)

 France

( UK till 2019)

2011
European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA Paris  France 2011
European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority EIOPA Frankfurt  Germany 2011

Banking union (Single Resolution Mechanism) bodies

Single Resolution Mechanism bodies (of the European banking union)

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Est. Members and observers
Single Resolution Board SRB Brussels  Belgium 2015 Eurozone countries, Bulgaria

Executive agencies of the EU

Executive agencies are created by European Commission for a fixed period.

Official name Abbreviation Location
European Cybersecurity Competence Centre ECCC Bucharest
European Innovation Council and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Executive Agency EISMEA Brussels
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency EACEA Brussels
European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency CINEA Brussels
Research Executive Agency REA Brussels
European Research Council Executive Agency ERCEA Brussels
European Health and Digital Executive Agency HaDEA Brussels

Euratom agencies

Official name Abbreviation Location
Euratom Supply Agency ESA Luxembourg City

Decentralised independent secondary-legislation bodies

Thé list includes the two decentralised bodies other than agencies, established as EU juridical persons through secondary legislation of the EU/Euratom.

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Members and associates
European Institute of Innovation and Technology EIT Budapest  Hungary Members: EEA countries, Switzerland; associates: the United Kingdom
European Public Prosecutor's Office EPPO Luxembourg City  Luxembourg members: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain

Other secondary-law corporate bodies

The list includes the remaining two bodies other than agencies, decentralised bodies or joint undertakings, established as EU juridical persons through secondary legislation of the EU/Euratom.

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Est.
European Data Protection Board EDPB Brussels Belgium 2018
Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations APPF Brussels Belgium 2014

Joint undertakings

A joint undertaking is a juridical person and a subsidiary body of the EU or the Euratom, established through an agreement between the European Commission, the participating member states, and the European industry of a certain field, with the purpose of implementing a public-private partnership project.

of the European Union

Official name Abbreviation
Bio-based Industries BBI
Clean Sky CS
Electronic Components and Systems ECSEL
Fuel Cells and Hydrogen FCH
High-Performance Computing EuroHPC
Innovative Medicines Initiative IMI
Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research SESAR
Shift-2-Rail S2R

of the Euratom

Official name Abbreviation
Fusion for Energy F4E
Joint European Torus JET

Non-existing decentralised bodies

Proposed and abandoned

Name Abbreviation Fate
Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority HERA eventually established as DG HERA instead

Transformed or dissolved

Agencies

Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Established Abolished Fate
European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia EUMC  Vienna  Austria 1997 2007 Transformed into FRA
European Agency for Reconstruction EAR Thessaloniki  Greece 2000 2008 Dissolved; tasks assigned to DG NEAR and IPA
Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency Chafea Luxembourg City  Luxembourg 2005 2015 Dissolved; tasks assigned to DG SANTE and to HaDEA
European GNSS Supervisory Authority GSA undef. undef. 2004 2010 Transformed into the second GSA
European GNSS Agency GSA Prague  Czech Republic 2010 2021 Transformed into EUSPA
European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union Frontex  Warsaw  Poland 2005 2016 Transformed into current Frontex

Euratom joint undertakings

See also


This page was last updated at 2023-12-08 01:21 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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