Agencies of the European Union

European Union

This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the European Union

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An agency of the European Union is a decentralised body of the European Union (EU), which is distinct from the institutions. Agencies are established to accomplish specific tasks. Each agency has its own legal personality. Some answer 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.

There are over 40 agencies, divided into 4 groups:

Decentralised agencies

Distinct from EU institutions, the agencies of the European Union were set up to accomplish very specific tasks such as promoting environmental protection, transport safety and multilingualism. They span Europe – Dublin to Stockholm, Warsaw to Lisbon – providing services, information and know-how to the general public. Most agencies were categorised under the three pillars of the European Union, but this structure was abolished with the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty. The European Space Agency has been proposed as a future agency of the EU.

Official name	Abbreviation	Location	Member state	Established	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, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia
European Institute of Innovation and Technology	EIT	Budapest	Hungary	2010	members: EU states
European Training Foundation	ETF	Turin	Italy	1994	members: EU states, European Commission
European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction	EMCDDA	Lisbon	Portugal	1993	members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament, Norway observers: Turkey
European Medicines Agency	EMA	London	United Kingdom	1995	members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament observers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
European Union Intellectual Property Office	EU IPO	Alicante	Spain	1999	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	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, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK
European Network and Information Security Agency	ENISA	Heraklion	Greece	2005	members: EU states
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control	ECDC	Stockholm	Sweden	2005	members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament observers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway
European GNSS Agency	GSA	Prague	Czech Republic	2004	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
European Institute for Gender Equality	EIGE	Vilnius	Lithuania	2007	members: EU states
European Defence Agency	EDA	Brussels	Belgium	2004	members: EU states without Denmark; European Commission participant: Norway
European Institute for Security Studies	ISS	Paris	France	2001
European Union Satellite Centre	EUSC	Torrejón de Ardoz	Spain	2002
European Police College	CEPOL	Budapest	Hungary	2005	members: EU states associates: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland
European Police Office	Europol	The Hague	The Netherlands	1999	members: EU states
European body for the enhancement of judicial co-operation	Eurojust	The Hague	The Netherlands	2002	members: EU states
Fundamental Rights Agency	FRA	Vienna	Austria	2007	members: EU states, European Commission, Council of Europe
Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications	BEREC	Riga	Latvia	2010	members: EU states, European Commission
European Systemic Risk Board	ESRB	Frankfurt	Germany	2010
Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators	ACER	Ljubljana	Slovenia	2011
European Banking Authority	EBA	London	United Kingdom	2011
European Securities and Markets Authority	ESMA	Paris	France	2011
European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority	EIOPA	Frankfurt	Germany	2011
European Asylum Support Office	EASO	Valletta	Malta	2011
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 United Kingdom and Ireland, Schengen Area states not members of the EU

Executive agencies

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

Official name	Abbreviation	Location
Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises	EASME	Brussels
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency	EACEA	Brussels
Executive Agency for Health and Consumers	EAHC	Luxembourg
Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency	TEN-T EA	Brussels
Research Executive Agency	REA	Brussels
European Research Council Executive Agency	ERC	Brussels

Euratom agencies

Official name	Abbreviation	Location
Euratom Supply Agency	ESA	Luxembourg
European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy	F4E	Barcelona

Independent bodies

Official name	Abbreviation	Location
European Institute of Innovation and Technology	EIT	Budapest
European Data Protection Supervisor	EDPS	Brussels
Authority for European political parties and European political foundations		European Parliament

Proposed agencies

Official name	Abbreviation	Location	Member state	Established	Members and observers
European Public Prosecutor's Office	EPPO	TBD	TBD	TBD	members: EU states, except Denmark, United Kingdom and Ireland

Former agencies

Official name	Abbreviation	Location	Member state	Established	Members and observers
European Agency for Reconstruction	EAR	Thessaloniki	Greece	2000	members: EU states, European Commission
European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union	Frontex	Warsaw	Poland	2005

See also

• Directorate-General
• European integration – participation by non-EU states in EU initiatives
• Glossary of European Union concepts, acronyms, & jargon
• Meroni doctrine

External links

The following links are all part of the official EU-website.

• EU's main site about agencies
  • Decentralised agencies

Attribution of the seat of EU agencies:

• European Council conclusions, December 2003

Recommended reading:

• Governance of the EU: The Reform Debate on European Agencies Reignited