Agencies of the EU

A number of specialised and decentralised EU agencies have been established to support the EU Member States and their citizens. These agencies are an answer to a desire for geographical devolution and the need to cope with new tasks of a legal, technical and/or scientific nature.The EU’s agencies are grouped into 4 different categories:

1) Community agencies
A Community agency is a body governed by European public law; it is distinct from the Community Institutions (Council, Parliament, Commission, etc.) and has its own legal personality. It is set up by an act of secondary legislation in order to accomplish a very specific technical, scientific or managerial task, in the framework of the European Union’s “first pillar”.

At present, the European Community agencies are:

Community Fisheries Control Agency (CFCA)

Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO)

European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR)

European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA)

European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders (FRONTEX)

European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)

European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)

European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)

European Environment Agency (EEA)

European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EUROFOUND)

European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) - previously EUMC

European GNSS Supervisory Authority (GSA)

European Institute for Gender Equality (under preparation)

European Joint Undertaking for ITER and the Development of Fusion Energy (Fusion for Energy)

European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)

European Medicines Agency (EMEA)

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA)

European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA)

European Railway Agency (ERA)

European Training Foundation (ETF)

Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM)

Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union (CdT)

2) Common Foreign and Security Policy agencies
Agencies have been set up to carry out very specific technical, scientific and management tasks within the framework of European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) – the "second pillar" of the EU.

At present, these agencies are:

European Defence Agency (EDA)

European Union Institute for Security Studies (ISS)

European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC)

3) Police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters agencies
Another group of agencies has been set up to help the EU Member States co-operate in the fight against organised international crime. This co-operation in criminal matters is the "third pillar" of the EU.

At present, these agencies are:

European Police College (CEPOL)

European Police Office (EUROPOL)

The European Union’s Judicial Cooperation Unit (EUROJUST)

4) Executive agencies
Executive agencies are organisations established in accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 (OJ L 11, 16.1.2003) with a view to being entrusted with certain tasks relating to the management of one or more Community programmes. These agencies are set up for a fixed period. Their location has to be at the seat of the European Commission (Brussels or Luxembourg).

At present, these agencies are:

Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA)

European Research Council Executive Agency (ERC) (under preparation)

Executive Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation (EACI)

Executive Agency for the Public Health Programme (PHEA)

Research Executive Agency (REA)

Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency (TEN-TEA)