The European Union and Euratom have agencies, decentralised independent bodies, corporate bodies and joint undertakings which are established as juridical persons through secondary EU legislation and tasked with a specific narrow field of work. They are a part of the wider set of bodies of the European Union and Euratom and are therefore distinct from: international law juridical persons established through primary (treaty) legislation, either as an EU institution (the European Central Bank) or as an EU body of another type (such as the European Investment Bank Group entities, the European University Institute, the European Stability Mechanism or the Unified Patent Court) other EU institutions other EU bodies lacking juridical personality, including the advisory bodies, the independent offices held by a single person (European Ombudsman, European Data Protection Supervisor), and the (non-independent, auxiliary) EU inter-institutional services, regardless of whether established through treaty or through secondary legislation the pan-EU organisational forms which are not considered constituent bodies of the EU or Euratom, regardless of whether possessing juridical personality (European Research Infrastructure Consortium, European political party, European political foundation, European grouping of territorial cooperation, , ) or lacking it (European economic interest grouping)

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 Euratom.

Some of the agencies, decentralised independent bodies and joint undertakings of the European Union and 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 Members and observers European Agency for Safety and Health at Work EU-OSHA Bilbao 1994 members: EU states, European Commission European Centre for the Development of Professional Training Cedefop Thessaloniki 1975 members: EU statesobservers: Iceland, Norway European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions EUROFOUND Dublin 1975 members: EU states, European Commissionobservers: EFTA European Environment Agency EEA Copenhagen 1994 members: EU states, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland, Turkeycooperating: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine European Training Foundation ETF Turin 1994 members: EU states, European Commission European Medicines Agency EMA Amsterdam (since 2019)London (1995–2019) ( until 2019) 1995 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliamentobservers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway European Union Intellectual Property OfficeFormer Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market EUIPOFormer OHIM Alicante 1994 members: EU states, European Commission Community Plant Variety Office CPVO Angers 1994 members: EU states, European Commission Translation Centre for the Bodies of the European Union CdT Luxembourg City 1994 members: EU states, European Commission European Food Safety Authority EFSA Parma 2002 members: EU statesobservers European Commission, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland European Maritime Safety Agency EMSA Lisbon 2002 members: EU states, European Commission, Iceland, Norway European Aviation Safety Agency EASA Cologne 2003 members: EU states, European Commission, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerlandobservers: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control ECDC Stockholm 2005 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliamentobservers: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway European Union Agency for the Space Programme EUSPA Prague 2021 members: EU states, European Commissionobservers: Norway, European Space Agency European Railway Agency ERA Valenciennes and Lille 2004 members: EU states, European Commission, Norway European Fisheries Control Agency EFCA Vigo 2005 members: EU states, European Commission European Chemicals Agency ECHA Helsinki 2007 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliamentobservers: Iceland, Norway Agency for Support for BEREC BEREC Office Riga 2010 members: EU states, European Commission Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators ACER Ljubljana 2009 European Labour AuthorityELABratislava2019members: EU states, European Commission, European ParliamentEU Customs AuthorityEUCALilleTBD

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 Members and observersEuropean Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training CEPOL Budapest (since 2014)Bramshill (2005–2014) ( till 2014) 2005 members: EU states without Denmark associates: Iceland, Norway, SwitzerlandEuropean Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation Europol The Hague 1998 members: EU states European body for the enhancement of judicial co-operation Eurojust The Hague 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 2012 European Border and Coast Guard AgencyFrontexWarsaw2016members: EU states, except Ireland, Schengen Area states not members of the EU European Union Drugs Agency EUDA Lisbon 1993 members: EU states, European Commission, European Parliament, Norway, Turkey European Union Agency for Cybersecurity ENISA Athens 2005 members: EU states European Union Agency for Asylum EUAA Valletta 2011 European Institute for Gender Equality EIGE Vilnius 2007 members: EU states European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights FRA Vienna 2007 members: EU states, European Commission, Council of Europe Authority for Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism AMLA Frankfurt 2024 members: EU states

European supervisory authorities European supervisory authorities (of the European System of Financial Supervision) Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Members and observers European Banking Authority EBA Paris (since 2019)London (2011–2019) ( till 2019) 2011 European Securities and Markets Authority ESMA Paris 2011 European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority EIOPA Frankfurt 2011

Banking union (Single Resolution Mechanism) bodies Single Resolution Mechanism bodies (of the European banking union) Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Members and observersSingle Resolution BoardSRBBrussels2015Eurozone countries

Common Security and Defence Policy agencies Common Security and Defence Policy agencies (under the former II Pillar) Official name Abbreviation Location Member state Members and observers European Defence Agency EDA Brussels 2004 Members: EU states; European CommissionParticipant: Norway European Institute for Security Studies EUISS Paris 2001 European Union Satellite Centre SatCen Torrejón de Ardoz 2002

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

Official name Abbreviation Location European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency EISMEA Brussels European Education and Culture Executive Agency EACEA Brussels European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive AgencyCINEA Brussels European 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

Joint undertakings A joint undertaking is a juridical person and a subsidiary body of the EU or 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 BBIClean SkyCS Electronic Components and Systems ECSELFuel Cells and HydrogenFCHGlobal Health EDCTP3Global Health EDCTP3 High-Performance Computing EuroHPC Innovative Medicines Initiative IMI Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research SESAR Europe's Rail EU-Rail

of Euratom Official name Abbreviation Fusion for Energy F4E

Independent secondary-legislation bodies Decentralised The list includes the two decentralised bodies other than agencies, established as EU juridical persons through secondary legislation of the EU/Euratom. Official name Abbrev.LocationMember state Members and associates European Institute of Innovation and Technology EIT Budapest Members: EEA countries, Switzerland; associates: the United Kingdom European Public Prosecutor's Office EPPO Luxembourg City Members: all EU states except Denmark and Ireland

Other 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 2016

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 1997 2007 Transformed into FRA European Agency for Reconstruction EAR Thessaloniki 2000 2008 Dissolved; tasks assigned to DG NEAR and IPA Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency Chafea Luxembourg City 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 2010 2021 Transformed into EUSPAEuropean Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union Frontex Warsaw 2005 2016 Transformed into current Frontex

Euratom joint undertakings Schnell-Brüter- Kernkraftwerksgesellschaft mbH' (SBK) Hochtemperatur- Kernkraftwerk GmbH (HKG) Joint European Torus (JET)

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

References

Notes

External links

EU's main site about agencies Decentralised agencies Attribution of the seat of EU agencies: European Council conclusions, December 2003 EU agencies on social media Official social media accounts of EU agencies on Twitter and elsewhere Unofficial mirrors of social media accounts of EU agencies on Mastodon