Best practice in governance of agencies : A comparative study in view of identifying best practice for governing agencies carrying out activities on behalf of the European Union

The comparative study comprises "public organisations outside core government" in seven EU Member States (Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and the EU agencies. Federal agencies in the USA are considered briefly. The report deals with agency governance at the three levels of (1) institutional design and the set up of agencies, (2) the (day-to-day) management and steering of agencies, and (3) agency accountability towards other actors (including audit) and transparency. The proposed recommendations for EU agencies include the following ones: - limitation of number of agency types, - stakeholders to be represented in management boards, - agency staff to be recruited by open competition procedure, - creation of an agency only after passing the recommended checklist, - EU agencies to have managerial autonomy regarding finances and personnel, - legal oversight by only one principal, - governance by yearly performance agreement with limited number of objectives, - regular scrutiny by EP committees and by the general public, - regular and ad-hoc audit by the European Court of Auditors, - clearly defined appeals process for each EU agency.