What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Changed:C. whereas, to increase transparency, the Joint Undertaking should disclose in its annual accounts, relevant information regarding members’ contributions at programme level; whereas, for each programme under which they operate, the Joint Undertaking should present per member category up to the year-end, all relevant information including the legal contribution targets set for the respective programme, the volume of contributions received, and the volume of legal commitments; whereas the Joint Undertaking should continue to improve transparency;

Changed:1. Notes that, according to the report of the Court of Auditors (the ‘Court’s report’), the accounts of the IHI Joint UndertakingJU for the year ended in 31 December 2022 present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the IHI Joint UndertakingJU at 31 December 2022, the results of its operations, its cash flows, and the changes in its net assets for the year that ended, in accordance with its Financial Regulation and with accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer; highlights, moreover, the fact that, according to the Court’s report, the transactiontransactions underlying the accounts are legal and regular in all material respects;

Removed:2. Notes that the IHI available budget for 2022 was EUR 272.4 million in commitment appropriations (EUR 11.0 million in 2021) and EUR 174.8 million in payment appropriations (EUR 210.4 in 2021);

Added:2. Welcomes the role of the IHI JU in transforming health research and innovation into tangible benefits for Union citizens;

Changed:3. Notes that the IHI JU available budget executionfor of2022 thewas commitmentEUR appropriations272,4 andmillion thein paymentcommitment appropriations reached(EUR 96.60%11,0 (75,91%million in 2021) and 86.25%EUR (95,39%174,8 million in 2021)payment respectively;appropriations (EUR 210,4 in 2021);

Removed:4. Notes that the changes in the size of the JU’s budget largely depend on the implementation phase of the multiannual research and innovation programmes; notes that in 2022, the JU started with the implementation of the Horizon Europe programme, and, therefore, the 2022 budget includes the commitment budget for the first Horizon Europe calls planned for 2022;

Added:4. Notes that the budget execution of the commitment appropriations and the payment appropriations reached 96,60% (75,91% in 2021) and 86,25% (95,39% in 2021) respectively;

Removed:5. Notes that in the JU 2022 annual accounts, the amounts of contributions recognised per member category (EU and private members) differ significantly from each other; notes that this is because EU cash contributions are validated and recognised when paid to the JU at the beginning of the project implementation, but members’ in-kind contributions are only recognised after validation of the costs incurred and declared for project implementation; notes that the gap between the recognised amount of cash contributions on the one hand and in-kind contributions on the other hand, was addressed in a suboptimal way in the JU’s 2022 annual accounts by not providing information on the JU members’ legal commitments at year end, in terms of signed grant agreements and contracts;

Added:5. Notes that the changes in the size of the IHI JU’s budget largely depend on the implementation phase of the multiannual research and innovation programmes; notes that in 2022 the IHI JU began the implementation of the Horizon Europe programme, and, therefore, the 2022 budget includes the commitment budget for the first Horizon Europe calls planned for 2022;

Changed:10.11. Notes, in this regards,regard, that at the end of 2022, the IHI JU had committed EUR 1 452.1452,1 million (or 91 %) of the maximum EUUnion operational contribution of EUR 1 595.4595,4 million for signed grant agreements under the Horizon 2020 programme; notes, in addition, that of thisthat committed amount, around EUR 484.8484,8 million (or 33.433,4 %) remains to be paid in the coming years for projects yet to be completed; notes, furthermore, that private members and associated partners had legally committed to provide in-kind contributions of EUR 1 499.4499,4 million (or 94 %) of the minimum target of EUR 1 595.4595,4 million and that, of thisthat committed amount, they reported EUR 1 078.9078,9 million (or 67.667,6 % of the target) at the end of 2022;

Changed:11.12. Notes that, according to the IHI JU, the lower achievement rates are partly explained by the long project duration required by the nature of the IHI JU-specific research area and the large scale of global consortia implementing projects;

Changed:12.13. Notes that, for Horizon 20222020 activitiesactivities, the IHI JU received no new operational commitment appropriations, as the it had finished its last call for proposals by the end of 2020; notes that the implementation rate for the operational payment appropriations was at the level of 87% (96% in 2021);

Changed:13.14. Agrees with the Court that the IHI JU should establish a time-scheduled action plan for finalising the implementation of projects approved under previous MFFs;Multiannual Financial Frameworks;

Changed:14.15. Notes, as regards implementation of the Horizon Europe programme that, in 2022, the Commission only made cash contributions of EUR 1.41,4 million to the administrative costs of the IHI JU; notes that the IHI JU did not request cash contributions for its Horizon Europe activities, as the two first calls launched in 2022 under Horizon Europe will only be finished in 2023;

Added:16. Notes, from the 2022 Corporate Annual Activity Report, that the IHI JU has performed well against the majority of the IMI2 key performance indicators (KPIs), often exceeding the established targets; welcomes, in particular, the fact that the IHI JU’s projects funded under IMI2 have completed 24 regulatory procedures, including two regulatory letters of support, ten regulatory qualified opinions, two submissions for a qualification opinion and the inclusion in six regulatory guidelines;

Added:17. Notes with satisfaction that a share of 58,3% (above the 50% target) of the IHI JU’s projects funded under IMI2 have made their resources and outputs accessible beyond the consortia partners; highlights examples such as the library of chemical compounds, the European Compound Collection, established by the ESCulab project, the open source RADAR-base data platform developed by RADAR-CNS, the European federated data network, established by the EHDEN project, or the self-sustaining pluripotent stem cells biobank delivered by EBiSC2;

Added:18. Welcomes the fact that about 67% of papers produced by the projects funded by the Joint Undertaking have co-authors from different sectors, demonstrating the cross-disciplinary nature of the research and the collaborative approach of its projects;

Changed:15.19. Notes that the majority of IHI’sIHI JU’s contractual commitments in 2022 were concluded on the basis of existing multiannual framework contracts (FWCs); notes, in addition, thatthat, in terms of volume, the FWCs used most were in the field of IT, human resources, and audit services; welcomes the fact that several of the framework contracts in question are interinstitutional, thus minimising the administrative burden and ensuring economies of scale;

Changed:16.20. Notes from the Consolidated annual activity report 2022 that IHI JU launched two tender procedures in 2022 outside existing FWCsFWCs, with a value exceeding EUR 15 000;

Changed:17.21. NotesWelcomes the fact that all procedures were administered in compliance with the IHI JU Financial Rules and the European Union Financial RegulationsRegulation to ensure fair competition amongst economic operators, and the most sound and efficient use of IHI JU funds;

Changed:18.22. Notes that the staff establishment plan (SEP) allows for 39 temporary agents, 15 contract agents and 1 Secondedseconded Nationalnational Expertexpert (SNE), in total 55 staffmembers members;of staff; notes that, on 31/12/2022,31 December 2022, there were 49 positions occupied: 36 out of 39 temporary agents (92.30%),(92,30%), 11 out of 15 contract agents (73.30%)(73,30%) and 0 out of 1 seconded national experts (0%);

Changed:19.23. Notes, as regards gender balance and geographical balance, that around 65% of staff are women;women and around 35% are male, coming from 15 different nationalities in IHI JU in 31 December 2022;

Changed:20.24. Notes that, for FP7 expenditure, the IHI JU performed ex-post audits, whilst for Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe expenditure, the Common Audit Service of the Commission’s DG RTD was responsible for the ex-post audits;

Changed:21.25. Notes that the IHI JU reported a representative error rate of 2.12,1 % and a residual error rate of 0.80,8 % for its FP7 expenditure, and a representative error rate of 2.72,7 % and a residual error rate of 0.90,9 % for its Horizon 2020 expenditure (clearings and final payments);

Changed:23.27. Notes that to assess the operational payment controls of the IHI JU, the Court audited randomly sampled Horizon 2020 payments made in 2022, at the level of the final beneficiaries; notes that the Court found no errors or control weaknesses atregarding the IHI JU beneficiaries sampled;

Changed:24.28. NotesWelcomes the fact that, at the end of 2022, IHI JU had developed and implemented a complete risk-based approach to ex-ante controls in line with the CICCommon Implementation Centre (CIC) guidance, considering the IHI JU-specific risk circumstances; notes, to this end, that the IHI JU identified the most relevant risk criteria and designed, based on them, a risk-based monitoring approach; notes that such an approach allowed the IHI JU to assess the risk level of each project and beneficiary during the main phases of project implementation, such as grant agreement preparation, grant agreement amendment, reporting, and payment;

Changed:25.29. Notes, in this respect, that the IHI JU also drew up internal guidelines on its risk-based approach and trained and guided its staff on applying it properly and consistently;

Changed:26.30. AppreciatesNotes with satisfaction that IHI JU developed a risk-based approach to ex-post auditaudits with the aim toof reducereducing its error rate by using better targeted samplesamples to detect the most error-prone beneficiaries andbeneficiaries, thus, strengthening the cleaning effect of theirits ex-post audits. This is an important positive change in the ex-post audit approach as the Commission internal control framework for Horizon Europe grants does not allow for establishingjoint JUundertaking specific representative samples andto consequently,be toestablished calculateand, consequently, specific representative and residual error rates cannot be calculated for JUs;joint undertakings;

Changed:27.31. Notes that the Court found that Jointjoint Undertakingsundertakings with a well-developed risk-based ex-post audit approach have a residual error rate below the average of the JUsjoint undertakings without such an approach due to the systematic identification and audit of the riskiest beneficiaries;

Changed:28.32. Notes that “observations” in the JointIHI UndertakingsJU’s specific annual reports are in fact “not timed recommendations” by the Court; notes that ECA annually follows-up on those observations by assessing their status as “open” or “closed”;

Changed:29.33. NotesWelcomes the fact that the JointIHI UndertakingJU has taken corrective action to address the 2021 Court’s observation related to part of the employer’s contributions to the EUUnion pension scheme.scheme;