27.1.2005 Official Journal of the European Union L 24/35 (Acts whose publication is not obligatory) COMMISSION COMMISSION DECISION of 14 January 2005 setting up the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency for the management of Community action in the fields of education, audiovisual and culture in application of Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 (Only the German, French and English texts are authentic) (2005/56/EC) THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain tasks in the management of Community programmes ('), and in particular Article 3(1) thereof, Whereas: Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 empowers the Commission to set up executive agencies in accordance with the general statute laid down by that Regulation and to entrust them with certain management tasks relating to one or more Community programmes; this decision does not affect the scope of that Regulation. The purpose of empowering the Commission to set up executive agencies is to allow it to focus on core activities and functions which cannot be outsourced, without relin- quishing control over, or ultimate responsibility for, activities managed by the said executive agencies. Management of certain centralised strands of a number of programmes in the fields of education, audiovisual and culture involves implementation of technical projects () O] L 11, 16.1.2003, p. 1. which do not entail political decision-making and requires a high level of technical and financial expertise throughout the project cycle. The delegation, to an executive agency, of tasks related to programme implementation is possible with a clear separation between, on the one hand, the project programming stages and the adoption of funding decisions, which should be carried out by the Commission, and, on the other hand, project implemen- tation, which should be entrusted to the executive agency. The setting up of the executive agency affects neither the delegation by the Council to the Commission of the management of certain phases of action under the different programmes nor the delegation of management tasks to national agencies regarding certain programmes. A cost-benefit analysis carried out for that purpose has shown that using an executive agency to manage certain centralised strands of programmes in the fields of education, audiovisual and culture is the most advan- tageous of the options available, both in financial and in non-financial terms.