16.12.2004 Official Journal of the European Union L 36973 COMMISSION DECISION of 15 December 2004 setting up an executive agency, the ‘Executive Agency for the Public Health Programme’, for the management of Community action in the field of public health — pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 (2004/858EC) 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 the said Regulation and to entrust them with certain management tasks relating to one or more Community programmes; this Decision does not affect the scope of the 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 the programme of Community action in the field of public health, adopted by Decision No 1786/2002/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 (), involves implemen- () OJ L 11, 16.1.2003, p. 1. () OJ L 271, 9.10.2002, p. 1. Decision as last amended by Decision No 786/2004/EC (O] L 138, 30.4.2004, p. 7). tation of technical projects 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 the project programming stage, which is the task of the Commission, and the project implementation stage, which would be entrusted to the executive agency. A cost-benefit study carried out for that purpose showed that the executive agency would be a more economical means of improving the effectiveness of the way in which the public health programme is implemented. Based on the characteristics of this programme, the emphasis is on delegating technical tasks, the main aim being to strengthen the connections between the said Community programme and communities of experts in the Member States. The agency will have to mobilise high-level expertise in order to meet the objectives defined by the Commission and under its control. The agency will also have to make it possible to optimise the implementation of the programme by facilitating the recruitment of specialists in public health matters. In addition to its tasks in the long term, the agency will improve flexibility in the implementation of the programme. The agency’s annual work programme will ensure that it supports the setting of annual priorities for the implementation of the public health programme, arranged and decided by the Commission following the opinion of the programme committee.