Food Law News - EU - 2003


EFSA Press Release, 18 June 2003

EFSA - Priorities and openness at EFSA

The Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) met today for the first time after the set up of the Scientific Committee and panels which give the Authority its core capability. The panels' inaugural meetings took place between 21-27th May. At this important time in the development of EFSA, the Board decided to put priority setting and openness at the top of the agenda.

Chairman of the Board, Stuart Slorach was very upbeat about developments, saying; 'we have now successfully set up the main cornerstones of the Authority within the promised deadlines. To continue with the momentum, it is now very important that we focus on what can realistically be achieved in the short, medium and long terms, and how we can be as open as possible with information which is generated, without compromising our ability to act with maximum effectiveness in the interests of the consumer.'

The demand for EFSA's services is, at least initially, likely to greatly exceed what it is able to provide, particularly as its staffing levels remain very low at the present time. Consequently, it has the task of achieving the best possible balance between routine work, such as that in the product assessment area, and more strategic work aimed at identifying emerging risks. The workload is difficult to forecast accurately for a number of reasons. For example; the scaling down of the Commission's risk assessment activities will leave a backlog in some areas; advice is likely to be needed at short notice to meet political priorities; demands will come from new sources (the Parliament and Member States); heavy workloads have already been identified in some key areas and; although the Scientific Committee and panels have been set up, the current full time EFSA support staff is around 35 in comparison to the planned full complement of 2-300.

With this in mind, the Authority's Executive Director, Geoffrey Podger, was quick to point out that 'it is critical that we determine the best possible approach to prioritising the workload, at this stage, in collaboration with our customers. The first major step in the process was taken by the Board today in deciding on the main principles. The basis of the prioritisation approach will be; the allocation of priority to questions which raise issues of importance to public health; the meeting of legal deadlines to the maximum extent possible and; the Commission, Parliament and Member States' own prioritisation of their requests.

The Board also discussed the specific issues relating to openness and transparency extensively, and confirmed their support for the aims of:

The main objectives of the discussion were to begin to clarify how EFSA will operate these principles in practice, and to address those circumstances in which information may be sought from EFSA but will not, or not immediately, be made available. With respect to commercial confidentiality, EFSA will discuss the level(s) of confidentiality to be applied and is ready to take a challenging approach to issues which are seen to be in the public interest. With respect to the presentation of scientific advice, the Board felt that:

The Board also discussed and approved the EFSA decision on access to documents.


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