WRITTEN QUESTION E-1154/00 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. White Paper on Food Safety and the European Food Authority.
13. 2. 2001 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 46 E/135 compromise the objectivity of the committees. In practice the committee decides on a case by case basis on the extent of a memberís participation in the work. A member who is not able to act independently is not invited to be rapporteur or chairman and may not seek to influence conclusions. Declarations of interest are recorded. Since November 1997, when the Commissionís scientific committees were reorganised under common internal management, the opinions expressed by the committees have been made publicly available on the internet, generally within three working days of the scientific committees issued since that time can be found on the Commissionís Europa server: their adoption. All the opinions of http://www. europa. eu. int/comm/dg24/health/sc/index_en. html. (1) OJ L 52, 4. 3. 1993. (2) OJ L 237, 28. 8. 1997. (3) COM(2000) 6 final. (2001/C 46 E/154) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1154/00 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission (11 April 2000) Subject: White Paper on Food Safety and the European Food Authority The White Paper on Food Safety (COM(1999) 719 final) was published in January 2000. Chapter 4 is concerned with establishing a European Food Authority (EFA). Chapter 5 considers legislation on food safety. The existing procedures for adapting legislation to technical and scientific progress are not always satisfactory (sections 82 and 83). The procedures are often cumbersome, different committees are involved, different modalities apply and official support is limited and fragmented. Better coordination is needed to ensure that food safety issues are adequately tackled. This could be done by having a single regulatory procedure for delegated legislation, a single management procedure for adopting individual decisions and a single emergency procedure for all urgent matters of food safety. With a view to improving coordination of food safety, will the Commission concentrate responsibilities for the management procedure and the emergency procedure in the Health and delegated legislation, Consumer Protection DG? If not, why not? If so, (a) in what way and by what date will the Commission achieve this concentration and (b) in what respect will the recent decision on commitology change the division of powers between the Commission and the Member States? Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (8 June 2000) In October 1999 and March 2000 the Commission undertook a two-stage restructuring of its departments in order to concentrate all responsibilities relating to food safety into a single Directorate-General. As a result, the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection is now responsible for all aspects of safety in food production, covering all sectors from the farm to the dinner table. Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (1), also referred to as commitology, modified certain aspects of the procedure for adopting decisions under the delegation of powers. However it did not alter the division of powers between the Commission and the Member States. (1) OJ L 184, 17. 7. 1999