WRITTEN QUESTION E-1134/00 by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission. White Paper on Food Safety and the European Food Authority.
C 46 E/134 Official Journal of the European Communities EN 13. 2. 2001 (2001/C 46 E/153) WRITTEN QUESTION E-1134/00 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 Commission wants the process leading to recommendations etc. to be as open as possible. Will the Commission publish the reports of the scientific committees from now on? If not, why not, and is this attitude not a violation of the Commissionís intention to be áas open as possibleí? Joint answer to Written Questions E-1125/00, E-1133/00 and E-1134/00 given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission (21 June 2000) The Honourable Member has raised a series of questions in response to the Commissionís proposal to establish a European food authority (EFA) as set out in the white paper on food safety. As part of the consultation process, the Commission invited comments on the EFA proposal with a deadline for comments of 30 April 2000. The Commission is currently evaluating these comments in preparation for the legislative proposal announced in the white paper. The white paper emphasises the importance of networking with Member States and the need to work in close collaboration with their national agencies. It also stresses the important role that the EFA will have in gathering and analysing information that would allow it to take a pro-active approach to the identification of emerging hazards and, where possible, the avoidance of crisis. Scientific co-operation is the common used term for the procedure established under Council Directive 93/5/EEC of 25 February 1993 on assistance to the Commission and cooperation by the Member States in the scientific examination of questions relating to food (1). It is one of a number of networks that have been established under Community legislation to gather information or to provide assistance to the Commission on matters related to food safety. The Commission is reflecting on the future organisation and resourcing of these networks in the EFA context to ensure their optimum efficiency. The Commission has attached great importance to the independence of the scientific committees and their members. Article 6(1) of Commission Decision 97/579/EC of 23 July 1997 setting up scientific committees in the field of consumer health and food safety (2) stipulates that the members of the committees áshall act independently of all external influenceí. In order to ensure such independence, members make three separate declarations of all their interests that could be considered prejudicial to their independence: a declaration of interest as part of the original expression of interest (application) to become a member of a scientific committee; an annual declaration of interest, and a declaration of any particular interest which could be regarded as prejudicial to the expertís independence in respect of an item on the agenda of a meeting of the committee. As the Commission has indicated in its communication Towards a European Research Areaí (3), the Communityís investments in research & development, both public and private, are lagging behind those of its major competitors. The question of setting ceilings on any component of research expenditure does therefore not arise. In any case, the Commission considers that they would not the provisions mentioned above are such that should conflicts of interest arise, 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