Brussels, 14/12/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is to continue with reform intended to restore credibility and confidence in the independence of its work. Invited by the European Ombudsman, on 7 December, to step up its procedures for settling potential conflicts of interest resulting from the departure of a former member of its personnel to take up a post with a biotechnology company (the case of Dr Suzy Renckens - see EUROPE 10512), EFSA lost no time in taking action. In a letter addressed on 13 December to Nikiforos Diamandouros, the Authority acknowledges receipt of the Ombudsman's recommendations, but states in its defence that these procedures have been considerably strengthened since the case mentioned which dates back to 2008/2009. It now undertakes to provide reports on every in-depth assessment made should similar cases occur in the future. Work carried out to restore its credibility is illustrated by the adoption of a new draft independence policy that EFSA will submit for approval on Thursday 15 December to its managing board when it meets in Warsaw. The draft, which was developed following a public consultation and stakeholder workshop organised by EFSA in October has now been brought before the scrutiny of the Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO).
In her response to the Ombudsman, Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle, EFSA Executive Director, underlines that, since 2008/2009, “based on the experience gained therein and taking account of the need of EFSA to address public perception of potential conflicts of interest of its staff, EFSA has strengthened its internal rules aimed at regulating conflicts of interest, cooling off periods and, more generally, ethics and integrity matters of relevance to its staff”. Geslain-Lanéelle also points out the necessity to show proof of integrity and discretion when accepting certain allocations and profits. She says this is one of the existing procedures to be complied with by any member of the EFSA personnel who leaves for another post. Also, personnel must inform EFSA of any future employment during the two years following their departure, so that EFSA may examine whether the situation is liable to entail a conflict of interest.
The Corporate Europe Observatory which, among other criticism, reproaches EFSA for its heavy reliance on industry data and for the way it systematically excludes independent scientific studies from its assessments, reiterates that: “Experts who have a vested interest in EFSA decisions because of links to industry should not be allowed to sit on expert panels providing scientific advice”. The Observatory thus announces that it will proceed to an assessment of the new EFSA independence policy to see whether the radical improvements required have been made. (AN/transl.jl)