Monday 11 February in Strasbourg marked an important step towards greater transparency and sustainability of the scientific risk assessment of certain substances such as pesticides or food additives by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), thus meeting a requirement of the European Citizens Initiative 'Stop glyphosate'.
Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, assisted by the Commission, have reached a provisional interinstitutional agreement on the proposal to reform the EU's General Food Law (Regulation 178/2002).
The third trilogue on this issue was the last. In a statement, Petre Daea, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Romania said that "with this agreement we further strengthen trust between consumers, the European agro-food industry and the institutions". According to Pilar Ayuso González (EPP, Spain), Chief Negotiator for the European Parliament, "it strikes a good balance between transparency and protecting European business", including SMEs.
Under the agreement, data and information submitted by industry as part of an application for authorisation will be made public after EFSA's assessment of the validity of the dossier, unless the applicant company proves that disclosure could significantly harm its interests and requires confidential treatment. If the applicant company does not agree with EFSA, it may submit a request for confirmation, in which case the data may not be disclosed until the final decision on confidentiality has been taken. Information on manufacturing or production processes will remain confidential.
A European bank of commissioned studies will be established.
In exceptional cases of scientific controversy with significant implications for society, the Commission may request EFSA to carry out verification studies itself.
EFSA will be strengthened with a greater involvement of Member States in its Management Board. Member States will also help EFSA to attract more distinguished scientists to participate in its scientific panels.
Risk communication will be improved by a more coherent, transparent and continuous flow of information throughout the authorisation process.
The Commission welcomed the achievement of this agreement. It sees this as a guarantee of "greater transparency at an early stage of the risk assessment process" and "a resounding response to the citizens' concerns". (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)