A proposal to allow the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA)
to work more efficiently and transparently was adopted by
Parliament on Tuesday by 427 votes in favour, 172 against
and 67 abstentions.
The revised rules aim to make risk assessment more
transparent and ensure that the studies used by EFSA to
authorise a product to be put on the market are reliable,
objective and independent.
A new pre-submission procedure has been introduced, to
allow the application process to be speeded up, as EFSA may
provide advice to the applicant on how to provide all
required information.
Additional studies to those submitted by
companies
A common European Register of commissioned studies should
be set up, to deter companies that are applying for
authorisation from holding back unfavourable studies. If
there is some doubt about the evidence provided by the
companies, the agency could also consult third parties to
identify whether other relevant scientific data or studies
exist.
Parliament also agreed on a set of criteria to decide what
kind of information can be kept confidential, e.g. the
trademark under which a product will be marketed or
detailed descriptions of preparations.
After the vote, rapporteur Renate Sommer (EPP, DE) stated
that she cannot support the result of the vote and wants
her name withdrawn from this file.
Background
The proposal is a follow-up to the European Citizens'
Initiative on glyphosate, especially to concerns expressed
in the initiative regarding the transparency of the
scientific studies used to evaluate pesticides. It also
follows a fitness check of the General Food Law, launched
in 2014 and completed in January 2018 by the Commission.
Next steps
Parliament will now enter into negotiations with EU
Ministers for a first reading agreement.
