2014/2108(DEC) | [ParlTrack]

Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1

1. Grants the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year ~~2013 / Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year~~ 2013;

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8 a. Strongly regrets that the main loopholes in the Authority's implementing rules have not been closed despite this review, in particular the fact that the assessment of scientists' interests is performed in reference to the mandate of the panel at stake instead of the Authority's remit - whereas the latter is used as the scope for the declaration of these interests;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)

8 b. Notes with concern the recent European Ombudsman's ruling concluding that "EFSA should revise its conflict of interest rules, and the related instructions and forms it uses for declarations of interests" to "ensure that those experts who work in academia declare all relevant information to EFSA"; calls on the Authority to have scientists on its panels and working groups disclose the financial arrangements between the departments of the universities they work for and commercial companies when those are in the Authority's remit;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Acknowledges the clarification of the scope of conflicts of interests with new definitions, regarding inter alia the obligation to declare even the smallest amount of economic interests or the practice to allow the experts’ interests to be anonymised only on an exceptional basis, solely to ensure compliance with rules on data protection; However, we regret that the definition of 'interest' (as it is laid down in Article 2, point 3 of the Decision of the Executive Director of the EFSA on Declarations of Interests) does not also include 'any relevant personal interest, be it of a financial or non-financial nature, a personal or family relationship, etc.', as it is laid down in the 2013 Commission Guidelines for Conflict of Interests in EU Decentralised Agencies.

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. ~~Takes note~~Notes with concern that the reviewed rules concerning declarations of interest explicitly exclude experts from food safety organisations designated by Members States which receive more than 50 % of their funding from private sources;

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Notes from the Authority that for employment it applies a two-year cooling- off period on a risk based approach; calls on the Authority to inform the discharge authority of the results of the ongoing impact assessment on the introduction of further cooling-off periods, which will take place in the framework of the forthcoming policy review starting in 2015, as well as to include in its annual reports the measures taken to enforce the implemented cooling- off period;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Notes from the Authority that for employment it applies a ~~two~~five-year cooling- off period on a risk based approach; calls on the Authority to inform the discharge authority of the results of the ongoing impact assessment on the introduction of further cooling-off periods, which will take place in the framework of the forthcoming policy review starting in 2015;

Amendment 16 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Notes from the Authority that for employment it applies a two-year cooling- off period on a risk based approach for experts being employed by the food industry, not for all other forms of collaboration with companies in the Authority's remit; reiterates its call that the Authority should apply a two-year cooling-off period to all material interests related to the commercial agrifood sector, including research funding, consultancy contracts and decision-making positions in industry-captured organisations; calls on the Authority to inform the discharge authority of the results of the ongoing impact assessment on the introduction of further cooling-off periods, which will take place in the framework of the forthcoming policy review starting in 2015; demands that this impact assessment uses as first indicator the Authority's independence from the economic sectors it regulates;

Amendment 17 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Deeply regrets, that the Rules of Procedure of the Management Board still stipulate in Art. 1, para. 2 the a non- transparent election procedure as the Management Board elects its Chair and Vice-Chairs by close ballot despite last year's recommendation of the discharge authority, Urges the Agency to change this rule, make each vote transparent and accountable until the end of September 2015 and refrain from any appointment under the current secret procedure;

Amendment 18 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Believes that the Authority should pay further attention to public opinion and to commit itself as much as possible to an open and transparent dialogue;

Amendment 19 #

Richard ASHWORTH, Beata GOSIEWSKA, Richard SULÍK

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)

11 a. Congratulates the Authority for adopting the reproducibility of its scientific opinions as a policy objective within its Transparency Initiative, and encourages it to deliver on these very important commitments, in particular providing full and pro-active access to the dataset used for these scientific opinions;

Amendment 2 #

Proposal for a decision 1
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Grants the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2013 /~~ Postpones its decision on granting the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the financial year 2013;

Amendment 20 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. ~~Notes with concern~~Regrets that in the course of that risk assessment, certain processes of high inherent risks were identified by the IAS, with assessed controls qualified as absent or insufficient; acknowledges that the Authority prepared an action plan aimed at addressing those deficiencies, which will be followed up by the IAS during the next in-depth risk assessment; calls on the Authority to inform the discharge authority about the implementation of corrective actions;

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. ~~Notes with concern~~Regrets that the implementation of five earlier IAS recommendations marked as ‘Very Important’ was delayed with respect to the deadlines defined by the Authority in its original action plans; isfinds it particularly ~~concerned~~unacceptable that the implementation of recommendations on information security management is delayed for over 36 months, resulting in a possibility to access confidential information in an unauthorised manner or to release information without prior approval; calls on the Authority to inform the discharge authority of the reasons behind the delay and to implement corrective actions as a matter of urgency;

Amendment 22 #

Motion for a resolution
Subheading 8 a (new)

Other comments

Amendment 23 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 a (new)

16 a. Notes with concern that the Agency uses a group of transport services for travel to and from the airport, at cost of 918.668 EUR in 2013; urges the Agency to find less costly solution for this purpose;

Amendment 24 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16 b (new)

16 b. Welcomes the exemplary measures taken by the Agency with regard to cost- effective and environment-friendly solutions for its premises; encourages the Agency to continue the good practice;

Amendment 3 #

Richard ASHWORTH, Beata GOSIEWSKA, Richard SULÍK

Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 2

2. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year ~~2013 / Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year~~ 2013;

Amendment 4 #

Proposal for a decision 2
Paragraph 2

2. ~~Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2013 /~~ Postpones the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2013;

Amendment 5 #

Zigmantas BALČYTIS

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5 a. Notes that although the overall carry-overs have regularly decreased since 2008 from 23% to 11 % and the payment rate increased from 73 % to 91 % further improvements in the monitoring of the budget execution are needed in order to keep the carry-over in line with the budget execution objectives set for the operational activities;

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7 a. Believes that financial interests in particular should be dealt with the utmost care and that experts should be asked to declare whether their interests were remunerated or not; believes that if this is the case, the amount should be specified; is of the opinion that the current practice of experts anonymising their interests, for instance by using the expression "private company", should not be accepted by the Authority;

Amendment 7 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Notes from the Authority that following the consultation with key partners in 2014 it has clarified and partially reviewed its implementing rules regarding the Policy on Independence concerning declarations of interests; observes that the revised procedure for screening of annual, special and oral declarations of interests of the members of the Authority’s Scientific Committee, Scientific Panels and Working Groups introduced the criteria on which the screening is based, as well as the role of the screening officer, who has to immediately report any possible conflict of interests to his or her reporting officer;

Amendment 8 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Notes from the Authority that following the consultation with key partners in 2014 it has reviewed its implementing rules regarding the Policy on Independence concerning declarations of interests; ~~observe~~however, regrets that the revised procedure for screening of annual, special and oral declarations of interests of the members of the Authority’s Scientific Committee, Scientific Panels and Working Groups i~~ntroduced the criteria on which~~s still under the authority of the Heads of Unit; Urges the Authority to make concrete efforts in order to eliminate this possible arbitrary practice from its internal procedures in order to guarantee the Authorities' impartiality with regards to the scpreven~~ing is based, as well as the role of the screening officer, who has to immediately report any possible conflict of interests to his or~~ tion and management of conflict of interests and eliminate any risks; Expresses its deep disappointment about the common practice of the Agency to apply a double standards conflict of interest’s policy towards experts from food safety organisations (FSO) contrary to the policy applied to the other stuff; In addition calls upon the Agency to adopt a revolving door policy until the end of September 2015. Believes that financial interests in particular should be dealt with the utmost care and that experts should be asked to declare whether their activities were remunerated or not; believes that if this is the case, the amount should be specified; is of the opinion that the current practice of experts anonymising their ~~reporting officer;~~ interests, for instance by using the expression "private company", should not be accepted by the Authority;

Amendment 9 #