Progress: Procedure completed
| Role | Committee | Rapporteur | Shadows |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead | CONT |
TARAND Indrek ( Verts/ALE)
|
SARVAMAA Petri ( PPE),
LIBERADZKI Bogusław ( S&D),
MACOVEI Monica ( ECR),
ALI Nedzhmi ( ALDE),
VALLI Marco ( EFDD),
KAPPEL Barbara ( ENF)
|
| Committee Opinion | ENVI |
VĂLEAN Adina-Ioana ( PPE)
|
Julie GIRLING ( ECR),
Anneli JÄÄTTEENMÄKI ( ALDE),
Karin KADENBACH ( S&D)
|
Lead committee dossier:
Subjects
Events
PURPOSE: to grant discharge to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the 2016 financial year.
NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Decision (EU) 2018/1378 of the European Parliament on the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2016.
CONTENT: the European Parliament has decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority in respect of the implementation of the Authority's budget for the 2016 financial year.
The decision is accompanied by a resolution of the European Parliament containing the observations which form an integral part of the decision on discharge in respect of the implementation of the general budget of the European Union for the 2016 financial year.
In its resolution, Parliament recalled that according to its statement of revenue and expenditure, the final budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the 2016 financial year was EUR 79 492 944, which represents a decrease of 1.10%.
Budgetary and financial management and staff
The budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, representing an increase of 0.19 % compared to 2015. The payment appropriations execution rate was at 89.66 %, representing a decrease of 0.45 % compared to 2015.
Parliament noted the following:
- the carryovers from 2016 to 2017 amount to EUR 8 200 000. They are mainly related to infrastructure and operations and do not necessarily indicate weaknesses in budget planning and execution;
- the reduction of the Authority's staff by 2% in 2016, i.e. seven posts, resulted in an increase in the Authority's efforts to put in place more efficient and effective procedures. The Authority is urged to urgently aim for a better gender balance among staff, especially at senior levels;
- the resources gap is expected to increase due to a further reduction in the establishment plan on the one hand, and the expected further increase in workload due to new tasks related to certain main activities such as novel foods, pesticides and the classification and monitoring of plant pests on the other hand;
- no cases of harassment were reported, investigated or brought to court in 2016.
Prevention and management of conflicts of interest, transparency and democracy
The Authority's Management Board has adopted a new independence policy to ensure the independence of all professionals involved in its scientific activities. It noted that the new policy includes a new definition of what constitutes a conflict of interest, a comprehensive set of ‘cooling-off’ rules including a ban on consultancy contracts, a requirement that experts declare the proportion of their annual earnings received from any organisation, body or company whose activities fall within the Authority’s areas of work.
Parliament considers that the independence policy remains too limited since it only takes into account interests relating to ‘matters falling under the mandate of the relevant EFSA scientific group’ and not ‘all material interests related to the companies whose products are assessed by the Authority and to any organisations funded by them’ as Parliament demanded.
Parliament noted that a group of Members of Parliament filed a lawsuit against the Authority on grounds of limiting of access to documents in the ‘glyphosate’ case. It expects the Authority to fully implement the court’s ruling once it is known. In general, it is of the opinion that the Authority should continue to pay particular attention to public opinion and be committed to the principles of openness and transparency.
Lastly, Parliament noted that the Authority is well aware of the financial risks due to the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the Union, such as a restricted budget availability, contractual issues for ongoing and new contracts and related payments, and unemployment allowances, and the operational risks such as access to United Kingdom citizens as members of staff or as experts, access to United Kingdom entities for services and information/data, change in the volumes of work and access rights to documents.
The European Parliament decided to grant discharge to the Executive Director of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in regard to the implementation of the authority’s budget for the 2016 financial year and to approve the closure of the accounts for the financial year in question.
Noting that the Court of Auditors has stated that it has obtained reasonable assurances that the authority’s annual accounts for the financial year 2016 are reliable and that the underlying transactions are legal and regular , Parliament adopted by 552 votes to 40 with 8 abstentions, a resolution containing a series of recommendations, which form an integral part of the decision on discharge and which add to the general recommendations set out in the resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies :
· Authority’s financial statements: the final budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2016 was EUR 79 492 944, representing a decrease of 1.10 %. The entire budget derived from the Union budget.
· Budget and financial management: Members noted with satisfaction that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, representing an increase of 0.19 % compared to 2015.
· Commitments and carry-overs: carry-overs from 2016 to 2017 were at EUR 8.2 million and predominantly related to infrastructure and operations.
Members also made a series of observations regarding staff policy, as well as internal audits and controls. In particular, they called on the authority as a matter of urgency to aim for a more gender-balanced staff composition , especially at the senior post level.
Members also expressed their concern over the fact that the scope of the authority’s new policy on independence remains too narrow, underlining that the authority ignored the repeated calls of Parliament to include research funding in the list of interests to be covered by the two-year cooling-off period.
The authority should continue paying special attention to public opinion and commit itself to openness and transparency . Members recalled that a group of Members of Parliament filed a lawsuit against the authority on grounds of limiting of access to documents in the “glyphosate” case. They expect the authority to fully implement the court’s ruling once it is known.
Parliament noted that close cooperation with the Commission’s DG SANTE is well on track towards its preparation related to the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the Union. It noted however that a critical uncertainty remains on the future availability of resources hampering thereby the thorough preparation of the authority for its programming after 2020. It called on the authority to remain proactive on this issue, anticipating and planning for any likely problems.
Members noted that the authority adopted in 2016 the strategy called ‘EFSA Strategy 2020: trusted science for safe food’ , based on five strategic objectives: (i) prioritising public and stakeholder engagement in the process of scientific assessment, (ii) widening the authority’s evidence base and optimise access to its data, (iii) building the Union’s scientific assessment capacity and knowledge community, (iv) preparing for future risk assessment challenges and (v) creating an environment and culture that reflects the authority’s values.
The Committee on Budgetary Control adopted the report by Indrek TARAND (Greens/EFA, EE) on discharge in respect of the implementation of the budget of the European Food Safety Authority (ESFA) for the financial year 2016.
The committee called on the European Parliament to grant the Executive Director of the Authority discharge in respect of the implementation of the Authority’s budget for the financial year 2016.
Noting that the Court of Auditors stated that it had obtained reasonable assurance that the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2016 were reliable and that the underlying transactions were legal and regular, Members called on Parliament to approve the closure of the Authority’s accounts.
They made, however, a number of recommendations that needed to be taken into account when the discharge is granted, in addition to the general recommendations that appear in the draft resolution on performance, financial management and control of EU agencies :
Authority’s financial statements : the final budget of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year 2016 was EUR 79 492 944, representing a decrease of 1.10 %. The entire budget derived from the Union budget. Budget and financial management : Members noted with satisfaction that the budget monitoring efforts during the financial year 2016 resulted in a budget implementation rate of 100 %, representing an increase of 0.19 % compared to 2015. Commitments and carry-overs : carry-overs from 2016 to 2017 were at EUR 8.2 million and predominantly related to infrastructure and operations.
Members also made a series of observations regarding staff policy, as well as internal audits and controls.
They noted that a close cooperation with the Commission’s DG SANTE is well on track towards its preparation related to the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the Union. The Authority is well aware of the financial risks due to the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the Union, such as a restricted budget availability, contractual issues for ongoing and new contracts and related payments, and unemployment allowances, and the operational risks such as access to United Kingdom citizens as members of staff or as experts, access to United Kingdom entities for services and information/data, change in the volumes of work and access rights to documents.
Members noted that the Authority adopted in 2016 the strategy called ‘EFSA Strategy 2020: trusted science for safe food’, based on five strategic objectives: prioritise public and stakeholder engagement in the process of scientific assessment, widen the Authority’s evidence base and optimise access to its data, build the Union’s scientific assessment capacity and knowledge community, prepare for future risk assessment challenges and create an environment and culture that reflects the Authority’s values.
Having examined the revenue and expenditure accounts for the financial year 2016 and the balance sheet as at 31 December 2016 of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) , as well as the Court of Auditors' report on the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2016, accompanied by the Authority's replies to the Court's observations, the Council recommended the European Parliament to give a discharge to the Executive Director of the Authority in respect of the implementation of the budget for the financial year 2016.
The Council welcomed the Court's opinion that, in all material respects, the Authority's annual accounts present fairly its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of the Authority's Financial Regulation, and that the underlying transactions for 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects.
The Council noted the Court's observation that the Authority's IT governance requires an overhaul and called on the Authority to fully implement all planned actions to appropriately address the shortcomings identified.
The Council welcomed the measures taken by the Authority thus far regarding its ex-post control strategy , as a follow-up to the Court's report on the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2015, and calls on the Authority to complete them as soon as possible.
PURPOSE: presentation of the EU Court of Auditors’ report on the annual accounts of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for the year 2016, together with the Authority’s reply.
CONTENT: in accordance with the tasks conferred on the Court of Auditors by the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Court presents to the European Parliament and to the Council, in the context of the discharge procedure, a Statement of Assurance as to the reliability of the annual accounts of each institution, body or agency of the EU, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying them, on the basis of an independent external audit.
This audit concerned, amongst others, the annual accounts of the European Food Safety Authority ( EFSA ). In brief, the Authority’s main tasks are to supply the scientific information needed for Union legislation to be drawn up concerning food and food safety, to collect and analyse data that allow risks to be identified and monitored and to provide independent information on these risks.
Statement of assurance : pursuant to the provisions of Article 287 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the Court has audited:
the annual accounts of the Authority, which comprise the financial statements and the reports on the implementation of the budget for the financial year ended 31 December 2016, and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts.
Opinion on the reliability of the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the Authority’s annual accounts present fairly, in all material respects, its financial position as at 31 December 2016 and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year then ended, in accordance with the provisions of its Financial Regulation and the accounting rules adopted by the Commission’s accounting officer.
Opinion on the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying the accounts : in the Court’s opinion, the transactions underlying the annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 are legal and regular in all material respects.
The report also makes a series of observations on the internal control of the Authority, accompanied by the latter’s response. The main observations may be summarised as follows:
The Court’s observations :
internal controls : the Court recommended updating EFSA’s IT governance policy, to introduce an organisation-wide IT risk management framework and risk register and to separate the information security function from the IT Unit. In this regard, EFSA agreed with the IAS on a plan to take corrective actions.
The Authority’s reply :
internal controls : the Authority stated that it will duly implement the action plan following the IAS IT Governance audit. All actions concerning the positioning of the Information Security Function, the Business participation and the IT Strategy have been fully implemented. For the IT Governance, the majority of actions have been implemented and the remaining actions are planned to be implemented by the end of 2017.
Lastly, the Court of Auditors’ report contains a summary of the Authority’s key figures in 2016 :
Budget : EUR 79.5 million. Staff : 434 including officials, temporary and contract staff and seconded national experts.
PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure.
Analysis of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) .
CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.
This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.
It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), with a view to granting discharge.
Discharge procedure : the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, " releases " the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.
The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.
The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.
Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including the EFSA .
The European Food Safety Authority : the Authority, which is located in Parma, was established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council in order to provide scientific opinions and scientific and technical support for the legislation and policies which have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety.
As regards the Authority’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016:
Commitment appropriations :
available: EUR 80 million; made: EUR 80 million.
Payment appropriations :
available: EUR 88 million; made : EUR 79 million.
For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the EFSA .
PURPOSE: presentation by the Commission of the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for the financial year 2016, as part of the 2016 discharge procedure.
Analysis of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) .
CONTENT: the organisational governance of the EU consists of institutions, agencies and other EU bodies whose expenditure is included in the general budget of the Union.
This Commission document concerns the EU's consolidated accounts for the year 2016 and details how spending by the EU institutions and bodies was carried out. The consolidated annual accounts of the EU provide financial information on the activities of the institutions, agencies and other bodies of the EU from an accrual accounting and budgetary perspective.
It is the responsibility of the Commission's Accounting Officer to prepare the EU's consolidated annual accounts and ensure that they present fairly, in all material aspects, the financial position, the result of the operations and the cash flows of the EU institutions and bodies, including the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), with a view to granting discharge.
Discharge procedure : the final step of a budget lifecycle is the discharge of the budget for a given financial year. It represents the political aspect of the external control of budget implementation and is the decision by which the European Parliament, acting on a Council recommendation, " releases " the Commission (and other EU bodies) from its responsibility for management of a given budget by marking the end of that budget's existence. The European Parliament is the discharge authority within the EU.
The discharge procedure may produce three outcomes: (i) the granting; (ii) postponement or; (iii) the refusal of the discharge.
The final discharge report including specific recommendations to the Commission for action is adopted in plenary by the European Parliament and are subject to an annual follow up report in which the Commission outlines the concrete actions it has taken to implement the recommendations made.
Each agency is subject to its own discharge procedure, including the EFSA .
The European Food Safety Authority : the Authority, which is located in Parma, was established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council in order to provide scientific opinions and scientific and technical support for the legislation and policies which have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety.
As regards the Authority’s accounts , these are presented in detail in the document on the consolidated annual accounts of the European Union for 2016:
Commitment appropriations :
available: EUR 80 million; made: EUR 80 million.
Payment appropriations :
available: EUR 88 million; made : EUR 79 million.
For further details on expenditure, please refer to the final accounts of the EFSA .
Documents
- Results of vote in Parliament: Results of vote in Parliament
- Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
- Decision by Parliament: T8-0146/2018
- Committee report tabled for plenary: A8-0091/2018
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE618.247
- Supplementary non-legislative basic document: 05941/2018
- Committee draft report: PE613.477
- Committee opinion: PE612.235
- Court of Auditors: opinion, report: OJ C 417 06.12.2017, p. 0115
- Court of Auditors: opinion, report: N8-0024/2018
- Non-legislative basic document: COM(2017)0365
- Non-legislative basic document: EUR-Lex
- Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2017)0365
- Non-legislative basic document published: EUR-Lex
- Non-legislative basic document: COM(2017)0365 EUR-Lex
- Court of Auditors: opinion, report: OJ C 417 06.12.2017, p. 0115 N8-0024/2018
- Committee opinion: PE612.235
- Committee draft report: PE613.477
- Supplementary non-legislative basic document: 05941/2018
- Amendments tabled in committee: PE618.247
Votes
A8-0091/2018 - Indrek Tarand - am 2/1 18/04/2018 12:57:45.000 #
GUE/NGL
NIA8-0091/2018 - Indrek Tarand - am 2/2 18/04/2018 12:57:56.000 #
A8-0091/2018 - Indrek Tarand - am 2/3 18/04/2018 12:58:10.000 #
A8-0091/2018 - Indrek Tarand - résolution 18/04/2018 12:58:32.000 #
| Amendments | Dossier |
| 42 |
2017/2159(DEC)
2017/12/13
ENVI
10 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 1 a (new) 1 a. Notes with concern that the Union regulatory agencies responsible for the risk assessment of regulated products, in particular the Authority and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), do not have sufficient resources to effectively fulfil these responsibilities;the Authority and ECHA should therefore be granted sufficient resources in order to carry out their specific responsibilities;
Amendment 10 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Notes that the Authority
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the contribution of the Authority to the safety of the Union food and feed chain, by providing Union risk managers with comprehensive, independent and up-to-date scientific advice on questions linked to the food chain, communicating clearly to the public on its outputs and the information on which they are based, and cooperating with interested parties and institutional partners to promote coherence and trust in the Union food safety system; regrets, however, that the Authority has not provided sufficient answers to the serious questions raised following the publication of the documents known as the ‘Monsanto papers’, which cast doubt on the Authority’s independence, particularly regarding the glyphosate dossier, where it appears that the Authority failed to take account of all the available studies on the level of the potential dangers posed by this product, or even that it drew significantly on studies produced by manufacturers themselves when drawing up its reports;
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the contribution of the Authority to the safety of the Union food and feed chain,
Amendment 4 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 2 2. Welcomes the contribution of the Authority to the safety of the Union food and feed chain, by providing Union risk managers with comprehensive
Amendment 5 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8. Believes that the Authority should continue paying special attention to public opinion, and commit itself to openness and transparency; welcomes, in this respect, that in 2016, the Authority’s scientific data warehouse provided access to more of the evidence that underpins its scientific assessments, as several data collections were published, on pesticides, contaminants, chemical hazards, food composition, molecular typing and botanicals;believes that this data warehouse should also contain details of those who commissioned all such reports, to ensure complete openness and transparency; the Authority’s journal migrated to an international scientific publisher, in order to increase publishing quality and outreach; the Authority’s authorship guidelines for scientific outputs were reviewed to increase transparency and openness; the Authority launched ‘Knowledge Junction’, an open repository for the exchange of evidence and supporting materials used in food and feed safety risk assessments; encourages the Authority to further progress on this path;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 8. Believes that the Authority should continue paying special attention to public opinion, and commit itself to openness and transparency; welcomes, in this respect, that in 2016, the Authority’s scientific data warehouse provided access to more of the evidence that underpins its scientific assessments, as several data collections were published, on pesticides, contaminants, chemical hazards, food composition, molecular typing and botanicals; the Authority’s journal migrated to an international scientific publisher, in order to increase publishing quality and outreach; the Authority’s authorship guidelines for scientific outputs were reviewed to increase transparency and openness; the Authority launched ‘Knowledge Junction’, an open repository for the exchange of evidence and supporting materials used in food and feed safety risk assessments; encourages the Authority to further progress on this path; notes, however, that efforts towards openness, transparency and information for the public still need to be boosted substantially;
Amendment 7 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 8 a (new) 8 a. Calls on the Commission to launch a policy debate with relevant stakeholders in order to review Union legislation related to risk assessment for food, chemicals and related products and the effectiveness of such legislation;
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 9 a (new) 9 a. Welcomes the Court of Auditors´ report on the annual accounts of the Authority for the financial year 2016;welcomes particularly the unqualified assurance provided on both the reliability of the accounts and the legality and regularity of the transactions underlying those accounts;welcomes also the commitment by the Authority to implement the action plan recommended by the Court of Auditors to 'introduce an organisation-wide IT risk management framework and risk register and to separate the information security function from the IT Unit';
Amendment 9 #
Draft opinion Paragraph 10 10. Notes that the Authority shared with Members of the European Parliament raw data it had used in its evaluation of the pesticide glyphosate, even though the data provided did not really help make it possible to understand the contradiction between the Authority's position and the position taken by the International Agency for Research on Cancer with regard to this pesticide;
source: 615.432
2018/03/02
CONT
32 amendments...
Amendment 1 #
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
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Observes that on 21 June 2017, the management board of the Authority adopted a new policy on independence to ensure the independence of all professionals involved in its scientific operations; notes that the new policy includes a new definition of what constitutes a conflict of interest, a comprehensive set of “cooling-off” rules, a requirement that experts declare the proportion of their annual earnings received from any organisation, body or company whose activities fall within the Authority’s areas of work; notes moreover that the Authority adopted unconditional restrictions to financial investments into business operators directly or indirectly concerned by the Authority’s outputs: notes that such interests are considered incompatible with any involvement as a member of the Authority’s scientific committee, scientific panels, working groups or peer review meetings; notes that experts sent by Member States will now have to fill the declarations of interests form;
Amendment 11 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 12. Observes that on 21 June 2017, the management board of the Authority adopted a new policy on independence to ensure the independence of all professionals involved in its scientific operations; notes that the new policy includes a new definition of what constitutes a conflict of interest, a comprehensive set of “cooling-off” rules including a ban on consultancy contracts, a requirement that experts declare the proportion of their annual earnings received from any organisation, body or company whose activities fall within the Authority’s areas of work; notes moreover that the Authority adopted unconditional restrictions to financial investments into business operators directly or indirectly concerned by the Authority’s outputs: notes that such interests are considered incompatible with any involvement as a member of the Authority’s scientific committee, scientific panels, working groups or peer review meetings;
Amendment 12 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 a (new) 12 a. Is concerned that the scope of the Authority’s new independence policy, which only takes into account interests on “matters falling under the mandate of the relevant EFSA scientific group” and not “all material interests related to the companies whose products are assessed by the Authority and to any organisations funded by them” as the Parliament demanded, remains too narrow and thus perpetuates the Authority’s previous independence policy’s biggest limitation;
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 b (new) 12 b. Is concerned that the Authority ignored the repeated calls of the Parliament to include research funding in the list of interests to be covered by the two-year cooling-off period, research funding being the main source of financial conflicts of interests among the Authority’s external experts;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 c (new) 12 c. Is concerned that the Authority did not follow the European Ombudsman’s January 2015 ruling which, observing that the Authority had “failed to take adequate account of the changing nature of universities in its conflict of interest rules and its Declarations of Interests forms”, asked the Authority to “revise its conflict of interest rules and the related instructions and forms it uses for declarations of interests” to make sure academia experts declare the details of the financial relationships between their university employers and their university employers’ industry partners;
Amendment 15 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 d (new) 12 d. Stresses that the Authority’s independence policy implementing rules, which were adopted end of 2017, did not remedy the above-mentioned problems, and that the Authority failed to seize the opportunity of the review of its independence policy to better prevent the occurrence of conflicts of interest scandals in the future;
Amendment 16 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 12 e (new) 12 e. Calls on the Authority to report to the discharge authority on the implementation of its new independence policy;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 14 14. Notes with concern that, according to the Corporate Europe Observatory, 46% of Authority´s experts working at the Authority since 2015 are in conflict of interest with direct or indirect ties with lobbies and companies whose products are evaluated by the Authority; welcomes that of the 17 statutory staff members that left the Authority in 2016, in
Amendment 18 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 16 16. Notes that the Authority in January 2016 adopted the standard operating procedures on “Handling complaints submitted by whistleblowers” and recommends to undertake consistent training on whistle-blowing rules rights and the Authority rules; calls on the Authority to commit itself to strictly protect the identity of whistle-blowers and their intimidation; asks the Authority to provide details on whistle-blower cases in 2016, if any, and how they have been handled;
Amendment 19 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 18 18. Notes that in 2016 the Authority received 99 new requests for access to documents (and handled 118 requests) to which the Authority granted a full access in 23 cases while in 76 cases the Authority decided to grant only partial access to the documents and refused access in 19 cases; calls on the Authority to approach all such requests in a spirit of openness and transparency;
Amendment 2 #
Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 19. Notes that, out of the 118 initial applications handled in 2016, in 26 cases the access to documents was refused or partially granted due to protection of privacy and the integrity of the individual, in 40 cases due to protection of commercial interests, in 18 cases due to the fact that no decision were yet taken and in one case due to protection of court proceedings and legal advice; expects that the Authority, when deciding on limiting the access to documents due to protection of commercial interests, also considers with
Amendment 21 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 a (new) 19a. Stresses that all scientific work is based on the use of public data, as only then will the international scientific community be able to check and confirm it; notes that the Authority is required to receive from companies also information that is covered by trade secrecy rules, but it can establish a hierarchy of sources to use for its scientific opinions; calls on the Authority to place information covered by trade secrecy at the bottom of its hierarchy of sources while placing at the top of its hierarchy studies that are publicly available and that have been published after a scientific peer review process;
Amendment 22 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 19 b (new) 19b. Notes that the assessments dealt with by the Authority, regarding which it receives information that is covered by trade secrecy rules, do not concern safety alone, but also other aspects such as effectiveness; calls on the Authority not to use information covered by trade secrecy rules in assessing safety, but to limit its use to other aspects;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 20 20. Notes that a group of Members of the European Parliament filed a lawsuit against the Authority on grounds of limiting of access to documents in the “glyphosate” case; calls on the Authority to fully implement the court’s ruling immediately once it is known; welcomes the recent establishment of the ad-hoc parliamentary committee on EU authorization procedure on pesticides, which came as a response to the concerns raised about the risk posed by the herbicide substance glyphosate;
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 20 20. Notes that a group of Members of the European Parliament filed a lawsuit against the Authority on grounds of limiting of access to documents in the “glyphosate” case;
Amendment 25 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 20 a (new) 20 a. Regrets that the Authority assessments on glyphosate was drafted from Monsanto documents and that, consequently, the Authority has classified glyphosate as not linked to cancer, breaking with long-standing practice of aligning with the IARC cancer hazard assessments, as documented by the Natural Resources Defense Council;
Amendment 26 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 20 a (new) 20 a. Notes with concern that criminal complaints have been filed against the Authority and Germany’s Bundesinstitute für Risikobewertung (BfR) by environmental NGOs in Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and France over accusations of plagiarism and misconduct in their risk assessment of the active substance glyphosate;
Amendment 28 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 23 23. Observes that according to the IAC, the Authority’s internal control system in place provides reasonable assurance regarding the achievement of the business objectives set up for the processes audited; notes that one ‘very important’ recommendation on the disclosure and transparency of the scientific decision- making processes was issued; calls on the Authority to ensure that this recommendation is carried through, and reported to the discharge authority;
Amendment 29 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 31 31. Notes that a close cooperation with DG SANTE is well on track towards its preparation relating to the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the Union; notes however that a critical uncertainty remains on the future availability of resources hampering thereby the thorough preparation of the Authority for its programming post 2020; calls on the Authority to remain proactive on this issue, anticipating and planning for any likely problems, rather than waiting and reacting;
Amendment 3 #
Proposal for a decision 1 Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 31 a (new) 31 a. Notes with concern that the Authority currently lacks the financial resources to pay its external experts and perform all the new tasks it is asked to do, in particular on novel foods, risk communication and stakeholder engagement;
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 31 b (new) 31 b. Notes that the Authority often comes under criticism for issues that are beyond its powers to change, such as specific aspects of the Union’s pesticides regulation in the case of glyphosate, or, on conflicts of interests, the shrinking availability of independent experts caused by Union and national research funding policies that encourage public private partnerships between universities and industry;
Amendment 32 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 31 c (new) 31 c. Insists that the Commission and Member States substantially increases the Authority’s budget, and that the Commission reviews the Authority’s Founding Regulation, to give it the financial and legal resources it needs to perform all the tasks it is facing in correct conditions; in this perspective, any possible introduction of fees for industry should be done in a manner that protects the Authority’s integrity;
Amendment 4 #
Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1. Approves the closure of the accounts of the European Food Safety Authority for the financial year
Amendment 5 #
Proposal for a decision 2 Paragraph 1 1.
Amendment 6 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Notes
Amendment 7 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 Amendment 8 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 6 6. Notes with concern that by the number of all posts occupied on 1 August 2017 gender balance ratio
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution Paragraph 8 8. Notes that on average the Authority’s staff was on sick leave 7,4 days in 2016 and calls on the Authority to examine those absences with a view to establishing if any are workplace stress- related; welcomes the fact that the Authority organised a staff-away day, health and safety matters’ days and well- being activities; calls on the Authority to invite the staff to participate in even greater number;
source: 618.247
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