Vol. 537 No. 1
138 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Health and Children the way in which the proposed European Food Authority will share responsibility with the European Commission and with member state agencies and Governments. [15455/01]
On 8 November 2000, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council, laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Authority, and laying down procedures in matters of food safety. Since adoption of the proposal intensive work has been undertaken at EU level with the aim of agreeing a common position on the proposal among member states.
Chapter III of this proposal deals with the establishment of a European Food Authority – EFA. The proposed EFA will be a separate legal entity from the Union institutions and its main focus will be to provide excellent independent scientific advice to the Commission, member states, national food bodies or the European Parliament.
In terms of the mission of the EFA, it is envisaged that it will share responsibility with the Commission and member states. The proposal states that the EFA shall act in close co-operation with the competent bodies in member states carrying out similar tasks to those of the authority. It also states that the authority, the Commission and member states will co-operate to promote the necessary coherence between risk assessment, risk management and risk communication functions, and that the member states shall co-operate with the authority to ensure the accomplishment of its mission.
The Nice European summit on 7-9 December 2000 agreed that the EFA should be operational at the start of 2002. Work at EU level towards agreement of a common position is ongoing and it is likely that this will be achieved by the end of June.
