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Scientific Committees
The following Scientific Committees are established: (a) the Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (hereinafter SCCS); and (b) the Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks (hereinafter SCHEER).
Mission
(1) The mission of the Scientific Committees shall be to provide the Commission with scientific advice and risk assessment in the areas of public health, consumer safety, environmental risks, including, when relevant, identification of research needs to address critical information gaps, assessment of proposed future research actions and of research results. (2) The fields of competence of the Scientific Committees are set out in Annex I. (3) Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall be without prejudice to the competencies conferred by Union acts to other Union bodies undertaking risk assessment, in particular, the European Food Safety Authority, the European Medicines Agency, the European Chemical Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Scientific advice
(1) The Scientific Committees shall provide the Commission with scientific opinions on risk assessment in the cases laid down by Union law. (2) Furthermore, the Scientific Committees shall provide the Commission services, on request, with scientific advice on questions of particular relevance to public health, consumer safety and environmental risks. (3) The Commission services may invite Scientific Committees to identify research needs to address critical information gaps, to assess proposed future research and to assess research results in relation to the subject areas covered by their fields of competence. (4) The Commission services may also request the Committees to provide rapid risk advice on the state of scientific knowledge concerning specific risks in case of urgent risks. (5) The Commission services may invite the Scientific Committees to be part of thematic networks or events with other Union bodies or scientific organisations, in order to monitor and contribute to the development of scientific knowledge in the fields of competence defined in Annex I. (6) The Scientific Committees shall draw the attention of the Commission and its services to a specific or emerging problem falling within their fields of competence, which they consider may pose an actual or potential risk to consumer safety, public health or the environment, by adopting and addressing to the Commission services memoranda or position statements. The Commission services may decide to publish such memoranda and statements and shall determine the action to be taken including, if appropriate, a request for a scientific opinion on the matter. (7) The Committees, after consulting the Secretariat provided for in Article 14, shall adopt their methodology for performing and providing risk assessment and keep it under review to reflect all relevant scientific factors. They shall ensure that the methodology reflect current risk assessment practice.
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