Election of the Chairs and Vice-Chairs
(1) At the beginning of each term, each Scientific Committee shall elect a Chair and two Vice-Chairs from among their members. The election shall take place by a simple majority of the total number of members of the Committee.
(2) The term of office of the Chair and Vice-Chair shall be five years, and shall be renewable. Any replacement of the Chair or Vice-Chair during the five year term shall be for the remainder of that term.
(3) The procedure for the election of the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Scientific Committees shall be laid down in the rules of procedures referred to in Article 12.
Voting rules
(1) Each Scientific Committee shall take decision by a majority of the total number of its members.
(2) Those members of a Committee who have resigned or whose membership has been terminated in accordance with Article 5(2) or due to death shall not be taken into account for the calculation of the majority referred to in paragraph 1.
Preparation of scientific opinions
(1) The Commission services may require the adoption of a scientific opinion from a Scientific Committee within a specified period.
(2) The Commission services may require the adoption of a joint opinion on questions which need to be considered by both Committees.
(3) The Commission services may organise consultations, hearings or collaboration with other scientific bodies it deems necessary for the preparation of the Committees' opinions.
External experts
(1) The Commission services may invite external experts, as well as experts from other Union bodies with specific and relevant scientific knowledge and expertise to contribute to the work of the Scientific Committees, including working groups referred to in Article 10.
(2) The selection of the external experts shall comply with the rules of procedures referred to in Article 12.
Working groups
(1) In agreement with the Commission services, the Scientific Committees may establish specific working groups whose task shall consist of preparing and drafting the Committees' scientific opinions. These working groups shall be established in particular when there is a need for external expertise on a particular subject.
(2) The working groups shall be composed of members of the relevant Committee, and may also include external experts. The working groups shall be chaired by a member of the Scientific Committee. The chair of the working group shall be responsible for convening the working group and reporting to the Committee, and may appoint a rapporteur from among participants to the working group. For particularly complex questions of a multidisciplinary nature, more than one rapporteur may be appointed.
(3) When a question is common to more than one Scientific Committee, a joint working group including members from both Committees, as well as external experts, as necessary, shall be set up.
Participation of trainees
In agreement with the Commission services and in accordance with the rules of procedure referred to in Article 12, the Scientific Committees may admit trainees to attend their meetings with a view to contribute to capacity building in the area of risk assessment.
Rules of procedures
(1) On a proposal by and in agreement with the Commission services, the Scientific Committees shall adopt common rules of procedures.
(2) The rules of procedures shall ensure that the Scientific Committees perform their tasks in compliance with the principles of excellence, independence and transparency as laid down in Chapter 4 and with the Commission rules on expert groups, whilst having regard to legitimate requests for commercial confidentiality as well as to the risk assessment principles which may be established by the Commission services in the light of the experience and in view of its policy in this area.
(3) The rules of procedure shall provide in particular for:
(a)
application of principles laid down in Chapter 4;
(b)
a stakeholder dialogue procedure as referred to in Article 14(3);
(c)
procedures for the adoption of a scientific opinion and provision of a rapid scientific advice as referred to in Article 3(4);
(d)
relations with third parties including scientific bodies;
(e)
other detailed rules on the functioning of the Scientific Committees including coordination between the Committees.
Diverging opinions, coordination and collaboration with other Union, national or international bodies
(1) With respect to the relations with other relevant Union, national or international bodies carrying out similar tasks, the Scientific Committees shall assist the Commission services in:
(a)
identifying at an early stage needs and possibilities for coordination of work and collaboration, including sharing of data and information, and potential or actual divergences in scientific opinions;
(b)
avoiding, resolving or clarifying divergent opinions and in establishing and maintaining collaboration relationships.
(2) The Commission services may request and organise joint work, including joint opinions, of the Scientific Committees with Union, national or international bodies carrying out similar tasks.
(3) Where a substantive divergence over scientific issues has been identified and the body in question is a Union body, the Scientific Committee concerned shall, on the request of the Commission services, cooperate with the body concerned with a view to either resolving the divergence or presenting a joint document to the Commission services clarifying the contentious scientific issues and identifying the relevant uncertainties in the data. This document shall be made public.
Secretariat of the Scientific Committees
(1) The Directorate General for Health and Food Safety shall provide a secretariat for the Scientific Committees and their working groups as well as for all other activities related to the application of this Decision.
(2) The secretariat shall be responsible for providing scientific and administrative support necessary to facilitate the efficient functioning of the Scientific Committees, to monitor compliance with the rules of procedure, particularly in relation to the requirements for excellence, independence and transparency, to ensure communication on the Committees' activities and the appropriate stakeholder dialogue, including in particular organisation of hearings on the activities of the Committees, and publication of the opinions and other public documents. Moreover, the secretariat shall provide support to the Committees and organise and apply quality control of the opinions, as provided for in the rules of procedure, as far as completeness, consistency, clarity, correspondence with requests and with editorial standards are concerned.
(3) The secretariat shall ensure the scientific and technical coordination of the activities of the Scientific Committees and, where necessary, timely coordination of their activities with those of other Union, national and international bodies to ensure consistency of the risk assessment performed on subjects of common concern, as well as the application of the stakeholder dialogue procedure set up in the rules of procedure and the communication on the activities of the Committees.
Special allowance
(1) The members of the Scientific Committees and external experts shall be entitled to a special allowance for their preparatory work and participation, in person or from a distance by electronic means, in the meetings of the Committees, working groups and other activities related to the application of this Decision and organised by the Commission services, and for serving as rapporteur on a specific question, as provided for in Annex II.
(2) Travel and, where appropriate, subsistence expenses of members and external experts in connection with the Scientific Committees’ activities shall be reimbursed in accordance with the provisions in force at the Commission. Those expenses shall be reimbursed within the limits of the annual budget allocated to the Scientific Committees by the responsible Commission services.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
