MEPs vote for public access to all safety data, for a common European register of commissioned studies, and for EFSA to be able to request additional studies

MEPs want the European Food Safety Agency to publish industry's safety studies before a product is authorised to go on to the market.

A proposal to allow the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) to work more efficiently and transparently was adopted by Parliament on Tuesday by 427 votes in favour, 172 against and 67 abstentions.

The revised rules aim to make risk assessment more transparent and ensure that the studies used by EFSA to authorise a product to be put on the market are reliable, objective and independent.

A new pre-submission procedure has been introduced, to allow the application process to be speeded up, as EFSA may provide advice to the applicant on how to provide all required information.

Additional studies to those submitted by companies

A common European register of commissioned studies should be set up, to deter companies that are applying for authorisation from holding back unfavourable studies. If there is some doubt about the evidence provided by the companies, the agency could also consult third parties to identify whether other relevant scientific data or studies exist.

Parliament also agreed on a set of criteria to decide what kind of information can be kept confidential, e.g. the trademark under which a product will be marketed or detailed descriptions of preparations.

After the vote, rapporteur Renate Sommer (EPP, DE) stated that she cannot support the result of the vote and wants her name withdrawn from this file.

Reacting to the vote, Corporate Europe Observatory's agribusiness researcher Martin Pigeon said:

"Despite the opposition of conservative parties, the Parliament voted in favour of a global game-changer. Ending the secrecy around industry data used by the EU for granting market approvals has been a demand by independent scientists and NGOs for many years.

"This is not a tokenistic measure: at stake here is the possibility of finally enabling independent scientific scrutiny of EU food safety decisions. This measure can deliver long-term positive change on many different substance assessments. It is a direct outcome of millions of people throughout Europe mobilising around the glyphosate scandal.

"We look forward to the negotiations between the Parliament, European Commission and Member States for a final compromise on the text, but, after many years of work, getting a good data transparency legislation in food safety in the EU now seems within reach."

Background

The proposal is a follow-up to the European Citizens' Initiative on glyphosate, especially to concerns expressed in the initiative regarding the transparency of the scientific studies used to evaluate pesticides. It also follows a fitness check of the General Food Law, launched in 2014 and completed in January 2018 by the Commission.

Next steps

Parliament will now enter into negotiations with EU Ministers for a first reading agreement.


Sources: EU Parliament
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20181205IPR20935/food-safety-more-transparency-better-risk-prevention
Corporate Europe Observatory
https://corporateeurope.org/pressreleases/2018/12/food-safety-transparency-breakthrough-vote-eu-parliament