Risk assessment practice
EFSA has developed a comprehensive body of good risk assessment practices to guide its Scientific Panel and Committee experts to help ensure EFSA opinions respect the highest scientific standards. This body of best practice covers both the scientific and procedural aspects of EFSA’s risk assessment workflow. EFSA continually seeks to build on these practices and develops further guidance, recommendations and processes to enhance its approaches.
Recommendations of the Scientific Committee
Advice from the EFSA Scientific Committee on a general format for scientific opinions of the EFSA
Transparency in risk assessment carried out by EFSA – guidance on procedural aspects
Opinion of the Scientific Committee related to uncertainties in dietary exposure assessment
Advice of the Scientific Committee in relation to EFSA’s activities in a crisis
Guidance documents
EFSA's scientific Panels and Scientific Committee develop guidance documents to clarify their approach to risk assessment. These guidance documents are chiefly used by industry and others involved in food production as well as stakeholders and other bodies concerned with food and feed safety. When developing guidance documents, EFSA often holds meetings and public consultations to dialogue with external partners such as stakeholders.
Administrative procedures
EFSA’s
Core management documents
include the procedural decisions of EFSA’s Management Board and Executive Director relevant to EFSA’s good risk assessment practices. These include the operating rules of EFSA’s Scientific Panels and Scientific Committee, rules on the selection of experts and requirements for openness, transparency and confidentiality. Any expert who participates in EFSA’s scientific work must comply with EFSA’s comprehensive policy and procedures on
Declarations of Interests
EFSA, in cooperation with Members States, has decided to set up a
database of external scientific experts
able to assist its Scientific Committee, Scientific Panels, EFSA networks and respective working groups.
Workflow for scientific opinions
The
workflow for scientific opinions
runs from the moment EFSA receives a request for scientific advice or initiates its own activity to the moment it publishes and communicates its scientific findings.
Quality assurance
EFSA implements a
Quality assurance
system to continually review and strengthen the quality of its scientific work.
