EU agencies and institutions

In the European food safety system, risk assessment is done separately from risk management. As a result, EFSA is an independent European agency funded by the EU budget that operates separately from the European Commission, European Parliament and EU Member States. EFSA’s scientific work informs the decisions of the European Commission, the European Parliament and other EU institutions.

To fulfil our mandate we also work closely with a range of partner organisations operating in the EU food safety system.

Network of EU agencies

The Directors of EU agencies have established a network to provide a forum for exchanging views and experiences on issues of common interest and new developments. From the 1 March 2009 until the end of February 2010, EFSA will coordinate the agencies network. This role entails chairing meetings of the network, coordinating activities between meetings and heading a troika involving the previous and future chairs, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The network meets routinely three times year.

The network has published “EU agencies: the way ahead”, a brochure that provides an overview of the missions of all the EU agencies and describes their common objectives to strengthen the service they deliver to the EU institutions and ultimately to all EU citizens. The brochure outlines the agencies’ contribution to shaping Europe in the light of the ongoing inter-institutional dialogue of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council, which will help develop the EU’s future approach to the governance of EU Agencies.

Cooperation with EU agencies and institutions in related fields

EFSA works with other EU agencies and institutions active in closely related fields by exchanging information and cooperating on matters of mutual interest. To reinforce these relations EFSA seeks to sign Memoranda of Understanding with other EU agencies on enhancing cooperation and information exchange.

EFSA has signed separate Memoranda of Understanding with:

  • the European Medicines Agency (EMA) with the aim of fostering co-operation in areas of mutual interest for the two agencies including optimising risk assessment activities across the European Union.
  • the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to further develop information exchange, cooperation and mutual understanding between both organisations, in particular given the need to establish rules of procedure concerning substances for which an opinion has been sought in a food safety context.
  • the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) to increase cooperation and exchange scientific information on topics of mutual interest including food safety, control of communicable diseases, infectious diseases prevention and emergency response.

EFSA has also signed a collaboration agreement with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to strengthen the cooperation in the fields of food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, plant health and nutrition.

The Authority sometimes shares scientific information with the European Commission regulatory committees, both the Standing Committee on the food chain and animal health (SCFCAH) and the non-food Standing Committees. The Commission has published guidelines for this type of scientific co-operation.

Memorandum of Understanding between EFSA and the EMA (0.1 Mb) (26/01/2012)
Memorandum of Understanding between EFSA and the ECHA (0.4 Mb) (20/05/2009)
Renewed Memorandum of Understanding between EFSA and the ECDC (0.1 Mb) (24/11/2010)
Memorandum of Understanding between EFSA and the ECDC (0.6 Mb) (03/04/2008)
Guidelines for sharing scientific data between EU agencies and the Scientific Committees (0.1 Mb) (10/11/2008)
Collaboration agreement between EFSA and JRC (0.9 Mb) (10/11/2008)

Example of scientific outputs

EFSA cooperates with other EU agencies to jointly produce some of its scientific outputs, and in other cases receives support or scientific data from them which feeds into its work. Here are some examples: