About the Scientific Committee

The Scientific Committee has the task of supporting the work of EFSA’s scientific Panels on scientific matters of a horizontal nature and providing strategic advice to EFSA’s Executive Director. It is also responsible for general co-ordination to ensure consistency in the scientific opinions prepared by the Scientific Panels. The Scientific Committee focuses on developing harmonised risk assessment methodologies in fields where EU-wide approaches are not already defined.

The Scientific Committee produces scientific opinions and advice for risk managers, to provide a sound foundation for European policies and legislation and to support risk managers in taking effective and timely decisions.

How we work

The Scientific Committee works independently, openly and transparently to deliver timely scientific advice of the highest standards to support the policies and decisions of risk managers.
It carries out its work either in response to requests for scientific advice from risk managers or on its own initiative. It undertakes work on the basis of Terms of Reference, which guide its approach to each question.

The Scientific Committee regularly sets up Working Groups involving external scientists with relevant expertise to focus on specific matters and help produce scientific opinions. The Scientific Committee meets regularly in plenary sessions to discuss work in progress and adopt finalised scientific opinions. Each opinion results from a collective decision-making process with every Scientific Committee member having an equal say.

Scientific Committee Unit

The Scientific Committee Unit provides administrative and scientific support to the work of the Scientific Committee and may carry out other projects in EFSA’s remit. The unit may also produce scientific outputs on behalf of EFSA, for instance in response to urgent requests for scientific advice.