Scientific Committee and Panel renewals

In April 2013, EFSA launched a call to renew the membership and create reserve lists for its Scientific Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food (ANS Panel) and Scientific Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel). The current members of the ANS and CEF Scientific Panels are serving a three-year term of office which is due to expire in July 2014. Successful applicants in the present call will be appointed as a member of one of the above Panels for the three-year term starting in July 2014.

• Call for expressions of interest for membership of EFSA’s Scientific Panels (0.1 Mb)
• Annex I (0.1 Mb)

Building on the experience gained in previous renewal exercises, EFSA has simplified the application procedure to make it more accessible to potential candidates. Scientists are kindly invited to respond to the call which closes on 17 June 2013:

Applicants who are found to meet the requirements for membership will be included in the reserve list. Applicants should note that inclusion on a reserve list does not guarantee appointment as a member. Applicants placed on the reserve list resulting from this call may, with their prior consent, be appointed as members of a Scientific Panel even if they did not specifically apply for membership of that Panel.

Previous renewal of the Scientific Committee and eight Scientific Panels

Following a call for independent scientific experts in 2011, EFSA re-established the membership of its Scientific Committee and eight of EFSA’s ten Scientific Panels.

In March 2012, EFSA’s Management Board nominated experts to the Scientific Committee and eight of the Scientific Panels and established reserve lists for these. All selected experts were required to submit an updated Declaration of Interests for review. On 14 June 2012, the Management Board adopted a consolidated list of experts as Panel members and a reserve list, thereby completing the Panel renewal process.

The role of EFSA and its Panel Members

EFSA is the European Union’s scientific risk assessment body on food and feed safety, nutrition, animal health and welfare, and plant health and protection, tackling issues all along the food chain. The Authority performs environmental risk assessments of genetically modified crops, pesticides, feed additives, and plant pests.
Its Scientific Committee and Panels consist of independent scientists from universities, research institutions and national food safety authorities. They deliver high-quality scientific advice for Europe’s decision-makers to act on and protect consumers, animals and plants.
EFSA's scientific work is published on the EFSA Journal which has been accepted for indexation by leading bibliographic databases.

EFSA’s Scientific Committee and Panels

• EFSA’s Scientific Panels cover the areas of: plant health; GMOs; food additives and nutrient sources; food contact materials, enzymes and flavourings; feedstuffs; animal health and welfare; plant protection; contaminants in the food chain; biological hazards; dietetic products, allergies, novel foods and nutrition.
• Experts can sit on EFSA's Scientific Committee and Panels for a three year mandate. The mandate for the Scientific Committee and all Panels – (with the exception of the Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food (ANS) and the Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Flavourings (CEF)) - runs from mid-2012 to mid-2015. The mandate for the next ANS Panel and the next CEF Panel will run from mid-2014 to mid-2017.
• If not appointed, experts can be placed on a reserve list for vacancies on the Panels.
• Experts are selected through an open and transparent procedure, based on proven scientific excellence and independence.