WRITTEN QUESTION E-1123/00

by Bart Staes (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(11 April 2000)

Subject: White Paper on Food Safety and the European Food Authority

The White Paper on Food Safety (COM(1999) 719 final) was published in January 2000. Chapter 4 is concerned with establishing a European Food Authority (EFA). Chapter 5 considers legislation on food safety.

The Commission wants to apply the precautionary principle in full. Account will also be taken of other legitimate factors relevant to protection of health and to promoting fair practices in trade (sections 14 and 15).

1. What guarantees does the Commission have wthat the precautionary principle will be interpreted in a uniform way by all parties concerned?

2. How will the Commission determine that other factors are legitimate as far as protection of health and promoting fair practices are concerned? What specific factors does the Commission have in mind (please give example)?

3. How will the Commission prevent the decision-making process losing its transparency as a result of the other legitimate factors?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(9 June 2000)

Following the publication of the White Paper on Food Safety, the Commission adopted a communication concerning the application of the precautionary principle. This communication aims to promote a common understanding of the principle and of its application. It is currently being examined by the Community Institutions and the Codex Alimentarius, an international organisation among whose other members the Community is currently seeking to obtain a consensus on the application of the precautionary principle to food standards. The idea of discussing the possibility of taking other legitimate factors into consideration in the decision-making process has also been put forward by Codex Alimentariusin the its Procedural Manual but no indication of what these other legitimate factors

are was included. This topic is the subject of wide-ranging discussions in which the Commission is making the case for a broad interpretation of the concept which includes aspects of ethics, economics, health, animal welfare and the environment, whereas other countries want to restrict these legitimate factors to good veterinary or agricultural practices and to sampling and analytical methods. The discussion has gained a higher profile in connection with the use of bovine somatotropin, which the Community banned because of its negative effects on the health and welfare of dairy cows. The Community opposes the approval of this hormone by Codex Alimentarius, citing inter alia the aforementioned other legitimate factors.

Transparency in the decision-making process is not simply a matter of the scientific basis used by the legislator. Clearly it is essential that consumers should be informed in a clear and comprehensible manner of the scientific opinions on which the decisions have been based. However, the considerations taken into account by the decision-makers, particularly the evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of the various risk management schemes in terms of total cost for society, must also be clearly explained and the final decision fully justified. In any case, the Court of Justice has ruled on several occasions that considerations relating to the protection of human health must take priority over all economic considerations.