Call for expressions of interest for the position of member of the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority
Date: 2011-05-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU office or agency, foodstuff, foodstuffs legislation, health risk, human nutrition, product safety








C_2011144EN.01001301.xml










14.5.2011   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 144/13





Call for expressions of interest for the position of member of the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority
2011/C 144/07
Applications are invited for the positions of 7 out of 14 members of the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority established by Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (1). The Authority is located in Parma, Italy.

THE EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the keystone of the European Union system of risk assessment for food and feed safety. The Authority was established to provide scientific advice and support for Union legislation and policies in all fields that may have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety, as well as closely associated questions in the field of animal health and welfare and plant health. It provides independent information on these matters and communicates on risks. Its mission also includes provision of scientific advice in many areas of food and feed law and whenever Union legislation so requires, including new food technologies such as GMOs. The Authority is widely recognised as the accepted point of reference by virtue of its independence, the scientific quality of its opinions and public information, the transparency of its procedures and its diligence in performing its tasks. In addition to having its own specialist personnel, the Authority is supported by networks of competent organisations in the EU.

Legal background

In accordance with Article 25 of the abovementioned Regulation, ‘the members of the Board shall be appointed in such a way as to secure the highest standards of competence, a broad range of relevant expertise and, consistent with these, the broadest possible geographic distribution within the Union’. In addition, four of the members of the Management Board ‘shall have their background in organisations representing consumers and other interests in the food chain’.
Furthermore, recital 40 of the aforementioned Regulation stipulates that ‘cooperation with Member States is also indispensable’ and recital 41 states that ‘the Management Board should be appointed in such a way as to secure the highest standard of competence, a broad range of relevant expertise, for instance in management and in public administration, and the broadest possible geographic distribution within the Union. This should be facilitated by a rotation of the different countries of origin of the members of the Management Board without any post being reserved for nationals of any specific Member State.’

Role and operation of the Management Board

The responsibilities of the Management Board include, in particular:






—


general monitoring of the work of the Authority to ensure that it carries out its mission and performs the tasks assigned to it in accordance with its mandate and within a culture of independence and transparency,










—


the appointment of the Executive Director on the basis of a list of candidates drawn up by the Commission, and, if necessary, his or her dismissal,










—


the appointment of the members of the Scientific Committee and Panels, which are responsible for providing the scientific opinions of the Authority,










—


the adoption of annual and multi-annual programmes of work of the Authority and the general report of annual activities,










—


the adoption of the Authority’s internal rules and financial regulation.




The Board operates by formal meetings, private sessions, informal contacts between members and correspondence. EFSA papers, Board correspondence and private or informal sessions are in English. Formal sessions include interpretation where members need this. The Board meets four to six times per year, predominantly in Parma but also in other EU locations where appropriate.

Composition of the Management Board

The Management Board is composed of 14 members appointed by the Council in consultation with the European Parliament, plus a representative of the Commission, as stated in Article 25(1) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (2). The term of office for seven members of the current Management Board expires on 30 June 2012, in accordance with Council Decision 2008/486/EC of 23 June 2008 (3). The term of office of the other seven members will end on 30 June 2014.
Current membership of the Board can be seen on EFSA’s website http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/mb/mbmembers.htm
This publication concerns applications for the positions of those seven members of the Management Board whose term of office expires on 30 June 2012.

Qualifications for the position

The members of the Management Board need the competence and collective expertise necessary to guide the Authority on matters relating to its mission, particularly to ensure:






1.


efficient delivery of scientific advice and support to meet the European Union’s needs in relation to its legislation and policies and its work in the public interest;










2.


application of sound principles of management and public administration (including human resources, legal and financial aspects);










3.


its functioning is guided by the principles of integrity, independence, transparency, ethical practices and high scientific quality while maintaining the indispensable cooperation with Member States and reliability with its stakeholders;










4.


effective communication and information to the public on the Authority's scientific work;










5.


promotion of the necessary coherence between risk assessment, risk management and risk communication functions.




Candidates will need to demonstrate that they can contribute effectively to minimum one but preferably several of the areas listed above. Excellence in specific areas will be taken into account in order to ensure a well-balanced, collective expertise in the Board. Candidates must have had at least 15 years of experience in one or more of these areas, including at least 5 years at a senior level. Candidates shall have at least five years of experience gained from work in connection with food and feed safety or other areas related to the Authority’s mission, notably in the field of animal health and welfare, protection of the environment (4), plant health and nutrition. On the basis of their experience, candidates shall demonstrate their ability to operate in a multilingual, multicultural and multidisciplinary environment. Candidates will be selected on the basis of comparative merits in relation to the abovementioned criteria and, consistent with these, of the broadest possible geographic distribution within the Union.

Independence and declarations of commitment and interest

Board members will be nominated in a personal capacity. They will be required to make a declaration of commitment to act independently in the public interest and to make a declaration in relation to interests which might be considered prejudicial to their independence.
The independence of the Authority is crucial. It implies that the members of the Management Board observe the highest standard of ethical conduct. They are expected to act honestly, independently, impartially, with discretion and without regard to self-interest, and to avoid any situation liable to give rise to a personal conflict of interests. They are expected to be mindful of the importance of their duties and responsibilities, to take into account the public character of their function and to conduct themselves in a way that maintains and promotes the public's trust in the Authority.
Therefore, applicants are asked to complete a declaration of interest form and to confirm that they are willing to make a commitment to act independently of any external influence and to make an annual written declaration of interests and to declare at each meeting of the Management Board any interest which might be considered as prejudicial to their independence in relation to the items on the agenda.

Participation in the Board meetings

Members will need to make a high level of commitment to participate in the meetings of the Management Board. They are asked to confirm in the application form their availability to actively participate in the Management Board. It is estimated that the Management Board will meet four to six times per year. Members of the Board are not remunerated, but will be reimbursed for their normal travel and subsistence costs. They will also receive indemnities for each day spent at meetings in accordance with Article 12 of the Rules of Procedure of the Management Board of EFSA, which states that ‘members of the Management Board other than the Commission representative and those employed by a national public body or institution will receive a daily indemnity of EUR 385 for each meeting of the Board at which he/she is present’.

Members of the Management Board having a background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain

Candidates are asked to indicate and justify in their application if they wish to be considered as one of the four Board members having a background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain. The justification should include details of their background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain.

Appointment and term of mandate

With the exception of the Commission representative, who is appointed by the Commission, members of the Management Board are appointed by the Council, in consultation with the European Parliament, from the list drawn up by the Commission on the basis of this call for expressions of interest. The term of office shall be four years and can be renewed once. Applicants are informed that the Commission’s list of the names of shortlisted candidates will be made public and that they have the right to object to publication of their name on legitimate grounds by contacting the Commission at the address indicated in the specific privacy statement for this call (available under the ‘Protection of personal data’ section of the call). Individuals on the Commission’s list who are not appointed may be invited to constitute a reserve list to be used in the event of the need to replace members who are unable to complete their mandate.

Nationality

In this call, the Commission will seek to establish a shortlist that, consistent with appointments securing the highest standards of competence and a broad range of expertise, will enable the appointments also to meet the objective of ‘the broadest possible geographical distribution’ to be facilitated by ‘a rotation of the different countries of origin of the members’. It should be noted that members whose term of office ends on 30 June 2014 already include nationals of Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal, Sweden and Slovakia. Outgoing members (who may reapply unless they have completed the maximum two terms of office) include nationals of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Italy, Slovenia and United Kingdom. To date, the Board has not included nationals of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland and Romania.
This call is open to nationals of any EU Member State. Applicants must be nationals of an EU Member State.

Equal opportunities

Great care will be taken to avoid any form of discrimination and applications from women are actively encouraged.

Application procedure and closing date

Applications shall comply with the requirements set out below; otherwise they will not be taken into consideration:






1.


Interested persons must complete the application form and the form on declaration of interests below, which can both also be downloaded for on-screen completion from the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers' website at: http://ec.europa.eu/food/efsa/efsa_management_board_en.htm
After completion, the application form and the form on declaration of interests should be printed (if using the on-screen version), signed and dated.










2.


The application must include:






(a)


a letter of motivation (signed);










(b)


the completed application form (signed);










(c)


the completed form on declaration of interests (signed);










(d)


a CV of minimum 1,5 pages and maximum 3 pages.














3.


The letter of motivation, the application form, the CV, and any supporting documents have to be written in an official language of the European Union. It would, however, be appreciated, without it being a requirement, if a summary of experience and other pertinent information in English could be provided in order to facilitate the selection procedure. All applications will be treated as confidential. Supporting documents must be submitted at a later stage, if requested.










4.


The final deadline for submission of applications is 15 July 2011.










5.


The complete application must be sent:






(a)


either by post or by courier service not later than 15 July 2011, in which case the evidence of the date of dispatch shall be constituted by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip, to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Health and Consumers




Unit 03




For the attention of Mr R. Vanhoorde (Application for the EFSA Management Board)




Office F-101 (Tour) 04/168




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË














(b)


or delivered by hand to the following address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Health and Consumers




Unit 03




For the attention of Mr R. Vanhoorde (Application for the EFSA Management Board)




Avenue du Bourget/Bourgetlaan 1-3




1140 Bruxelles/Brussel (Evere)




BELGIQUE/BELGIË








not later than 16.00 on 15 July 2011. In the case of (b), a receipt must be obtained as proof of submission, signed and dated by the official in the Commission's central mail department who took delivery. The department is open from 8.00 to 17.00 Monday to Thursday, and from 8.00 to 16.00 on Fridays. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Commission holidays.
Neither applications sent by electronic mail or fax, nor those sent directly to the European Food Safety Authority will be accepted.










6.


In submitting an application, applicants accept the procedures and conditions as described in this call and in the documents to which it refers. In compiling their application, applicants may under no circumstances refer to any documents of any type submitted in prior applications (example: photocopies of previous applications will not be accepted). Any misrepresentation in supplying the required information may lead to exclusion from the present call.










7.


All candidates applying to this call for expressions of interest will be informed about the outcome of the selection process.





Protection of personal data

The Commission will ensure that candidates’ personal data are processed as required by Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8, 12.1.2001, p. 1). This applies in particular to the confidentiality and security of such data. For more detailed information on the scope, purposes and means of the processing of their personal data in the context of this call, candidates are invited to consult the specific privacy statement published on the call webpage at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/food/efsa/efsa_management_board_en.htm























(1)  OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.

(2)  OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 13.

(3)  OJ L 165, 26.6.2008, p. 8.

(4)  Ecology, protection of the biodiversity.