Making EFSA scientific opinions more transparent

New guidance from EFSA’s Scientific Committee will help to provide greater transparency in relation to data, methods and assumptions used in the Authority’s scientific assessments.

The document updates guidance from 2003 and aims, where possible, to further harmonise the structure and content of opinions of EFSA’s Scientific Committee and Panels. The new guidance reinforces the application of scientifically accepted standards of best practice across all EFSA opinions; it also further strengthens the requirement that uncertainty and variability are addressed and quantified, clearly and transparently.

The new structure will be piloted over the next year and further refined, as necessary, in 2015, before full implementation.

• Guidance on the structure and content of EFSA’s scientific opinions and statements

In an additional boost to transparency, EFSA is also launching a new interactive guide to the Authority’s working processes. This user-friendly tool gives a useful overview of how EFSA establishes its Scientific Panels, sets up working groups, develops scientific opinions, ensures independence of its scientific decision-making and much more.