Call for expressions of interest for the position of member of the Management Board of the European Food Safety Authority

(2021/C 118/05)

Applications are invited for one position 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 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:

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 budget of the Authority for the coming year and of the annual accounts for the previous year;

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

The Board operates by public meetings, private sessions, and correspondence. EFSA papers, Board correspondence and private sessions are in English. The Board meets four to six times per year, mainly in Parma.

Composition of the Management Board

The Management Board is composed of 14 members, plus a representative of the Commission, as stated in Article 25 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002. Four of the members shall have their background in organisations representing consumers and other interests in the food chain.

Current membership of the Board can be viewed on EFSA’s website https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/people/mbmembers

The term of office of one member of the current Management Board expires on 30 June 2021, in accordance with Council Decision 2018/C 230/02 (2).

Furthermore, Regulation (EU) 2019/1381 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food chain and amending Regulations (EC) No 178/2002, (EC) No 1829/2003, (EC) No 1831/2003, (EC) No 2065/2003, (EC) No 1935/2004, (EC) No 1331/2008, (EC) No 1107/2009, (EU) 2015/2283 and Directive 2001/18/EC (3), amending amongst others Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, introduced new provisions on the composition of the EFSA Management Board. According to the former Regulation (4), the term of office of the entire EFSA Management Board will end on 30 June 2022. A new Management Board will take office as from 1 July 2022, and will be composed according to the new provisions.

Consequently, the departure of the member whose term of office expires on 30 June 2021 will create an empty position to be filled in for the period from 1 July 2021 until 30 June 2022.

Furthermore, since that member has a background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain, the member that will replace him shall have such background as well. Therefore, only applications from candidates with confirmed background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain will be considered.

Qualifications for the position and selection criteria

The members of the Management Board shall meet the highest standards of competence, encompassing a broad range of relevant expertise and a commitment to act independently.

To qualify for the position, the candidates shall be nationals of an EU Member State and shall demonstrate:

1.

that they have at least 15 years of experience in one or more of the 5 areas of competence listed below, including at least 5 years at a senior level: — provision of independent scientific advice and scientific and technical support for the preparation of European Union legislation and policies in all fields which have a direct or indirect impact on food and feed safety; — management and public administration (including human resources, legal and financial aspects); — development of policies ensuring integrity, independence, transparency, ethical practices and high scientific quality advice while maintaining reliability for the stakeholders; — effective communication and information to the public on scientific work; — ensuring necessary coherence between: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication functions;

2.	that they have at least 5 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, plant health and nutrition;

3.	their ability to operate in a multilingual, multicultural and multidisciplinary environment;

4.	their commitment to act independently: they are expected to observe the highest standard of ethical conduct, act honestly, independently, impartially, with discretion and without regard to self-interest, and avoid any situation liable to give rise to a personal conflict of interests.

5.	that they have background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain.

The following criteria will apply for the evaluation of candidates, who will be assessed on the basis of comparative merits, and on their commitment to act independently:

—	expertise and ability to contribute effectively to one or more of the areas of competence mentioned above;

—	expertise in the field of food and feed safety, or other areas related to the Authority’s mission;

—	ability to operate in a multilingual, multicultural and multidisciplinary environment.

The short-list of candidates will also be analysed in view of the following requirements for the Board composition:

—	well-balanced, collective expertise of the Management Board members;

—	broadest possible geographical distribution based on the rotation of the different nationalities of the Management Board members.

In addition, only applications from candidates having a background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain will be considered. The candidates must provide a justification of this claimed background. The justification should include details of their background in organisations representing consumers or other interests in the food chain. A reference letter from the given organisation has to be attached to the application.

Candidates can only submit one application.

Applicants are required to complete an online application form and a declaration of interest form that include specific commitments and declarations made on their honour.

The purpose of the declaration of interest form is to demonstrate the candidate's ability to exercise the function of member of EFSA's Management Board in line with EFSA's internal rules on independence (http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/values/independence.htm) and the Code of Conduct of EFSA's Management Board (Code of Conduct of the EFSA Management Board). These rules stipulate that Board members shall refrain from involvement in any activity that could result in a conflict of interest or is likely to provoke the perception of a conflict of interest in the general public.

Once appointed by the Council, members of the Board will have 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/Reimbursement and indemnities

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, and they will be reimbursed for their normal travel costs and be entitled to a daily allowance in accordance with implementing rules adopted by EFSA. Without prejudice to the possibility that the applicable rules may be amended during the mandate, accommodation costs are paid by EFSA directly. Management Board Members are also entitled to an indemnity of EUR 450 for each full day of meeting attendance to cover other costs derived from their contribution to and participation in the work of the Board. A half-day meeting or half-day attendance results in half of the indemnity being paid.

Appointment and term of office

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.

As mentioned above, the term of office of the candidate appointed in this procedure will end on 30 June 2022, according to the provisions of the Regulation (EU) 2019/1381.

Applicants should note that the Commission’s list will be made public and that they have the right to object to publication of their names by contacting the Commission at the address indicated in the specific privacy statement for this Call (see also the section below entitled ‘Protection of personal data’). The exercise of this right will not prejudice the candidate's application.

Equal opportunities

Great care will be taken to avoid any form of discrimination and applications from women are 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 are encouraged to apply via an online system by going to the website: https://ec.europa.eu/food/efsa/management-board_en

The online application must include three attachments:

a)	the declaration of interest form with a handwritten signature, the form may be found at the following address: https://ec.europa.eu/food/efsa/management-board_en

b)	a detailed CV,

c)	a reference letter from organisation(s) representing consumers or other interests in the food chain.

(2)

Upon successful submission of the online application, the online system will generate a registration number. If, however, no registration number is generated, the application has not been registered. In the event of any technical problems, please send an email to SANTE-CALL-AGENCIES@ec.europa.eu. It is not possible to monitor the progress of the application online.

(3)

The application form, the declaration of interest 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 could be provided in English in order to facilitate the selection procedure. Supporting documents must be submitted at a later stage, if requested.

(4)

If you wish to submit your application in an official language of the European Union other than English, you may fill in the application in that language or contact the call secretariat by email to SANTE-CALL-AGENCIES@ec.europa.eu and request an application form in given language. You will receive a word application form.

(5)	All expressions of interest will be treated confidentially.

(6)	The final deadline for submission of applications is 12.00 noon, Brussels time, 7 May 2021.

(7)

The application has to be completed and the deadline must be respected. We strongly advise applicants not to wait until the last few days before applying, since any fault of internet connection could result in a missed opportunity to submit the application before the deadline. Once the deadline for submission of application has passed, applications will not be accepted.

(8)	Applications sent by email to SANTE-CALL-AGENCIES@ec.europa.eu and respecting the requirements set under point (3) will be accepted. Applications sent by post, fax or hand-delivered will not be accepted as a general rule, neither applications sent directly to the European Food Safety Authority.

(9)

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 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.

(10)	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 (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2018 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 and Decision No 1247/2002/EC (5). 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 https://ec.europa.eu/food/efsa/management-board_en

---

(1)  OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1.

(2)  OJ C 230, 2.7.2018, p. 2.

(3)  OJ L 231, 6.9.2019, p. 1.

(4)  Article 10(2).

(5)  OJ L 295, 21.11.2018, p. 39.