European food safety authority and the judicial review of its scientific opinions and administrative acts
| Author | Toma-Bianov, A. - Saramet, O. |
| Position | Department of Law, Transilvania University of Brasov - Department of Law, Transilvania University of Brasov |
| Pages | 139-144 |
Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov • Vol. 4 (53) •No. 2 - 2011
Series VII: Social Sciences • Law
EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY AUTHORITY
AND THE JUDICIAL REVIEW OF ITS
SCIENTIFIC OPINIONS AND
ADMINISTRATIVE ACTS
A. TOMA-BIANOV1 O. SARAMET2
Abstract: The main goal of this paper is to provide a narrative account of
the historical evolution of E uropean Food Safety Authority and of EF SA’s
role in regulating European Union Food Law. Although EFSA hasn’t been
vested with regulatory power, its sc ientific opinions are likely to acquire a de
facto le gal binding value for the European Commission or Member States’
legislative authorities when regulating. In this context, this paper also
questions if EFSA’s scientific opinions and admi nistrative acts may be
challenged before European Courts.
Key words: European Union, EFSA, food safety.
1 Department of Law, Transilvania University of Braşov.
2 Department of Law, Transilvania University of Braşov.
1. Introduction
Triggered by a number of major food
scandals, European and national food
safety policies and regulatory structures
were the subject of profound reforms.
Following on the loss of confidence in
European regulatory institutions caused by
the BSE crisis, European Food Safety
Agency (EFSA) was created as part of a
general revision of the EU framework of
food safety regulation through the adoption
January 2002, considered the main source
of “General Food Law“.
The regulation defines the role of EFSA
mainly as the responsibility of issuing
scientific opinions and providing scientific
and technical support to the Commission,
whereas all functions of evaluating socio-
economic concerns and political decision-
making remain with the Commission and
its interaction with the Member States
through the comitology procedure.
From its beginnings, EFSA was
conceived as an ind ependent agency
entrusted with tasks mainly confined to
risk assessment and communication whose
main objective was to ameliorate the
confidence of the consumer and of any
other interested party in the European food
safety system. The other important tasks,
such as risk management, legislation and
control, are left to European Commission.
In dealing with EFSA’s scientific
opinions and decisions reviewability, the
main topic to be debated in the present
essay, we should observe the economical
and political context from which arrived
the necessity of creating such specialized
agency. Therefore, in th e fo llowing, we’ll
point out all the remarkable moments in
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