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A report published by an independent think-tank points to the weaknesses in the use of science by EU institutions responsible for risk management.
Regulatory policy-making in the EU has been an important feature of European integration. It is strongly based on expertise and involves the handling of complex technical information at different levels. While such expert-based regulatory policy can be seen as a guarantee of efficiency, it is sometimes perceived as technocratic and opaque.
As science is a key factor in ensuring good quality legislative and regulatory decisions, scientific experts are regularly consulted by policy makers and the media to explain and advise on diverse EU policy issues. Whilst being increasingly relied upon, this expertise is increasingly contested. The lack of transparency in the way expertise is selected, used and disseminated by governments is considered by many (e.g. parliaments, media, civil society organisations) to lack transparency and thus to undermine the legitimacy of the policy process.
Since the mid-1990s, steps have been taken to improve the quality of science used in decision-making (independent scientific committees, independent risk assessment agencies for medicines and food etc.). Since 2001, the debate on the role of scientific evidence in policy-making falls into the wider context of European governance
and better regulation
.
A European Policy Centre (EPC
) working paper published in March 2005 considers the current use of science in the policy and decision-making processes of the EU, the limitations of scientific evidence and the risk assessment process based on scientific ‘good practices’. The paper entitled 'Enhancing the role of science in the decision-making of the European Union
' emphasises that, in managing risks to the environment and to human health, the best available science and scientific evidence has to be a key knowledge input for decision-making in all stages of the regulatory cycle.
The paper indentifies a series of weaknesses in the current EU approach:
The Treaty on EU contains no requirement:
The EU guidelines for the collection and use of scientific advice:
EU guidelines for the selection of scientific advisors:
Based on these and other findings, the report makes a series of recommendations for enhancing the role and improving the use of science in EU decision-making. The report encourages the Commission to publish a decision on a new binding policy covering risk analysis in policy-making. The paper invites the Commission to establish a new policy for the collection and use of scientific advice in decision-making. This policy would be applied by all institutions to all stages of the regulatory cycle and to all sources of scientific advice.
In addition, the paper proposes the establishment of a European Academy of Sciences, whose role would consist of advising high-level politicians on the scientific dimension of the policy- and decision-making.
(Scientific Information for Policy Support in Europe) provides a tool for the exchange of information between the scientific community and decision-makers. It will provide an interactive library of scientific opinions and advice, as well as an early-warning system for better detection of potential crises and awareness of important scientific issues.
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