The Management Board
The EFSA Board consists of 15 members appointed by the European Council after consultation with the European Parliament. Four members must have experience in organizations representing consumers and other food stakeholders. Board members are selected in accordance with high competence standards and ensuring the widest possible geographical representation of the European Union. The Board meets several times a year and its main task is to approve EFSA’s budget, work programmes, monitor their implementation and select the members of the Executive Director, Scientific Committees and Scientific Panels.
In June 2016, for the first time since its establishment, the representative of Latvia, the director of the Scientific Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment “BIOR”, Dr. med.vet., professor Aivars Bērziņš, was elected as a member of the EFSA board. The term of office of the approved EFSA board is from 2016 .from July 1 to June 30, 2020. For the next four years, the director of the “BIOR” institute, Aivars Bērziņš, will work together with newly elected colleagues from France, Finland, Italy, Slovenia, Germany and Lithuania.
Izpilddirektors (Executive Director) ir oficiālais EFSA pārstāvis un atbildīgs par visiem darbības jautājumiem, personālu, kā arī, konsultējoties ar Eiropas Komisiju, Eiropas Parlamentu un ES dalībvalstīm, izstrādā ikgadējo EFSA darba programmu. EFSA izpilddirektoru amatā ieceļ EFSA valde, un amata termiņš ir pieci gadi.
Kopš 2014. gada maija par EFSA izpilddirektoru ievēlēts Dr. Bernards Urls (Bernhard Url). Iepriekš no 2006. gada 1. jūlija līdz 2013. gada 1. septembrim EFSA izpilddirektores amatā bija ievēlēta C.Geslain-Lanéelle.
The purpose of the Advisory Forum is to build close cooperation between EFSA and the national institutions of the member states in the areas of risk assessment and communication. The representatives of the Advisory Board act as scientific advisors to EFSA, evaluate work programs, priorities and announce new potential risks as early as possible. The Advisory Board promotes cooperation between experts from Member States and the exchange of information on food safety issues with the aim of creating a unified network of scientific experts in Europe.
The EFSA Advisory Council is made up of representatives from all national food safety institutions of the EU member states, which perform functions similar to EFSA. The Advisory Board is chaired by the Executive Director of EFSA. Representatives from the European Commission also participate in the work of the Advisory Council as observers. The members of the Advisory Board do not have the right to participate in the EFSA Board at the same time.
Latvia is represented in the EFSA Advisory Council by the head of the Food and Environmental Research Laboratory of the Scientific Institute of Food Safety, Animal Health and Environment “BIOR”, Dr.chem. Vadim Bartkevich.
All members of the Advisory Board have signed the “Declaration of Commitments of Members of the Advisory Board of the European Food Safety Authority”, in which they declare their confidence in EFSA’s independence and scientific decision-making processes and their commitment to strengthening science-based policy-making.
This working group (Advisory Forum Working Group on Communications) is a network of the Advisory Council. As part of this, representatives of national food safety authorities, together with EFSA, share experience in good practice on communication related to risks in the food chain and promote the dissemination of a common opinion in the European Union. The Working Group plays an important role during food-related emergencies, coordinating the exchange of information between Member States and providing common opinion and advice to victims and other consumers.
The Scientific Committee and Scientific Panels are responsible for EFSA’s scientific work, which assess the risks encountered in the entire food chain and develop a methodology for risk assessment.
EFSA’s Scientific Committee and Scientific Panels consist of highly qualified experts – scientists in the field of risk assessment. All experts are selected in an open selection procedure, taking into account proven scientific performance, as well as experience in risk assessment and evaluation of scientific works and publications. The Scientific Panel regularly creates working groups, involving “external” scientists with the necessary professional experience in the relevant issue. Several working groups have been created for each panel. They are usually created to address specific and detailed issues (for example, there is a working group on nanotechnology, nitrates, PAHs in food, animal cloning, heavy metals in food, etc.). The working group develops the scientific report on which EFSA’s scientific opinion is based. The panel meets regularly in plenary sessions, discusses current work, and accepts EFSA’s scientific opinion. A scientific opinion is EFSA’s official statement and summary of results on a specific issue it has been tasked to investigate and evaluate. Decisions of the European Commission are based on this opinion, legislation is developed.
EFSA coordinates several scientific networks that bring together competent authorities of EU Member States with expertise in specific areas such as pesticide residue reporting and genetically modified organisms. Representatives and experts from the European Commission and institutions located outside the EU can also be invited to participate in these scientific networks.
The purpose of scientific networks is to promote scientific cooperation by coordinating various activities, exchanging information, developing and implementing joint projects, as well as exchanging experience and examples of good practice.
BIOR experts participate in EFSA working groups and scientific networks related to data reporting of chemical contaminants in food, collection and reporting of food consumption data, data reporting of veterinary drug and pesticide residues, and animal health and welfare, evaluation of new food products and genetically modified organism risk assessment.
Lejupes iela 3, Rīga, LV-1076, 
+371 67620513
bior@bior.lv
