Commission Decision of 5 September 2008 setting up an advisory structure of Scientific Committees and experts in the field of consumer safety, public health and the environment and repealing Decision 2004/210/EC (Text with EEA relevance) (2008/721/EC)

ANNEX II U.K. RULES OF PROCEDURES

The common rules of procedures to be adopted by the Scientific Committees in accordance with Article 12 shall cover in particular the following subjects:

1. coordination between the Scientific Committees U.K.

(a) the designation of the Scientific Committee responsible on request for scientific opinions which do not fall within the fields of competence of a single Scientific Committee or which need to be considered by more than one Committee; U.K.

(b) the adoption of joint opinions, rapid advice, memoranda and/or position statements; U.K.

(c) the procedures for ensuring coordination between the Scientific Committees including matters relating to harmonisation of risk assessment and the functioning of the Inter-Committee Coordination Group; U.K.

2. decision procedures within the Committees U.K.

(a) the election of the Chair and Vice-Chairs of the Scientific Committees; U.K.

(b) the procedures for the adoption of opinions: U.K.

• under normal conditions,

• under written procedure under normal conditions, and

• under an accelerated, written procedure if the urgency of the matter requires such a procedure;

(c) the procedure for the provision of rapid advice when so requested by the Commission in accordance with Article 2(3); this procedure shall ensure the quality and appropriate endorsement by the Committee of the advice; U.K.

(d) the adoption of memoranda and position papers to draw the attention of the Commission to specific or emerging problems; U.K.

3. organisation of the scientific works U.K.

(a) the creation and organisation of the working groups of the Scientific Committees, including joint working groups; U.K.

(b) the association of scientific advisors from the Pool to the activities of the Committees and the involvement of external experts; U.K.

(c) the appointment of Rapporteurs and the description of their tasks in relation to the preparation of draft opinions for the Scientific Committees; U.K.

(d) the format and content of scientific opinions and procedures for ensuring and improving their coherence as well as the editing standards; U.K.

(e) the organisation of, and participation in, meetings, thematic workshops, and networks; U.K.

(f) the association of trainees; U.K.

4. obligations of the members of the Committee, the associated and other scientific advisors from the Pool, external experts and for the trainees U.K.

(a) the participation criteria and the conditions under which membership of the Committee shall expire; U.K.

(b) the implementation of the confidentiality requirements laid down in Article 17; U.K.

(c) the responsibilities and obligations of members, associated and other scientific advisors from the Pool and external experts in relation to their contacts with petitioners, special interest groups and other stakeholders; U.K.

(d) the conditions and the procedure under which a member of a Committee, an associated or other scientific advisor or an external expert should be excluded from the deliberations and/or the vote on a particular subject in the Committee or in a working group, where there are reasonable doubts on his independence; U.K.

5. relations with third parties U.K.

(a) procedures for identifying, resolving or clarifying diverging opinions with Community, national and international bodies carrying out similar tasks, including information exchange and the organisation of joint meetings; U.K.

(b) representation of a Scientific Committee in external activities, notably in relation to other Community or international bodies engaged in similar activities; U.K.

(c) the organisation of the stakeholder dialogue procedure, in particular the organisation of hearings with industry or other special interest groups or other stakeholders; U.K.

(d) the publication of scientific opinions and other documents. U.K.