EFSA restructure underway

EFSA has begun rolling out its reorganisation programme in a bid, it says, to ‘make best use of resources to reflect an ever increasing workload, strengthen efficiency and provide a higher quality service to its clients’. The re-structuring will take place gradually throughout 2011 and will be completed by early 2012.
EFSA says the move aims to address the growing demands placed upon it, particularly with regards to applications for the assessment of regulated substances and products, such as health claims, enzymes, feed additives and pesticides. Resources will also be focused on risk assessments on general health and safety priorities in areas such as chemical and biological contaminants, animal health and welfare and plant health.
Five directorates now make up EFSA: three scientific directorates, which support the work of the Scientific Committee and EFSA’s 10 scientific Panels; a reshaped Communications Directorate and the Resources and Support Directorate.
“The re-organisation is all about making EFSA more flexible and more able to respond to the increasing number of demands for its scientific advice,” says EFSA executive director Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle. “In this way, we can maintain the support we give to help Europe’s policy makers protect the health of European consumers.”