The European Court of Auditors have recently published a special report “Management of conflict of interest in selected EU Agencies”, which assessed
and evaluated policies and procedures for the management of conflict of interest situations
for the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). These four EU Agencies make vital decisions, which affect the safety and health of consumers. However, according to the European Court of Auditors “none of the audited Agencies adequately managed the
conflict of interest situations.
” The ECA noted that “Certain conflict of interest risks are embedded in the selected Agencies’ structure (…) and in the dependence on the research performed by the industry.”