Role of the EMCDDA Scientific Committee Wolfgang Götz, Scientific Committee, Palmela, 14-15 February 2008

EMCDDA Regulation Art. 13.2 of the recast Regulation and “The Scientific Committee shall consist of at most fifteen well-known scientists appointed in view of their scientific excellence and their independence… and …the members of the Scientific Committee shall be appointed in a personal capacity and shall give their opinions completely independently of the Member States and the Community Institutions …”

Old vs. new Scientific Committee Members nominated by governments Candidates responded to an open call Selection criteria not defined Defined selection criteria Appointed members Application for membership 1 representative per Member State + Norway 15 members + observer No defined fields of expertise Defined fields of expertise

Selection procedure Process initiated early 2007 Call for expressions of interest published in September 2007 103 applications received from 72 candidates Pre-selection committee assessed all candidates Nomination of members and reserve list by the Management Board

Mission statement The Scientific Committee members are guardians and advocates of the scientific integrity of the Centre

Formal roles Opinion of the SC on the three-year work programme and annual work programmes Risk Assessment of new psychoactive substances Opinions on any scientific matters concerning the Centre's activity at the request of the Director or the Management Board

Other roles Commentators Arbitrators Advisors Scientific experts Networkers

Tasks – examples Annual report package Learning from the past, looking to the future: identifying Europe’s information needs for effective drug policy - conference Best practice portal Monograph on Harm reduction Risk assessment Guidelines

Conclusions Advisory role Individual and collective tasks Regular meetings – twice per year + risk assessments Rules of procedure, strategy and work programme – to be discussed

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