Commission's Expert Groups dominated by industry: ALTER-EU

ALTER-EU - a coalition of 160 organisations concerned with transparency within Europe - is calling on the European Commission to dissolve some of its Expert Groups because of the dominance of industry lobbyists.

Its report "Secrecy and corporate dominance - a study on the composition and transparency of European Commission Expert Groups" reveals that industry controls a number of the Commission's most controversial Expert Groups, including advisory groups on issues such as "biotechnology", "clean coal" and "car emissions".

Expert Groups are established by the Commission to provide advice on the development of new laws and policies, giving group members considerable power over EU policies and legislation, the report says.

ALTER-EU warns that public interest may be at risk given the predominance of industry representatives on some Expert Groups. In a study of Expert Groups advising on some of the most controversial issues, it found that industry representatives made up more than 50% of the membership of one in four of the groups surveyed. Almost two thirds of the groups were unbalanced and just 32% of the groups were composed of members representing a wide range of interests.

Report author Yiorgos Vassalos of Corporate Europe Observatory said:
"Expert Groups are responsible for shaping policies on some of the most controversial issues being dealt with by the European Commission. Information about who has access in this crucial initial stage of decision making is not made public, but our research shows that industry representatives are playing an important role. These groups should act in the public interest, but it appears that some are being allowed to further their own commercial interests."

Information about the make-up and work of the different Expert Groups is not currently published by the Commission, with an online register only including very limited information as to who is represented on the groups.

Using the "access-to-documents" directive, researchers were able to obtain more details, but crucial information was still refused for commercial, security or 'privacy' reasons.

The survey shows that the Commission failed to provide necessary information. In 34% of all cases, there was no reply at all to the information request while in another 34% the Commission only provided partial information.

Paul de Clerck of Friends of the Earth Europe said:
"The Commission seems unwilling to provide information about who is on its Expert Groups, and in some cases does not even appear to know whether groups exist or not. This reveals an appalling attitude to transparency and public accountability in the law-making process."

The EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso promised last year to make information available on Expert Group membership, following pressure from the European Parliament. In February this year the European Parliament stepped up pressure and called for an investigation into the composition of Expert Groups following further concerns about the lack of transparency.

ALTER-EU says that Expert Groups dominated by industry should be dissolved and methods must be found to prevent privileged access of Expert Groups. The Coalition is also demanding immediate disclosure of Expert Group membership, as promised by the Commission for this year..