Commission to target expert groups in transparency drive

"We are compiling [lists of] the names of experts [sitting] in the groups in an individual capacity" as well as "the number of bodies represented," said Commission spokesperson Valérie Rampi on 25 March. Lists of "individuals who participate in their own personal capacity rather than as representatives of organisations" will be made available "by the summer," she added.

The Commission's comments came after a lobbying transparency group yesterday calledexternal on the Commission to dissolve some of its expert groups, warning that in some cases "the predominance of industry representatives" was putting the public interest "at risk".

"These groups should act in the public interest, but it appears that some are being allowed to further their own commercial interests," said Yiorgos Vassalos, the author of a reportPdf external released by the Alliance for Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EUexternal ). The report alleges that "industry controls a number of the […] most controversial expert groups".

"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," claimed Paul de Clerk of Friends of the Earth Europe.

Commission spokesperson Valérie Rampi said she could not comment on the "limited sample" covered by the report, but stressed that industry was "only represented in certain categories of group" and insisted the number of such groups, currently around 1,200, was "going down". "If you look at the Commission's website, you will find a register of all the expert groups," Rampi said.

The EU executive has long consulted expert committees - comprised mainly of government experts from each member state and representatives of civil society, industry and scientists - to better address the technicalities inherent in the application of EU legislation, via a practice known as 'comitology' (see our Links Dossier).

'Comitology' first emerged forty years ago as it became increasingly apparent that the EU institutions themselves lacked the resources to develop implementation rules for every EU law. The procedure was reformed in 2006 to give the European Parliament the right to revoke Commission decisions on the implementation of legislation (see EurActiv 06/07/06)