Public consultation on EFSA's Communications Strategy 2010 – 2013
EFSA’s role is to assess and communicate on all risks associated with the food chain. By communicating on risks in an open and transparent way based on EFSA’s independent scientific advice, the Authority contributes to improving food safety in Europe and to building confidence in the risk assessment process.
EFSA’s original communications strategy was adopted by the Management Board in 2006 and set out the strategic approach EFSA takes to its communication. There have been significant developments since 2006: for EFSA as an organisation that has grown and learnt from experience; and in the wider external environment in which we operate and communicate. That is why a review of the communications strategy is being undertaken: to take stock, look again at our approaches and refresh the strategy for the future. Learning from qualitative research on EFSA and its work carried out in 2009 with key partners and stakeholders has also been taken into account.
This document details the overall strategic framework and objectives for EFSA communications and the expected outcomes. It identifies EFSA’s key target audiences and outlines how EFSA implements its communications activities through the selection of appropriate communications channels and tools and evaluates their impact and effectiveness.
EFSA is soliciting feedback on the draft strategy from its partners and through its networks and is now launching a broader public consultation on the draft document through the EFSA website.
Public consultation
All interested parties are invited to submit comments by 5 July 2010.
During this public consultation, EFSA welcomes replies to a set of specific questions as well as other comments.
Our questions
- Priorities
- What should be EFSA’s top three communications priorities (e.g. issues or approaches or activities etc) for 2010-2013?
- 2.Strategic objectives
- Do you agree with the proposed strategic objectives for EFSA’s communication?
- Are there other important strategic objectives that you would recommend? (Up to three)
- Strong and weak points
- What three EFSA communications outputs and activities do you most value? Why?
- Are any EFSA communications outputs and activities unnecessary or inappropriate? Why?
- Audiences
- How effective is EFSA in communicating with you/your organisation?
- Are there any key groups that EFSA is not currently reaching?
- Which key partners can help EFSA most in reaching the general public?
- Should EFSA engage more directly with European citizens? If so, how?
- Style
- What do you think about the style (e.g. level of complexity and detail) of EFSA’s communications outputs?
Procedure
Comments can only be submitted through the web form. Comments sent by email or by post will not be taken into account.
A comment will not be considered if:
- it is submitted after the deadline
- it is not related to the content of the document
- it contains general complaints, personal accusations, irrelevant or offensive statements
- it is related to policy or risk communications aspects which are out of the scope of EFSA's mandate.
EFSA will assess all relevant comments which are submitted in line with the above criteria. The comments will be evaluated and taken into consideration where they enhance the quality of the document.
Following this procedure, EFSA will publish the relevant comments received, as well as a short report on the outcome of the consultation.
In the report on the public consultation:
- repeated comments received from the same contributor will appear only once,
- comments submitted by individuals acting in a personal capacity will be published anonymously,
- comments submitted formally on behalf of an organisation will appear with the name of the organisation.