European Parliamentary Technology Assessment

Objectives

The EPTA Partners advise parliaments on the possible social, economic and environmental impact of new sciences and technologies.

The common aim is to provide impartial and high quality accounts and reports of developments in issues such as for example bioethics and biotechnology, public health, environment and energy, ICTs, and R&D policy.

Such work is seen as an aid to the democratic control of scientific and technological innovations, and was pioneered in the 1970s by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the US Congress.

EPTA aims to advance the establishment of technology assessment as an integral part of policy consulting in parliamentary decision-making processes in Europe, and to strengthen the links between TA units in Europe.

Organisation

The EPTA network was formally established in 1990 under the patronage of the President of the European Parliament, Mr Enrique Baron Crespo. The network has a light structure, guided by the EPTA Council and by meetings of the Directors of the EPTA partner organisations.

The EPTA Council is the steering committee of the EPTA network, and consists of members of Parliament or representatives of the advisory boards for the respective EPTA organisation. The council decides on organisational matters such as co-operation within the network and the status of members and associates.

The presidency of EPTA moves each year. The tasks of the EPTA member organisation holding the presidency are to coordinate the EPTA network activities and to host the annual EPTA Conference, Council Meeting and Directors' meeting.

Members

The members of the EPTA network are European organisations, which carry out TA studies on behalf of parliaments.

The following criteria for full EPTA membership were accepted at the Council Meeting in Helsinki in October 2001:

"Regular EPTA membership can be obtained by a unit that pursues TA activities and

• Operates in Europe,
• Is devoted to TA or related activities,
• Serves the parliament,
• Has its own budget and secretariat,
• Has a competence regarding issues with a scientific and technological component, and
• Submits a written membership application."

Europe is by EPTA regarded as the geographical Europe as defined by The Council of Europe. Salient TA units with only informal connections to the national parliaments are involved in the EPTA network as associates. Associates are involved in all EPTA activities but are not represented in the EPTA council. Further, units interested in the work of EPTA can act as observers.

Parliamentary TA is institutionalised in different ways, ranging from permanent parliamentary committees for TA; separate TA units as part of the parliamentary administration; to independent institutions with a mandate to serve as a permanent consulting institution for the parliament.

EPTA projects

EPTA can decide to make 'common EPTA projects', in which EPTA members and associates can join forces and make trans-European TA activities. EPTA projects are based upon the 'Joint EPTA Project Framework', which makes use of a bottom-up principle, according to which three or more members can initiate a project if it is open for active participation from other EPTA members. The project is decided on a Directors' meeting or Council Meeting after being contested by the boards of the members. The outcome of an EPTA project is the sole responsibility of the participating members.

Member Organisations of the EPTA Council

• Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA), European Parliament
• Teknologirådet - Danish Board of Technology (DBT)
• Committee for the Future, Finnish Parliament - Tulevaisuusvaliokunta
• Vlaams Instituut voor Wetenschappelijk en technologisch apectenonderzoek (viWTA) - Flemish Institute for Science and Technology Assessment, Flemish Parliament, Belgium
• Office Parlementaire d'evaluation des choix scientifiques et technologiques (OPECST) - Parliamentary Office for Evaluation of Scientific and Technological Options, French Parliament
• Büro für Technikfolgen-Abschätzung beim Deutschen Bundestag (TAB) - Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament
• Committee on Technology Assessment, Greek Parliament
• Comitato per la Valutazione delle Scelte Scientifiche e Tecnologiche (VAST) - Committee for Science and Technology Assessment, Italian Parliament
• Rathenau Institute, Netherlands
• Teknologirådet - Norwegian Board of Technology (NBT)
• Zentrum für Technologiefolgen-Abschätzung - Centre for Technology Assessment at the Swiss Science and Technology Council (TA-Swiss)
• Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), UK
• Comissió Assessora de Ciències i Tecnologia - Catalan Science and Technology Assessment Committee (CACIT)

Associate members

• Sub-Committee on Science and Ethics of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strassbourg
• Institut für Technikfolgenabschätzung (ITA), Austria
• RIFO, Swedish Parliament
• Belgian Federal Office for Scientific, Technological and Cultural Affairs (OSTC), Belgium

Presidency/Contact

Presidency

The presidency of EPTA moves each year. The tasks of the EPTA member organisation holding the presidency are to coordinate the EPTA network activities and to host the annual EPTA-Conference and Council Meeting.

For the year 2008 the presidency is held by the Rathenau Institut, Netherlands.

Contact:

Director: Mr.drs. Jan Staman

Postal address:
Postbus 95366
2509 CJ Den Haag
Tel: 070 342 15 42
Fax: 070 363 34 88

Office address:
Anna van Saksenlaan 51
2593 HW Den Haag

Mailinglist

If you want to be currently informed on EPTA and related TA activities, join the EPTA mailing list.

E-mail eptamail-request@eptanetwork.org with 'subscribe' in the subject field. If you have problems with the mailing list please contact: