European Parliamentary Technology Assessment

European Parliamentary Technology Assessment ( EPTA ) is a network of institutions for technology assessment ( TA), who specialize in advising parliaments in Europe.

Objectives

The EPTA partners advise parliaments in terms of possible social, economic and environmental impact of new sciences and technologies. The aim is, impartial analyzes and reports of the highest quality developments such as To provide bioethics and biotechnology, public health, environmental and energy issues, information and communication technology, research and development. This activity is seen as a contribution to the democratic control of scientific and technical innovations. The roots are in the 1970s in the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA ) of the U.S. Congress. EPTA promotes technology assessment ( TA) as an integral part of policy formulation in the parliamentary decision-making process in Europe and strengthen the networking of European TA institutions.

History and Organization

The EPTA network was formally on the initiative of the British parliamentary TA offices ( Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology - POST) in 1990 under the patronage of the then President of the European Parliament, Enrique Barón Crespo, was founded. The network has a light structure, led by the EPTA Council and meetings of the directors of the EPTA partner institutions. The EPTA Council is the decision-making body of the network and consist of members or representatives of the advisory boards of the respective EPTA member organization. The Council shall decide on organizational matters such as members of affairs. The presidency rotates annually between the full members. The Presidencies organization coordinates the activities of the network and directs the annual EPTA conference, the meeting of the Council and the meeting of the directors of.

Members

Parliamentary TA is institutionalized in several ways, ranging from permanent parliamentary committees for TA, special TA institutions that are part of the respective parliamentary administration, to independent institutions that have a mandate as a permanent parliamentary advisory body. The members of the EPTA network are European institutions that perform TA studies for parliaments. Full membership can an institution be granted, which operates in Europe, the technology assessment or related topics is dedicated to serving a (supra - national, national or regional) parliament, its own budget and secretariat, as well as a program of work carried out, which also releases includes scientific and technical topics. Associate members are TA- bodies which have a TA program and the resources to carry it out, but do not meet other criteria for full membership. Associated be involved in all EPTA activities, but are not represented in the EPTA Council. Other facilities that are interested in the work of EPTA can obtain observer status.

There are currently 14 full members:

  • Scientific and Technological Options Assessment (STOA ), European Parliament
  • Teknologirådet - Danish Board of Technology (DBT ), Denmark
  • Tulevaisuusvaliokunta - Committee for the Future, Finnish Parliament
  • Office Parlementaire d' Choix Scientifiques et evaluation of Technologiques ( OPECST ), French Parliament
  • Office of Technology Assessment at the German Parliament (TAB)
  • Greek Permanent Committee of Technology Assessment ( GPTCA ), Greek Parliament
  • Comitato per la Valutazione delle Scelte Scientifiche e Tecnologiche ( VAST ) - Committee for Science and Technology Assessment, Parliament of Italy
  • Rathenau Instituut, Netherlands
  • Teknologirådet - Norwegian Board of Technology (NBT )
  • Centre for Technology Assessment (TA -SWISS ), Switzerland
  • Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST ), the British Parliament
  • Consell Assessor del Parliament sobre Ciència i Tecnologia ( CAPCIT ) - The Advisory Board of the Parliament of Catalonia for Science and Technology, Catalonian Parliament, Spain
  • Utvärderings -och forskningsfunktionen - The Parliamentary evaluation and research unit, Swedish Parliament
  • Institute of Technology Assessment (ITA ), Austria

Currently, there are four associate members:

  • Subcommittee on Science and Ethics of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Strasbourg
  • Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid / Politique scientifique fédérale / Belgian Science Policy ( BELSPO ) - Federal Science Policy Office, Belgium
  • Biuro Analiz Sejmowych, Kancelaria Sejmu (BAS ) - The Bureau of Research, Polish Parliament
  • Government Accountability Office (GAO ), the Center for Science, Technology and Engineering ( CSTE ) of the Congress of the United States

Activities

EPTA organizes annual conferences aimed at parliamentary deputies, and actively promotes cooperation among its members, even sometimes in the form of joint projects. On the EPTA website all TA projects of the member organizations are listed in an extensive database and summarized.

Centre for Technology Assessment TA-SWISS
310731
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