The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has completed an overhaul of how its guidance documents are described, stored, and accessed. The change is intended to make guidances easier to find, understand, and use by EFSA scientists, partners, and stakeholders, including applicants.

Updated definitions clarify five categories of EFSA guidance documents in terms of their:

• Purpose
• Content
• Applicability (e.g., whether cross-cutting or sector specific)
• Degree of obligation
• Adopting authority.

In addition, new guidance documents that are developed will follow a new, standardized process to improve traceability and predictability for guidance users.

How to Access EU Food Safety Guidance Documents

All guidances published by the agency can now be accessed in a single place: the new Catalogue of EFSA Guidance Documents.

Another new feature is the EU Library of Food Safety Guidance Documents, which brings together guidance documents produced by EU national competent organizations and risk assessors and gathered by members of EFSA’s Advisory Forum and the national Focal Points.