Parliamentary questions
19 September 2011 E-008369/2011
Question for written answer
to the Commission
Rule 117
Marietje Schaake (ALDE)
Subject: Rules on publicly funded academic research
When preparing policy documents, the European Commission frequently calls for tenders for academic research. The researchers carrying out the commissioned research are required to sign a contract, which stipulates that the EC has exclusive rights to publish the research document in the first six months after its completion.
It has come to my attention that sometimes this commissioned research is then left unmentioned in Commission communications and policy.
1. Can the Commission clarify its policy on commissioned academic research and how much it spends in total per year?
2. Can the Commission explain the reasons for spending public funds on research that is then not published?
3. Does the Commission agree that it should avoid giving the impression that outcomes of research that do not support policy objectives disappear in a drawer?
4. Is the contract which researchers are required to sign publicly available? If so, where? If not, why not?
5. Does the Commission agree that academics are bound by academic and ethical standards, and that these should be upheld in the interests of scientifically sound research, irrespective of policy objectives?
6. Does the Commission agree that it would be in the European Parliament's, the Council's and especially the public's interest that all research commissioned with public money by the EC is considered, regardless of political preferences?
Please find the answer here.
