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Scientific Officer Socio–Economic Analysis

ECHA provides the Member States and the EU institutions with the best possible scientific and technical advice on issues relating to the chemicals under REACH Regulation and biocidal products under the Biocidal Product Regulation. ECHA is responsible for managing, and in some cases carrying out, the technical, scientific and administrative aspects of the regulations, and ensuring consistency at Community level in its application. You will find more information on the ECHA website at:www.echa.europa.eu.


Scientific Officer Socio–Economic Analysis
  1. THE JOB
The post related to socio-economic analysis (SEA) comprises of several work areas of the Agency. The role of SEA within ECHA, in particular in restriction and authorisation applications processes, is described in the following web pagehttp://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/support/socio-economic-analysis-in-reach.
The Scientific Officer Socio-economic Analysis assists in the preparation and running of the Socio-economic Analysis Committee (SEAC), and carries out socio-economic analyses and coordinates the work of ECHA staff working on SEA.
The Scientific Officer Socio-economic Analysis will participate in several work areas of the Agency. The main areas may include the following (AD7 & AD8):
  • Based on possible requests of the European Commission, preparing or coordinating the preparation of the socio-economic analysis and other relevant sections (analysis of alternatives and risk management measures) of a restriction proposal;
  • Working as a Team Manager or co-Manager for Restrictions or Applications for Authorisation to support the rapporteurs and possible co-rapporteurs of SEAC and, where relevant, also for the Risk Assessment Committee (RAC) to ensure that the opinions of the committees are developed efficiently and underpinned by sound scientific argumentation, and in a consistent manner;
  • Based on proposals for restrictions (prepared by Member States) or applications for authorisation (prepared by manufacturers, importers or downstream users), carrying out conformity checks and preparing the briefs for the Team Managers and the committees on risk management and SEA issues;
  • Further developing methodologies and approaches to analyse socio-economic impacts of regulating chemicals and integrating this into the practical work of the Agency, including its guidance documents;
  • Contributing to the development or revision of the procedures, working instructions or task lists for the authorisation and restriction processes under REACH, in particular with regard to the interface to SEAC;
  • Organising the outsourcing/contracting of specific tasks to institutes/consultants;
  • Providing analytical support on socio-economic issues to the ECHA Secretariat as well as to the rapporteurs and co-rapporteurs of the SEAC and, as required, of the RAC;
  • Comparing experiences with the staff responsible for the impact assessment of restriction proposals in the European Commission and follow-up the relevant activities of other relevant Community and national legislation;
  • Performing other related activities.
  • A staff member recruited at AD8 level may also be asked to coordinate the work of a team of socio-economic analysts in methodological issues and day-to-day work.

2. QUALIFICATIONS

  • Successful completion of a full course of university studies attested by a degree, where the normal duration of university education is four (4) years or more.
Or
  • Successful completion of a full course of university studies attested by a degree, where the normal duration of university education is three (3) years and at least one (1) year of professional experience[1].

Only qualifications issued by EU Member State authorities or EEA authorities and qualifications recognized as equivalent by the relevant EU or EEA Member State authorities will be accepted.

3. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
For candidates for AD7:
To qualify for this profile, you must have at the closing date for applications a total professional experience of at least six (6) years acquired after achieving the minimum requirements stated out in 2.2 a) and b). At least, three (3) years of your total professional experience must be relevant professional experience[2] in the fields listed in the section 1.

For candidates for AD8:
To qualify for this profile, you must have at the closing date for applications a total professional experience of at least nine (9) years acquired after achieving the minimum requirements stated out in 2.2 a) and b). At least, six (6) years of your total professional experience must be relevant professional experience[3] in the fields listed in the section 1.

4. SELECTION CRITERIA
If you meet the eligibility criteria set out in section 2, you will be assessed on the basis of the following selection criteria. The candidates who are judged to be the most suitable on the basis of the selection criteria will be invited to an interview.
  • Your academic and professional qualifications and their relevance to the main areas of work listed in section 1;
Preference will be given to qualifications obtained in the following fields:
  • Economics
  • Your professional experience: the range of fields covered; the length, type and level of work done and its relevance to the areas of work listed in section 1 including the following:
  • Development and application of methods relating to socio-economic analysis in the fields of environment or health;
  • Regulatory impact assessment using socio-economic analysis (i.e. cost benefit or cost effectiveness analysis) either from an authority or a company perspective;
  • Environmental or health risk management and/or related policy development[4]including regulatory and company level risk management.

The followings will be considered as assets:
  • Experience of policy-oriented analysis leading to regulatory outcomes in fields relevant to the position;
  • Policy-oriented publications relevant to the position;
  • Professional experience with the EU or international bodies in the chemicals regulatory or analogous fields;
  • Experience in establishing or managing stakeholder participation;
  • Experience in coordinating complex projects and/or leading multi-disciplinary teams.

The academic and professional qualifications, professional experience and knowledge and experience considered as an asset must be described as precisely as possible in the ECHA CV[5].

5. HOW TO APPLY
You can submit your application and find more information (complete vacancy notice, application form and ECHA CV) on ECHA websitehttp://echa.europa.eu/web/guest/about-us/jobs/open-positions.
Important: Failure to submit an ECHA CV will lead to exclusion from the procedure.
The deadline to fill in the application form and submit the ECHA CV is
12 May 2014 at noon 12:00, Helsinki time (11:00 a.m.CET).

  [1]     Only appropriate professional experience acquired after achieving the minimum qualification stated in 2.2 shall be considered. Where additional periods of training and study are accompanied by periods of professional activity, only the latter shall be considered as professional experience. Compulsory military service or equivalent civilian service accomplished after the achieving the minimum qualification stated in 2.2. shall be taken into consideration. Professional activities pursued on a part-time basis shall be calculated pro rata, on the basis of the percentage of full-time hours worked. A given period may be counted only once.

[2]     Relevant experience should be described in the ECHA CV
[3]     Relevant experience should be described in the ECHA CV
[4]  This means regulatory systems such as those governing plant protection products, biocides, food additives, pharmaceuticals or cosmetics, the Water Framework Directive, the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive, the Seveso Directive, Air Quality legislation or regulatory provisions on occupational safety and health in relation to chemicals.