Biotechnology is one of the great innovations of our time. While Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) present an advance in food safety and other fields, GMOs also pose risks to human health and biodiversity that are still subject to scientific uncertainty. Given the scientific uncertainty about the risks to people and the environment, the precautionary principle acquires a central role in the debate on these organisms. At the same time, the existence of an adequate regulatory framework that allows the management of those risks becomes critical.

This book, coordinated and supervised by Prof. Vincenzo Salvatore, is part of the output of the workshop organized by the Università dell’Insubria in Varese in November 2010 which gathered legal and economic scholars and experts of EU Institutions with the aim of presenting and discussing present problems and future challenges of the EU agencies. The diverse set of perspectives contained in the book contributes significantly to rethink the role and nature of the EU agency institutional model, by pointing out some of the most relevant legal issues such as the delegation of powers and the lack of homogeneity of the model, which reflect features and peculiarities of the EU integration process.