Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

AddedANNEX TO THE MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION: RECOMMENDATIONS AS TO THE CONTENT OF THE PROPOSAL REQUESTED

AddedDefining the Freedom of Scientific Research

Added1. The freedom of scientific research is a constituent part of academic freedom and scientific integrity in Europe, while also having an independent value, as exemplified by the specific reference in Article 13 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

Added2. The freedom of scientific research provides rights to individual scientific researchers, rights and obligations for scientific research organisations, and obligations for public authorities.

Added3. The exercise of the freedom of scientific research, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

AddedThe freedom of scientific research may also be limited as a result of particular research circumstances or operational constraints. The freedom of scientific research must be carefully balanced with other legitimate interests, such as obtaining legitimate competitive advantages and intellectual property protection. Such limitations should not, however, contravene recognised ethical principles and practices, to which researchers have to adhere.

Added4. The proposal should build on the definition of the freedom of scientific research as set out in the Bonn Declaration, and under point 2 of Annex II of the proposal for a Council Recommendation on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe.

AddedFreedom of scientific researchers

Added5. Scientific researchers should be defined broadly in line with the proposal for a Council Recommendation on a European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe.

Added6. The freedom of scientific research entails the right for individual researchers to freely define research questions, choose and develop theories, gather empirical material, and employ sound scientific research methods, to maintain scientific integrity, to challenge conventional wisdom, to publish and communicate freely, and to propose new ideas and theories as well as disseminate them freely.

Added7. The rights of individual researchers include at least:

Added(a) the right to associate in representative professional or academic organisations;

Added(b) the right to freely access public information, and the right to access private information needed for scientific purposes, which is to be balanced with the rights of information holders and the nature/sensitivity of information;

Added(c) the right to keep specific information or data, as well as the source for that information or date confidential in order to abide by ethical and scientific standards, to achieve a scientific or other legitimate objectives;

Added(d) the right to publish, share, disseminate and communicate openly, both intramural and extramural, the right to speak freely and critically about work and politics of scientific research institutions and the results and data of their research, without fear of reprisal;

Added(e) the right to freely define research topics, to choose, develop and collect empirical material and to interact with other researchers.

Added8. Individual researchers should be able to enjoy those individual rights without fear of reprisal.

AddedRights and obligations of scientific research organisations

Added9. In order to guarantee the freedom of scientific research for scientific researchers, scientific research organisations should enjoy effective institutional autonomy. While institutional autonomy is a prerequisite for the freedom of scientific research for scientific researchers and for the self-governing nature of research, it is not by definition subordinate to the rights of individual researchers. Beyond its role to protect the freedom of scientific research, institutional autonomy is required for the proper functioning of the scientific sector. Therefore, the proposal should strike a careful balance in order to harmonise the individual rights with institutional autonomy.

Added10. Scientific research organisations should have the freedom to engage in international collaboration.

Added11. Within the framework of their institutional autonomy, research organisations have to provide transparent, fair, and excellence-based procedures for research careers.

Added12. Aspects to be considered for establishing institutional autonomy include organisational autonomy, financial autonomy, staffing autonomy and scientific autonomy.

Added13. Institutional autonomy is highly contextual and can be achieved in many different ways with different combinations of autonomy. For effective institutional autonomy to exist, not all these different aspects of institutional autonomy need to be uniformly fulfilled. Therefore the definition of institutional autonomy in the proposal should not be static, but rather should allow adaptation to different national, regional and institutional contexts in particular by allowing for emphasis to shift between different aspects of institutional autonomy by incorporating a gradual rather than binary appreciation of the different aspects.

Added14. Institutional autonomy should come with an obligation for research organisations to provide some form of involvement of scientific researchers in decision-making.

Added15. That includes the rights to publicly comment on the governing of the organisation and system without fear of reprisal. This also includes the responsibility for research organisations to create a culture of open debate. It also includes having in effective procedures to report misconduct, to protect, in accordance with the standards set out in Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council , people reporting misconduct, breaches of academic standards or ethical standards, as well as discrete procedures, based on protecting privacy and the presumption of innocence, to handle misconduct reported.

AddedGovernmental obligations

Added16. Governmental bodies in Member States, at all levels of government including Union institutions, agencies and bodies, should have the obligation to respect, protect, promote and ensure the freedom of scientific research, including institutional autonomy.

Added17. Respect for the freedom of scientific research means that governmental bodies refrain from arbitrary interferences in and imposing undue restrictions on the freedom of scientific research, as well as refrain from active or complicity participation in violations of the right.

Added18. Protecting the freedom of scientific research means that governmental bodies have an obligation to take active measures to protect against third parties unduly interfering with any dimension of the freedom of scientific research.

Added19. Ensuring the freedom of scientific research means that governmental bodies have to actively create all the preconditions needed for the exercise all aspects of the freedom, including institutional autonomy. This includes policies for sustainable research careers providing quality jobs at all career stages as well as long term, reliable and stable institutional financing.

Added20. Promoting the freedom of scientific research means that governmental bodies have to engage actively with third parties to advocate for the respect, protection and ensuring of the freedom of scientific research, and potentially to disengage from cooperation with third parties not abiding by the same set of principles and values.

AddedGeneral considerations

Added21. The legislative proposal should reflect that the freedom of scientific research has to be considered comprehensively, including freedom from interference and ensuring that enabling framework conditions exist. Scientific research should be free from undue government interference and there should be a strong scientific community as well as a civic body receptive to scientific knowledge for the exercise of the freedom of scientific research.

AddedPublic authorities should have the responsibility to investigate alleged violations of the freedom of scientific research and to hold perpetrators of violations accountable.

Added22. The legislative proposal should include the creation of a monitoring system for reporting breaches of scientific research once identified.

Added23. The legislative proposal should recognise that while the freedom of scientific research has its independent value, within the framework of modern universities the freedom of scientific research is inseparable from the freedom to teach. This means that, given the legal base of the proposal and the core competences of the Union on research, and with due respect to the limited competences of the Union to legislate on education, the proposal should aim to protect the fullest possible scope of intramural dissemination.

Added24. The proposed act should be legally binding across the Union. The proposal should aim to create a legal framework which offers sufficient flexibility to balance the rights and obligations on a case-by-case basis and can be applied throughout the Union despite the vast diversity in the national and regional scientific research systems. It should create a starting point for the development of legal minimum standards for the freedom of scientific research through case-law from European courts, including the Court of Justice of the European Union.