EFSA approved this role without restrictions.
Testbiotech has complained about the way the that the Renckens revolving door case was handled by EFSA and a very damning ruling by the European Ombudsman on this complaint was made on 7 December 2011. It said that EFSA's stated mission was to ensure that Europe's food is safe but pointed out that "the fulfillment of this mission is not only endangered in cases where actual conflicts of interest are tolerated, but also where EFSA's approach gives rise to the impression that it failed properly to assess a possible conflict of interest". The Ombudsman has told EFSA to "strengthen its rules and procedures with regard to negotiations by serving staff members concerning future jobs of the 'revolving doors' type ... EFSA should acknowledge that it failed to observe the relevant procedural rules and to carry out a sufficiently thorough assessment of the potential conflict of interest arising from the move of a former member of its staff to a biotech company". It also sets out recommendations for how EFSA, and presumably all other EU institutions, should handle such revolving door cases in the future. (Source: European Ombudsman's ruling 7.12.11)
More information is available in the ALTER-EU report: Block the revolving door - why we need to stop EU officials becoming lobbyists: http://www.alter-eu.org/revolving-doors
"CEO is very concerned about how EFSA handled this revolving door case and considers that a cooling off period of two years would have been appropriate. We therefore welcome the European Ombudsman's 7 December ruling on this case which showed up the inadequacies of EFSA's approach to revolving door cases. EFSA should look carefully at the ruling and introduce a far stricter approach to conflicts of interest in the future. The Ombudsman makes some important recommendations which should lead to changes in how revolving door rules are implemented across all EU institutions, including at the Commission and at EFSA. We continue to see further scandalous revolving doors cases and it is vital that the EU institutions, starting with the Commission, put improved rules and procedures in place to prevent future conflicts of interest, including a proper cooling off period. It is time for a new start. No more business as usual. We await with interest the report by the European Court of Auditors which has been exploring how several European agencies, including EFSA, handle conflicts of interest. This report is due in February 2012."