Combating serious cross-border threats to health

SUMMARY OF:

Decision No 1082/2013/EU on serious cross-border threats to health

WHAT IS THE AIM OF THE DECISION?

It lays down rules on epidemiological surveillance, monitoring, early warning of, and combating serious cross-border threats to health, including preparedness and response planning related to those activities, in order to coordinate and complement national policies.
It aims to support cooperation and coordination between the countries of the European Union (EU) in order to:
- improve the prevention and control of the spread of severe human diseases across the borders of the EU countries; and
- combat other serious cross-border threats to health so as to contribute to a high level of public health protection in the EU.
It also clarifies the methods of cooperation and coordination between the various actors at EU level.

KEY POINTS

Decision No 1082/2013/EU covers:
- biological threats such as communicable diseases*, antimicrobial resistance and biotoxins;
- chemical, environmental or unknown threats;
- preparedness and response planning, with an emphasis on EU-wide coordination to strengthen individual national measures;
- joint procurement to enable countries to stockpile vaccines and medicines;
- epidemiological surveillance* and ad hoc monitoring;
- establishment of a rapid alert system for notifying at EU level alerts in relation to serious cross-border threats to health, an ‘Early Warning and Response System’ (EWRS);
- procedures for handling emergencies;
- establishment of a Health Security Committee with national representatives to support information exchange, coordinate preparedness planning and crisis responses, and communicate with the public and health professionals.
EU countries informed the Commission by 7 November 2014, and every 3 years thereafter, of their national preparedness and response levels.
The Commission submitted a report to the European Parliament and the Council on 7 December 2015, and will issue similar reports every 3 years thereafter, on the legislation’s implementation.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control plays a key role in identifying, assessing and communicating current and emerging threats communicable diseases pose to human health.

FROM WHEN DO THE DECISION APPLY?

Decision No 1082/2013/EU has applied since 6 November 2013.

BACKGROUND

Rates of infectious diseases in the EU have fallen or remained stable in recent years. However, new infections can emerge as has been shown by HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, variants of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the 1990s, the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic in 2003 and, more recently, pandemic influenza (H1N1) in 2009, the Ebola virus outbreak in 2014 or the Zika virus outbreak in 2016. Antimicrobial resistance is also a growing public health problem. When detected, they all benefit from an early EU-wide, or even global response.
The EWRS enables the Commission and the responsible authorities at national level to be in permanent communication so that they can alert, assess public health risks and determine the measures* that may be required to protect public health.
For more information, see:
- ‘Crisis preparedness and response’ on the European Commission's website
Following the COVID-19 outbreak and introducing measures to cope with the impact of the crisis, the European Commission adopted:

* KEY TERMS

Communicable disease: an infectious disease caused by a contagious agent which is transmitted from person to person by direct contact with an infected individual or by indirect means such as exposure to a vector animal, product or environment, or exchange of fluid, which is contaminated with contagious agent.

Epidemiological surveillance: the systematic collection, recording, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of data on communicable diseases and related special health issues.

Public health measure: decision or action aimed at preventing, monitoring or controlling the spread of diseases or contamination, combating severe risks to public health or mitigating their impact on public health.

MAIN DOCUMENT

Decision No 1082/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2013 on serious cross-border threats to health and repealing Decision No 2119/98/EC (OJ L 293, 5.11.2013, pp. 1-15)

Successive amendments to Decision No 1082/2013/EU have been incorporated into the original document. This consolidated version is of documentary value only.