EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 84/389

(2004/C 84 E/0451)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0405/04

by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(17 February 2004)

Subject: Outbreak of avian influenza

1. Can the EU take measures within 24 hours of a case of avian influenza being discovered in the EU?

2. Has the Commission drawn up a crisis management plan?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(24 March 2004)

1. In case of emergencies due to major animal diseases, the Commission has procedures in place enabling it to immediately react and take the appropriate actions falling under its own responsibility to protect the Community against this kind of threat, including — for example — a network of mobile phones to exchange information with the Member States' veterinary authorities within one hour, and which is operational 24 hours a day.

The capacity of the Commission to rapidly react has been demonstrated on several recent occasions such as the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001, when the Commission adopted a safeguard decision in less than 24 hours from the confirmation of the outbreak and during the avian influenza outbreak in the Netherlands in 2003, when a Community expert was sent to that Member State during the same weekend in which the emergency arose.

Nevertheless, the Commission wishes to underline that it is the primary responsibility of the Member States to promptly implement disease control measures established in Community legislation, in case of a suspicion or confirmation of an outbreak of major animal diseases such as avian influenza in the Community.

To this aim, the Member States have contingency plans in place which have been approved by the Commission. To ensure that the new Member States will also have such plans in place, the Commission is currently scrutinising the plans submitted by them in conformity with the 2003 Accession Treaty.

2. The Commission has an Emergency Manual that establishes the actions to be taken in the event of an animal health emergency which may pose a very high risk for the Community and contains standard documents in the Community official languages to facilitate their rapid use.

As regards the threat for public health due to Avian Influenza, the Commission will soon adopt a working paper on Influenza Pandemic Preparedness and Response Planning in the Community. The document sets out the main objectives for action and gives an outline of the role of the Commission and the Member States. The paper addresses key issues identified as the result of an extensive consultation process, such as management and co-ordination, surveillance, prevention, mitigation and response, which covers the availability of vaccines and anti-virals, and finally communication and research. This consultative document is meant to promote effective policies and measures specified in correlation to the stages of an influenza pandemic that are explained on the basis of the World Health Organisation (WHO) definitions. The document adds value to preparedness planning at national level, which is being reviewed and updated by the Member States in response to the ongoing avian influenza outbreaks in Asia.