Council Resolution of 8 June 1999 on antibiotic resistance 'A strategy against the microbial threat'
Date: 1999-06-08
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: antibiotic, biology, medicine, pharmaceutical legislation, public health, veterinary medicine

13.7.1999

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 195/1

I

(Information)

COUNCIL

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

of 8 June 1999

on antibiotic resistance

(cid:145)A strategy against the microbial threat(cid:146)

(1999/C 195/01)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

1. CONSIDERING that

antibiotic

resistance

is

a major

European and global health problem;

2. RECALLING that a high level of human health protection is
to be ensured in the definition and implementation of all
Community policies and activities;

3. CONSIDERING that an effective reduction and prevention of
micro-organisms becoming resistant to antibiotics used in
human and veterinary medicine and in animal
feeding
stuffs and preservation of the effectiveness of antibiotics
for the treatment of
infection cannot be achieved by
national initiatives alone, but require a common strategy
and coordinated action at Community and international
level;

4. RECALLING that the growing awareness of this problem
has triggered various initiatives and actions in different
areas at national, Community and international levels;

5. RECALLING the World Health Organisation (WHO)
Conference held in Berlin in October 1997 and the
report on the medical impact of the use of antimicrobials
in food animals resulting from that Conference as well as
the WHO Conference held in Verona in December 1997;

6. RECALLING the Resolution of the European Parliament of
15 May 1998 on the use of antibiotics in animal feed (1);

7. RECALLING the EU Conference on the Microbial Threat
held in Copenhagen on 9 and 10 September 1998 and
resulting from this conference
the Recommendations
which identified possible initiatives and actions
that
could be taken at Community level;

(1) OJ C 167, 1.6.1998, p. 306.

8. WELCOMING the own-initiative opinion of the Economic
and Social Committee of 9 September 1998 (2) on the
resistance to antibiotics as a threat to public health;

9. RECALLING the Council Regulation (EC) No 2821/98 of 17
December 1998 amending, as regards withdrawal of auth-
orisation of certain antibiotics, Directive 70/524/EEC
concerning additives in feedingstuffs (3);

10. RECALLING that the Council

invited the Commission on
the occasion of the adoption of the abovementioned Regu-
lation to submit a report before 30 June 1999 on all the
public health, economic and legal implications of the anti-
biotic
external
dimension;

issue with regard to the

resistance

11. RECALLING the Decision No 2119/98/EC of the European
Parliament and of
the Council of 24 September 1998
setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance
the
and
communicable
Community (4) which constitutes a framework for
the
surveillance of communicable diseases;

diseases

control

of

in

12. RECALLING that under Directive 95/69/EC (5)

estab-
lishments manufacturing antibiotics used as additives in
feeding stuffs are required to hold a register to ensure
the traceability of the quantities of antibiotics used, spec-
ifying among other things the nature and the quantity of
the additive;

13. TAKING NOTE of the opinion of the Scientific Steering

Committee of 28 May 1999;

(2) OJ C 407, 28.12.1998, p. 7.
(3) OJ L 351, 29.12.1998, p. 4.
(4) OJ L 268, 3.10.1998, p. 1.
(5) Council Directive 95/69/EC of 22 December 1995 laying down the
conditions and arrangements for approving and registering certain
feed
establishments and intermediaries operating in the animal
sector
74/63/EEC,
79/373/EEC and 82/471/EEC (OJ L 332, 30.12.1995, p. 15).
Directive as last amended by Directive 1999/29/EC (OJ L 115,
4.5.1999, p. 32).

amending Directives

70/524/EEC,

and

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Official Journal of the European Communities

13.7.1999

14. WELCOMING the projects initiated at European level and
supported by the Commission in this area and the actions
by the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal
Products (EMEA) in the area of control of the use of anti-
biotics;

(cid:151) development of new therapeutic and preventive

pharmaceuticals

(cid:151) promotion of prudent use of antibiotics and

education in pharmacotherapy,

15. STRESSES that antibiotic resistance increases morbidity and

mortality due to communicable diseases;

(cid:151) research relating to

16. UNDERLINES that this leads not only to a diminution of
life but also to additional health and medical

quality of
care cost;

17. EMPHASISES that antibiotics are indispensable to combat
infectious diseases and that it is therefore imperative to
those medicinal products
preserve the effectiveness of
which are still effective;

(cid:151) effects of preventive measures

(cid:151) development of new antibiotics and alternatives

(cid:151) best use of antibiotics

(cid:151) determinants which enlarge the risk of emergence

of antibiotic resistance

(cid:151) mechanisms of the spread and development of anti-

biotic resistance

18. CONSIDERS that antibiotic resistance and its various causes
need a multidisciplinary and cross-sectorial approach;

(cid:151) best farming practice so to improve animal health;

19. CONSIDERS it necessary in view of the global dimension of
this problem that the Member States and the Commission
in close cooperation with the Member States promote
actively the aims of this Resolution in international organi-
sations, in particular in the WHO, Food and Agriculture
Organisation (FAO) and International Office of Epizootics
(OIE);

20. REITERATES its commitment to defining an overall strategy
to guard against the development of antibiotic resistance;

21. CONSIDERS that this overall strategy should be based on
risk assessment using known scientific findings, keeping in
mind a precautionary approach, and comprise coordinated
control and preventive action and research in particular in
the following areas:

(cid:151) control and preventive action relating to

(cid:151) surveillance of antibiotic resistance in humans,

animals and foodstuffs and its effects

(cid:151) monitoring and control of usage of antibiotics (in
feed-
agricultural

human and veterinary medicine, animal
ingstuffs,
productions, and foodstuffs)

horticulture

other

and

22. CALLS UPON THE MEMBER STATES

(cid:151) to establish multi-disciplinary

cross-sectorial
policies in order to facilitate the containment of the
spread of antibiotic resistance,

and

(cid:151) to cooperate in order to enable an effective comparable
monitoring of the supply and use of antibiotics and an
effective
antibiotic
resistance,

surveillance

comparable

of

(cid:151) to maintain the principle of antibiotics authorised as
human and veterinary medicine being (cid:145)prescription-
only-medicines(cid:146)
and to ensure vigilance on the
implementation of this principle,

(cid:151) to promote adherence to the principles of infection
control both in hospitals and non-hospital care as
well as in animal production,

(cid:151) to promote optimal prescribing and use of antibiotics
(through professional education, guidelines, etc.) and to
prevent
their unnecessary and inappropriate use in
human and veterinary medicine,

(cid:151) to promote actions aimed at raising the awareness of
health professionals, farmers and the general public of
the problem of antibiotic resistance,

(cid:151) to promote health orientated animal production

systems, thus reducing the need for antibiotics,

(cid:151) infection control
non-hospital care)

in health care (hospital and

(cid:151) to promote research in this area,

(cid:151) infection control in animal production

in the aforementioned areas;

(cid:151) to cooperate closely with the Commission, in particular

13.7.1999

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 195/3

23.

INVITES THE COMMISSION

(cid:151) to include as a priority the surveillance of antibiotic
resistance in human medicine and in the field of
through the
zoonosis
Community
epidemiological
for
surveillance and control of communicable diseases
complementarity of this surveillance;

and to promote

network

control

the

(cid:151) to ensure, on the basis of comparable data provided by
Member States, the reporting,
including conclusions,
on the supply and use of antibiotics in particular in
human and veterinary medicine as well as in animal
feeding, horticulture and other agricultural productions
and foodstuffs;

(cid:151) to support the exchange of experience and information
concerning the rational usage of antibiotics by appro-
priate Community activities;

(cid:151) to promote research work in the implementation of the
Fifth Research Framework Programme with regard to

(cid:151) the

evolution of

resistance within
antibiotic
bacterial populations and the understanding of
the
in
humans, animal populations and the environment,

transmissibility

resistant

bacteria

of

(cid:151) possible

resistance
of
potentially linked to the use of antibiotic resistance

transmission

antibiotic

markers in the production of transgenic foodstuffs
or feedingstuffs,

(cid:151) the development of new rapid diagnostic and
susceptibility testing systems for focused treatment,

(cid:151) effective alternatives to antibiotics to prevent and

control communicable diseases;

(cid:151) to consider the opportunity of preparing a proposal for
a Recommendation in accordance with the Treaty;

(cid:151) to examine

reviewing

the necessity of

current
Community legislation in the areas of human and
veterinary medicine, including medicated feedingstuffs,
animal feedingstuffs, horticulture and other agricultural
productions and foodstuffs, including the Community
authorisation system of medicinal products with a view
to reaching the objectives of this Resolution;

(cid:151) to pay particular attention to the problem of antibiotic
resistance in specific health actions related to applicant
countries, in particular in the framework of the PHARE
2000 programme;

(cid:151) to cooperate in this area, in close coordination with the
Member States, with the relevant international organi-
sations.