WRITTEN QUESTION E-0405/04 by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission. Outbreak of avian influenza.
Date: 2004-02-17
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: European Commission, animal disease, civil defence, epidemiology, health control, public health, zoonosis

3.4.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 84 E/389

A common immigration policy that is well controlled, implemented at Community level and backed by an
ambitious policy on integration is necessary in order to respond properly to these needs.

(1) COM(2003) 336 final.

(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.

2.

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

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 (cid:1) for example (cid:1) 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.

The Commission has an Emergency Manual that establishes the actions to be taken in the event of an
2.
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.