ANNEX IISupplementary provisions
ANNEX II The EU reference laboratory for public health on food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa, its responsibilities and tasks 1. The consortium designated as the EU reference laboratory for public health on food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa (hereinafter ‘EURL’): Consortium led by: Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161, Roma RM, ITALY; Also composed of: Folkhälsomyndigheten, Nobels väg 18, SE-171 82 Solna, SWEDEN. 2. Responsibilities and tasks: The EURL shall provide support to national reference laboratories and promote good practice and quality to strengthen public health microbiology in the field of food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa. The EURL shall provide support to these national reference laboratories for activities in relation to the following food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa: Echinococcus spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Trichinella spp., and Plasmodium spp.. Should there be an EU-level need related to other food-, water- and vector-borne parasites of public health relevance (e.g. Cryptosporidium spp., Giardia lamblia , Leishmania spp., Strongyloides stercoralis , and Taenia solium ), the EURL may also be requested to provide input and advice on those helminths and protozoa. The EURL shall provide support to the members of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)’s European Emerging and Vector-borne Diseases Network (EVD-Net) ( 1 ) and European Food- and Waterborne Diseases and zoonoses Network (FWD-Net) ( 2 ) on aspects related to diagnostics, testing methods, use of certain tests for the uniform surveillance, notification and reporting of diseases. For the implementation of the activities under the EURL’s work plan which the EURL shall develop and agree with the ECDC, the EURL shall coordinate the National Focal Points (NFPs) for Food and Waterborne Diseases and for Emerging and Vector-borne Diseases, and the Operational Contact Points (OCPs) for Microbiology relevant for the EURL. Upon request from the ECDC, the EURL shall participate in relevant ECDC networks and structures. The EURL shall participate in the network of EU reference laboratories that is to be operated and coordinated by the ECDC in accordance with Article 15(3) of Regulation (EU) 2022/2371. The EURL shall ensure that there is: — a sufficient number of qualified staff in relation to the volume of the tasks that the EURL is to carry out in their scope of designation, — adequate training of staff for the execution of the tasks of the EURL. The EURL shall establish its confidentiality policy, including rules for the appropriate secure handling, storage and processing of samples and information, as well as measures to prevent undue disclosure of confidential information. The EURL shall be responsible for the following tasks: (a) providing reference diagnostic and pathogen characterisation services in the field of the EURL to members of the network(s) supported by the EURL, according to the needs defined by the network(s); (b) providing reference materials in the field of the EURL to members of the network(s) supported by the EURL, according to the needs defined by the network(s); (c) providing external quality assessment schemes for diagnostics and characterisation of selected helminths and protozoa in the field of the EURL to members of the network(s) supported by the EURL, according to the needs defined by the network(s); (d) providing scientific advice and technical assistance in the field of the EURL to members of the network(s) supported by the EURL, according to the needs defined by the network(s); (e) participating in expert committees, e.g. the ECDC – European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Advisory Board on the management and sharing of molecular typing data of isolates from human, food, feed, animals and the related environment, in order to provide expert advice within the field of the EURL; (f) providing scientific advice and technical assistance in the field of the EURL to ECDC based on expert opinions and/or surveys among the members of the network(s) supported by the EURL; (g) providing information, guidance and support to the ECDC in outbreak situations in the field of the EURL, including providing contributions to ECDC risk assessments; (h) providing scientific and technical assistance to the Commission concerning the EURL’s specific area of public health and in coordination with the ECDC; (i) organising and delivering training, such as workshops, webinars and wet-lab trainings, in the field of the EURL to members of the network(s) supported by the EURL; (j) ensuring coordination, communication and dissemination with members of the network(s) supported by the EURL, and with the ECDC, including the development of and agreement on annual work plans; (k) organising meetings for members of the network(s) supported by the EURL; (l) ensuring coordination with other EU reference laboratories in public health and/or in other areas such as feed, food and animal health and/or in vitro medical devices, the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres and/or WHO reference laboratories, or relevant initiatives in the field of the EURL; (m) collaborating, in cooperation with the ECDC, with the EFSA and/or the European Medicines Agency (EMA), as relevant; (n) collaborating, in cooperation with the ECDC, with laboratories in third countries in an international context that benefits EU-level public health, as relevant; (o) providing scientific and technical assistance on other issues relevant to members of the network(s) supported by the EURL. ( 1 ) https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-ecdc/what-we-do/partners-and-networks/disease-and-laboratory-networks/european-emerging-and . ( 2 ) https://www.ecdc.europa.eu/en/about-us/partnerships-and-networks/disease-and-laboratory-networks/fwd-net .