PURPOSE : establishment of a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community.
COMMUNITY MEASURE : Decision 2119/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council setting up a network for the epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases in the Community.
CONTENT : The Decision seeks to promote co-operation and co-ordination between Member States and with the Commission with a view to improving the prevention and the control of certain transmissible diseases. The network will bring into permanent communication with one another, through all appropriate technical means, the Commission and those structures and/or authorities which, at the level of each Member State and under the responsibility of that Member State, are competent at national level and are charged with collecting information relating to the epidemiological surveillance of communicable diseases, and by establishing procedures for the dissemination of the relevant surveillance data at Community level.
An early warning and response system will be set in place and will, in order to operate efficiently, each national structure will communicate the following information to the network :
- diseases preventable by vaccination;
- sexually transmitted diseases;
- viral hepatitis;
- food-borne diseases;
- water-borne diseases and diseases of environmental origin;
- nosocomial infections;
- other diseases transmissible by non-conventional agents (including Creutzfeldt-Jakob's disease);
- diseases covered by the international health regulations (yellow fever, cholera and plague);
- other diseases (rabies, viral haemorrhagic fevers, malaria and any other as yet unclassified serious epidemic diseases, etc.). This list may be amended or supplemented at any time.
Each structure and/or authority will also communicate to the network :
- any relevant information concerning the progression of epidemic situations for which it has responsibility for information collection;
- information on unusual epidemic phenomena or new communicable diseases of unknown origin;
- information concerning existing and proposed mechanisms and procedures for the prevention and control of communicable diseases, in particular in emergency situations;
- any relevant considerations which could help Member States to co-ordinate their efforts for the prevention and control of communicable diseases, including any counter-measures implemented.
For the purposes of implementing this Decision, the Commission shall be assisted by a committee composed of representatives of each of the Member States and chaired by a representative of the Commission. The representative of the Commission shall submit to the committee a draft of the measures to be taken. The committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft within a time limit which the chairman may lay down according to the urgency of the matter. The opinion shall be delivered by the majoritylaid down in Art. 148 (2) of the Treaty in the case of decisions which the Council is required to adopt on a proposal from the Commission. The votes of the representatives of the Member States within the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in that Article. The chairman shall not vote.
The Commission shall adopt the measures envisaged if they are in accordnace with the opinion of the committee. If the measures envisaged are not in accordance with the opinion of the committee, or if no opinion is delivered, the Commission shall without delay submit to the Council a proposal relating to the measures to be taken. The Council shall act by qualified majority. If within three months of the matter being referred to it the Council has not acted, the proposed measures shall be adopted by the Commission.
Each Member State shall designate, within 6 months of entry into force of this Decision, the necessary structures and/or authorities and notify the Commission thereof.
The competent authorities of the Member States and the Commission shall foster co-operation with non-member countries and international organisations competent in the field of public health, in particular the WHO.
The Commission shall submit regular reports evaluating the operation of the Community network to the European Parliament and the Council. The first report, which shall be submitted 3 years after the entry into force of this Decision shall, in particular, identify those elements of the Community network which should be improved or adapted. An evaluation of the network should take place thereafter every five years.
ENTRY INTO FORCE : 03/01/1999.�