Report 1st meeting of the CBRN Advisory group
9 February 2010, Brussels (Dick Verduin)
The meeting focused on the planning of actions in 2010 of the Advisory Group or a sub-group thereof with respect to the key-actions addressed in EU CBRN Action Plan (15505/1/09) of 12 November 2009.
Annex 1: EU CBRN Action plan (press releases and whole document)
Annex 2: Extracted key-actions to be addressed in 2010.
Definite Terms of Reference including composition of the sub-groups, objectives, tasks and working method of the Advisory Group and sub-groups will be available in a couple of weeks.
Working method
It was agreed that the key-actions will be addressed in at least two meetings of a sub-group prior to plenary discussion in the Advisory Group.
Five sub-groups were suggested:
- A biological subgroup (Maybe interesting for EBSA to be involved);
- A Chemical sub-group;
- A radiological/Nuclear sub-group;
- A subgroup addressing key action H1 and others related to the topic: establish and update EU lists of high-risk chemical agents, biological agents and toxins, and radioactive sources (Maybe interesting for EBSA to be involved);
- A sub-group dealing with key-action H.31 and others related to the topic: regular exercises on the basis of risk-assessments and develop scenarios for calamities.
Sub-group 4 and 5 may need more than 2 meetings.
Meetings may start in March and the first plenary meeting of the advisory group will not be planned before August 2010.
EBSA may either attend some of the meetings (2 and 4 should have the highest priority) as observer or send information or documents to the sub-group or advisory group depending on the agenda.
- Report of the Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Task Force (CBRN TF)
On January 29 and 30, 2009 the Final Report of the CBRN Task Force was discussed by Member States and Experts at the meeting: "Enhancing CBRN Security" in Prague. This report, in particular the report of the biological sub-group, was established as described below and will be open for amendment till February 15, 2009. The contents of the whole report with its 264 recommendations will be the basis for an action plan to be presented by the Commission. In this action plan also the recommendations presented in the guidance document "Bridging security and health: towards identification of good practices and recommendations on response to CBRN incidents and security of CBRN substances" will be addressed. Deadline for amendments on this guidance document: end of February 2009.
The action plan will not lead to any new structures or new legislation in Europe. Member States can take the lead in certain actions and/or ad-hoc working groups may be formed. The Task Force will continue and has a coordinating function.
Information on CBRN funding in 2009 of law enforcement activities can be found in this document .
- Objectives and scope of the discussion regarding the biological sub-group
The main objective of the CBRN TF, in February 2008 was to help the Commission develop a policy on CBRN. The TF was composed of experts from the Member States, private sector, and academia/research who were all invited to participate in their personal capacity. The CBRN TF held 6 meetings on biopreparedness, between April and September 2008. The work of the TF focused on 4 main components of bio-preparedness:
- Threats to humans;
- Threats to animals, and food and feed for animals;
- Threats to crops, food and feed;
- Biological detection
The aim of the discussion was to identify concrete actions which need to be taken in prevention of, detection and diagnosis of, and response to threats to human beings, animals, and crops by biological agents and toxins. The primary focus of the discussion was on security aspects of bio-preparedness while building on existing safety practices and legislation. Safety considerations were considered only to the extent where they contribute to security and where implementation of safety standards and legislation is lacking. It is therefore important to underline that work on security can only be successful, if built on firm implementation of existing safety measures and legislation.
While the discussion focused on the first 3 components as separate issues, most of the actions identified are horizontal in nature. Therefore, unless otherwise specified, this report refers to all 3 components of the bio-preparedness, including detection.
A concrete policy package based on this report will be put forward by the Commission in June 2009, as part of the CBRN package. As regards the entire CBRN package and its specific components, the best possible use of existing instruments should be made, and all due care exerted to avoid duplication with existing activities and seek synergies with existing national, EU and global mechanisms.
It is also important to note that the recommendations in this paper are without prejudice to the existing legislation which goes beyond their scope or covers the implementation of a particular recommendation in individual strands of work - threats to humans, animals and plants. The reason is that the level of harmonisation within these strands may differ.
- Basis for discussions
Within the European Union, diseases can spread rapidly. It is therefore necessary to have measures in place to avoid and detect outbreaks of diseases regarding humans, animals and plants. The potential for misuse of material, methods and techniques in this field also exists. The appearance of BSE or Foot and Mouth Disease shows that accidents or the natural spread of diseases can have serious effects on the production chain and the economy of a given country, and as a consequence influence the well-being of other countries and their citizens.
The list of issues that have been addressed by the bio group was based on input provided by:
- Two seminars on European Bio-Preparedness and a workshop on Transport and Traceability of Bio-materials in 2006;
- The inventory of EU instruments relevant for the Programme of the Council and the Commission, of 20 December 2002, to improve cooperation in the European Union for preventing and limiting the consequences of chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear terrorist threats;
- The Green paper on Bio-preparedness of 2007 and the results of the consultation;
- Papers elaborated for the regional workshops - bridging security and health.
© EBSA e.V. 2006 - 2010
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