Upcoming BBP workshop movement

Do you have any questions or issues with the movement of biological materials?

Join the BBP workshop on "Movement of biological materials for R&D purposes" that will be held on Thursday February 17th, 2022 from 13u-16u.

During this workshop the updated BBP Movement Guidance document will be presented: focusing from a practical perspective on the recommended practices related to the movement of biological materials, such as

(1) regulations
(2) import/export requirements
(3) packing instructions for specific types of biological material including government agency contact persons.

Concrete examples of movement of biological material from the participants will be used during the workshop to demonstrate how the manual can assist in finding your way in the complex landscape of movement.

If you have examples you want to submit to be evaluated during the meeting, feel free to send your case to bbp.steeringteam@ebsaweb.be before January 24^th.

OIE recognizes Sars-CoV2 as animal disease and FAVV follows this statement

SARS-Cov-2 is now being regarded as animal disease and hence under responsibility of FAVV-AFSCA as well. In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the detection of infection with SARS-CoV-2 in certain animal species, it was decided to include the infection with this virus in the official list of notifiable animal diseases. This declaration obligation has been mandatory for all animal keepers, veterinarians, and laboratories since June 29, 2020.

More specific info regarding this official recognition as animal disease:

• FAVV announcement in Dutch and French
• OIE technical factsheet - Infection with SARS-COV-2 in Animals

New contact person ‘Departement Omgeving’ (Flanders)

As of now, biosafety permit requests, notifications & risk analyses must be submitted to veerle.janssens@vlaanderen.be. Please put the following recipients in CC: erkenningen.omgeving@vlaanderen.be  and veronique.rombout@vlaanderen

Updated guidelines SBB: Biological waste inactivation and disposal

SBB has published updated guidelines on biological waste inactivation and disposal:

• https://www.biosafety.be/sites/default/files/gestion_des_dechets_2022.pdf (french)
• https://www.biosafety.be/sites/default/files/afvalbeheer_2022.pdf  (dutch)

SBB update on RG pathogens

Please note that the SBB recently reviewed the biological risk class of some microorganisms considering the evolution of the classification list of human pathogenic micro-organisms of the Belgian federal legislation on the protection of workers, BOOK VII Biological agents (NL/FR), and the evolution of scientific knowledge.

The SBB is preparing an update of the classification lists published in 2008 on its website. See https://www.bioveiligheid.be/node/286#lists  for the original communication.

FAVV-AFSCA newsletter

You can subscribe for FAVV newsletters, with selection of topics of interest: FAVV - Newsletter (favv-afsca.be) or AFSCA - Newsletter (favv-afsca.be)

The new BBP Steering Team 2022

We are happy to announce that for 2022, the composition of the BBP Steering Team will be as follows:

• Pascale Van Rooij – Perseus BV
• Isabelle Magnoli – UC Louvain
• Evi Pockelé – ITM
• Liesbet De Graef – ITM
• Elisabeth Heylen – KU Leuven

A warm welcome to Liesbet in the team, and many thanks to An Schoonjans for her valuable and enthusiastic contribution in the past years!

Best wishes for 2022 and thank you all for your valuable contribution to BBP!

Kind regards

The BBP steering team