Article 14

1

Member States shall ensure that, in each Member State there is designated:

a

a national laboratory at which facilities and expert personnel shall be maintained to permit full antigenic and biological typing of Newcastle-disease virus at all times and to confirm results obtained in regional diagnostic laboratories;

b

a national laboratory at which reagents for use in regional laboratories are tested;

c

a national institute or laboratory at which vaccines allowed for prohpylactic use in the country or stock-piled for emergency use may be tested for efficacy, potency and purity.

F12

The national laboratories referred to in paragraph 1 shall be responsible for coordinating standards and methods of diagnosis, use of reagents and testing of vaccines.

F13

The national laboratories referred to in paragraph 1 shall be responsible for coordinating the standards and diagnostic methods laid down in each Newcastle-disease diagnostic laboratory within the Member State. To this end:

a

they may provide diagnostic reagents to national laboratories;

b

they shall control the quality of all diagnostic reagents used in that Member State;

c

they shall arrange comparative tests periodically;

d

they shall hold isolates of Newcastle-disease virus from cases confirmed in that Member State;

e

they shall ensure the confirmation of positive results obtained in regional diagnostic laboratories.

F14

The national laboratories referred to in paragraph 1 shall liaise with the Community reference laboratory referred to in Article 15.

5

Member States shall maintain up-to-date lists of the national laboratories or institutes referred to in paragraph 1 and make them available to the other Member States and to the public.

Detailed rules for the uniform application of this paragraph may be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 25(2).