Council Directive 95/70/EC of 22 December 1995 introducing minimum Community measures for the control of certain diseases affecting bivalve molluscs (repealed) (c. 70)

ANNEX B U.K. FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES OF THE COMMUNITY REFERENCE LABORATORY FOR DISEASES OF BIVALVE MOLLUSCS

The function and duties of the Community reference laboratory shall be:

1.

to coordinate, in consultation with the Commission, the methods employed in Member States for diagnosing diseases of bivalve molluscs, specifically by:

(a)

building up and retaining a collection of histological slides, strains or isolates of the relevant pathogens and making these available to approved laboratories in the Member States;

(b)

organizing periodic comparative tests of diagnostic procedures at Community level;

(c)

collecting and collating data and information on the methods of diagnosis used and the results of tests carried out in the Community;

(d)

characterizing isolates of pathogens by the most up-to-date and appropriate methods to allow greater understanding of the epizootiology of the disease;

(e)

keeping abreast of developments in the surveillance, epizootiology and prevention of the relevant diseases throughout the world;

(f)

retaining expertise on relevant disease pathogens to enable rapid differential diagnosis;

2.

to assist actively in the diagnosis of disease outbreaks in Member States by receiving pathogen isolates for confirmatory diagnosis, characterization and epizootic studies;

3.

to facilitate the training or retraining of experts in laboratory diagnosis with a view to the harmonization of diagnostic techniques throughout the Community;

4.

to collaborate as regards methods of diagnosing exotic diseases, with the competent laboratories in third countries where those diseases are prevalent.