to coordinate, in consultation with the Commission, the methods employed in the Member States for diagnosing BSE, specifically by:

• storing and supplying corresponding tissues containing the agent, for the development or production of the relevant diagnostic tests or for typing strains of the agent;

• supplying standard sera and other reference reagents to the national reference laboratories in order to standardise the tests and reagents used in the Member States;

• building up and retaining a collection of corresponding tissues containing the agents and strains of TSEs;

• organising periodic comparative tests of diagnostic procedures at Community level;

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

• characterising isolates of the TSE agent by the most up-to-date methods to allow greater understanding of the epidemiology of the disease;

• keeping abreast of trends in surveillance, epidemiology and prevention of TSEs throughout the world;

• maintaining expertise on prion diseases to enable rapid differential diagnosis;

• acquiring a thorough knowledge of the preparation and use of diagnostic methods used to control and eradicate TSEs;

to assist actively in the diagnosis of outbreaks of TSEs in Member States by studying samples from TSE-infected animals sent for confirmatory diagnosis, characterisation and epidemiological studies;

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