Regulation (EU) 2022/2371 on Serious Cross-Border Threats to Health (Art. 15) introduced a legal mandate for the Commission to set up European reference laboratories (EURLs) in public health. The aim of these EURLs is to support national reference laboratories to promote good practice and alignment by Member States on a voluntary basis regarding diagnostics, testing methods, use of certain tests for the uniform surveillance, notification and reporting of serious cross-border health threats.
The main task of the EURLs is to coordinate work in the following areas:
- reference diagnostics (including test protocols)
- reference material resources
- external quality assessments (EQAs)
- scientific advice and technical assistance
- collaboration and research
- monitoring, alert notifications and support in outbreak response
- training
The EURLs in public health are being gradually designated. Their focus is mainly on communicable diseases but also other areas relevant to the implementation of Regulation (EU) 2022/2371.
A network of all the designated EURLs for public health is being set up and will be operated and coordinated by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
Designated EURLs for public health
To date, nine EURLs for public health have been designated by the European Commission.
Six EURLs were designated in March 2024 through the adoption of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/892. This designation was based on a Calls for Application, which ran from October to December 2023. A further three EURLs were designated in November 2024 by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/2959, following a Calls for Application that ran from April to August 2024.
The EURLs for public health are designated for seven years and their activities will be funded under the EU4Health programme.
The designated EURLs for public health focus on the following areas and are led and run by the following consortia:
| EU Reference Laboratories for public health in the field of: | Consortium led by: | Also composed of: |
|---|---|---|
| Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in bacteria | Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Denmark | Danmarks Tekniske Universitet (DTU), Denmark Clinical Microbiology Region Kronoberg, Sweden |
| Diphtheria and pertussis | University of Turku (UTU), Finland | Institut Pasteur, France Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium Sciensano, Belgium Bayerisches Landesamt für Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit, Germany |
| Emerging, rodent-borne and zoonotic viral pathogens | Folkhälsomyndigheten, Sweden | Istituto Nazionale per le Malattie Infettive “Lazzaro Spallanzani”, Italy Institut Pasteur, France Nemzeti Népegészségügyi és Gyógyszerészeti Központ, Hungary |
| Food- and water-borne bacteria | Statens Serum Institut (SSI), Denmark | Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM), the Netherlands Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Italy |
| Food- and water-borne viruses | Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH), Norway | Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM), the Netherlands Regensburg University Medical Center (UKR), Germany |
| Food-, water- and vector-borne helminths and protozoa | Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Italy | Folkhälsomyndigheten (Fohm), Sweden |
| High-risk, emerging and zoonotic bacterial pathogens | Robert Koch-Institut (RKI), Germany | Institut für Mikrobiologie der Bundeswehr, Germany Folkhälsomyndigheten (Fohm), Sweden Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Portugal |
| Legionella | Hospices Civils de Lyon, France | Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), Italy Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany Instituto Nacional de Saúde Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), Portugal |
| Vector-borne viral pathogens | Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM), the Netherlands | Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM), France Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Azienda Ospedale - Università Padova, Italy Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia |
