New information on the endorsement procedure for potential ERN candidates regarding Poland and Belgium

New information on the endorsement procedure for potential ERN candidates regarding Poland and Belgium

The Board of Member States, as laid out in the European Commission implementing decision, was set up on 5 February 2014.

The main tasks of the Board are:

• Approval of Network proposals and healthcare providers' membership applications
• Approval of healthcare providers wishing to join an existing Network
• Termination of a Network (evaluation)
• Decision on loss of membership

Functioning of the Board

• Rules of procedure governing the board
• Members represent EU countries and EEA (Maximum two representatives per country)
• Co-chaired by the European Commission and a representative of the Members elected by the Board for a two-year period
• The current co-chairs of the Board are Sweden (Dr Lennart Christiansson) and Commission (Dr Andrzej Rys; Director of DG SANTE Directorate B)

Meetings and key documents

• Statement of the ERN Board of Member States on the COVID-19 Communication Support System
• Statement on Integration of the ERN to the healthcare systems of Member States (document available in all EU languages - also in Norwegian)
  • Annex to the Statement on Integration
• Outcomes and decisions taken by the Board are reflected in the minutes of the meetings
• Strategic thinking on the ERN implementation
• Strategic view on ERN Affiliated Partners
• Affiliated Partners - Statement on the definition and minimum criteria
• Affiliated Partners - Statement on the timeline for designation
• Affiliated Partners - Rules of termination
• Statement on European Reference Networks (ERNs) and industry (2019) - 2016 version

EU National Strategies

A number of EU countries have clear policies and criteria for managing rare, low prevalence or complex diseases, others are currently in the process of deciding on their approach, and how this approach could be linked to the ERNs.

The information below outlines the national criteria or systems used to approve Centres of Expertise, and other possible highly specialised services. These national strategies should help to promote ERNs at national level, and to facilitate the exchange of best practices among EU countries.

Austria	Italy
Belgium	Latvia
Bulgaria	Lithuania
Croatia	Luxembourg
Cyprus	Malta
Czechia	Netherlands
Denmark	Poland
Estonia	Portugal
Finland	Romania
France	Slovakia
Germany	Slovenia
Greece	Spain
Hungary	Sweden
Ireland

EEA countries

Norway

Liechtenstein

Other countries

United Kingdom