Article 4

Member States and the Commission shall consult each other within the HSC referred to in Article 17 with a view to coordinating their efforts to develop, strengthen and maintain their capacities for the monitoring, early warning and assessment of, and response to, serious cross-border threats to health. That consultation shall be aimed at: sharing best practice and experience in preparedness and response planning; promoting the interoperability of national preparedness planning; addressing the intersectoral dimension of preparedness and response planning at Union level; and supporting the implementation of core capacity requirements for surveillance and response as referred to in Articles 5 and 13 of the IHR. For the purpose of paragraph 1, Member States shall by 7 November 2014 and every three years thereafter provide the Commission with an update on the latest situation with regard to their preparedness and response planning at national level. That information shall cover the following: identification of, and update on the status of the implementation of, the core capacity standards for preparedness and response planning as determined at national level for the health sector, as provided to the WHO in accordance with IHR; description of the measures or arrangements aimed at ensuring interoperability between the health sector and other sectors including the veterinary sector, that are identified as being critical in the case of an emergency, in particular: coordination structures in place for cross-sectoral incidents; emergency operational centres (crisis centres); description of the business continuity plans, measures or arrangements aimed at ensuring the continuous delivery of critical services and products. The obligation to provide the information referred to in points (b) and (c) shall only apply if such measures or arrangements are in place or are provided for as part of national preparedness and response planning. For the purpose of paragraph 1, when substantially revising national preparedness planning, Member States shall inform the Commission in a timely manner of the main aspects of the revision of their preparedness planning at national level that are relevant to the objectives referred to in paragraph 1 and to the specific issues referred to in paragraph 2. When receiving classified information transmitted pursuant to paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article, the Commission and the HSC shall apply the rules set out in the Annex to Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom of 29 November 2001 amending its internal Rules of Procedure OJ L 317, 3.12.2001, p. 1. . Each Member State shall ensure that its national security regulations apply to all natural persons resident on its territory and all legal persons established on its territory that handle the information referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this Article. Those national security regulations shall offer a degree of protection of classified information at least equivalent to that provided by the rules on security as set out in the Annex to Commission Decision 2001/844/EC, ECSC, Euratom and by Council Decision 2011/292/EU of 31 March 2011 on the security rules for protecting EU classified information OJ L 141, 27.5.2011, p. 17. . The Commission shall make the information received in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 available to the members of the HSC. On the basis of that information, and for the purpose of paragraph 1, the Commission shall, in a timely manner, initiate discussion in the HSC, including, where appropriate, on the basis of synthesis or thematic progress reports. The Commission shall, by means of implementing acts, adopt templates to be used by the Member States when providing the information referred to in paragraphs 2 and 3 in order to ensure its relevance to the objectives identified in paragraph 1 and its comparability. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 18(2).

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-06 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.