CHAPTER VI

Each Member State shall designate, by 7 March 2014: the competent authorities responsible within the Member State for epidemiological surveillance as referred to in Article 6; the competent authority or authorities responsible at national level for notifying alerts and determining the measures required to protect public health, for the purposes of Articles 8, 9 and 10; one representative and an alternate in the HSC referred to in Article 17. Member States shall notify the Commission and other Member States of the designations referred to in paragraph 1 and of any change thereof. In the event of such change, the Commission shall distribute immediately to the HSC an updated list of such designations. The Commission shall make publicly available the updated list of the authorities designated in accordance with points (a) and (c) of paragraph 1, as well as the updated list of the authorities to which the representatives in the HSC belong. In the application of this Decision, personal data shall be processed in accordance with Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. In particular, appropriate technical and organisational measures shall be taken to protect such personal data against accidental or illegal destruction, accidental loss, or unauthorised access and against any form of illegal processing. The EWRS shall include a selective messaging functionality allowing personal data to be communicated only to national competent authorities involved in contact tracing measures. That selective messaging functionality shall be designed and operated so as to ensure safe and lawful exchange of personal data. Where competent authorities implementing contact tracing measures communicate personal data necessary for contact tracing purposes through the EWRS pursuant to Article 9(3), they shall use the selective messaging functionality referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article and communicate the data only to the other Member States involved in the contact tracing measures. When circulating the information referred to in paragraph 3, the competent authorities shall refer to the alert communicated previously through the EWRS. Messages containing personal data shall automatically be erased from the selective message functionality 12 months after the date of their posting. Where a competent authority establishes that notification of personal data made by it pursuant to Article 9(3) has subsequently proved to be in breach of Directive 95/46/EC because that notification was unnecessary for the implementation of the contact tracing measures at issue, it shall inform immediately the Member States to which that notification was transmitted. In relation to their responsibilities to notify and rectify personal data through the EWRS, the national competent authorities shall be regarded as controllers within the meaning of point (d) of Article 2 of Directive 95/46/EC. In relation to its responsibilities concerning storage of personal data, the Commission shall be regarded as a controller within the meaning of point (d) of Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. The Commission shall adopt: guidelines aimed at ensuring that the day-by-day operation of the EWRS complies with Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001; a recommendation providing an indicative list of the personal data that may be exchanged for the purpose of the coordination of contact tracing measures. A Health Security Committee, composed of representatives of the Member States designated under point (c) of Article 15(1), is hereby established. The HSC shall have the following tasks: supporting the exchange of information between the Member States and the Commission on the experience acquired with regard to the implementation of this Decision; coordination in liaison with the Commission of the preparedness and response planning of the Member States in accordance with Article 4; coordination in liaison with the Commission of the risk and crisis communication and responses of the Member States to serious cross-border threats to health, in accordance with Article 11. The HSC shall be chaired by a representative of the Commission. The HSC shall meet at regular intervals and whenever the situation requires, on a request from the Commission or a Member State. The secretariat shall be provided by the Commission. The HSC shall adopt, by a majority of two thirds of its members, its rules of procedure. Those rules of procedure shall establish working arrangements, in particular with regard to: the procedures for plenary meetings at high level and working groups; the participation of experts in plenary meetings, the status of observers, including from third countries; the arrangements for the HSC to examine the relevance to its mandate of a matter submitted to it and the possibility of recommending referral of that matter to a body competent under a provision of another act of the Union or under the Euratom Treaty; those arrangements shall not affect the obligations of the Member States under Articles 4 and 11 of this Decision. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee on serious cross-border threats to health. That Committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Article 3(2) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. Where the Committee delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 8 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011, in conjunction with Article 5 thereof, shall apply. The Commission shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council by 7 November 2015, and every three years thereafter a report on the implementation of this Decision. The report shall include, in particular, an assessment of the operation of the EWRS and of the epidemiological surveillance network, as well as information on how the mechanisms and structures established under this Decision complement other alert systems at Union level and under the Euratom Treaty to protect public health effectively, while avoiding structural duplications. The Commission may accompany the report with proposals to modify the relevant Union provisions.

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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.