Rapid ECDC advice on the designation of future European Reference Laboratories for public health

RAPID RISK ASSESSMENT RAPID SCIENTIFIC ADVICE Rapid ECDC advice on the designation of future European Reference Laboratories for public health, June 2025 1. Summary • ECDC proposes to issue the 2025 call for application for EURLs for public health in the area of respiratory viruses to ensure continued laboratory support and capacity-building activities for Europe on these high importance/high impact pathogens. • The area of respiratory viruses is suggested to be covered in one EURL by a consortium of up to five partner institutes. • A list of EURLs for implementation in subsequent calls beyond 2025 is proposed and in addition a list of diseases/health issues under consideration for EURL implementation is provided. • Changes to the processes for application, evaluation and designation of EURLs are proposed. 2. Background In July 2023, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) requested that ECDC provide it with advice on the establishment of EURLs for public health (from here on ‘EURLs’), in order to support DG SANTE in implementing responsibilities in this area as set out in Regulations 2022/2370 and 2022/2371 [1,2]. The request asked for advice both on general processes for the implementation of EURLs, as well as a list of proposed EURLs for communicable diseases. In response, ECDC issued an opinion on the implementation of EURLs for public health in July 2023, with a revised version issued in April...