Article 21 Communication strategy during all incidents

During an incident, clear, targeted and effective information to the public on the assessment and management of the risk, including the uncertainty, shall be coordinated by the Commission as part of the response. Information to the public shall be timely, sound, reliable and coherent between the Union and its Member States. The Commission, EFSA, ECDC and Member States shall coordinate their communication in a transparent manner to avoid misaligned messages and conflicting information.

As part of the coordination, the Commission, EFSA, the ECDC, in cases involving the latter's specific competence, and the Member States shall inform each other in advance of intended announcements relevant for them and involved in the outbreak (e.g. through audio-conferences). In addition, the Member States shall immediately inform the affected food business operators, when reliable evidence on the possible source of an outbreak has been collected.

The Member States shall be informed through their crisis coordinators in order to ensure consistency as regards risk communication. The Commission shall keep the Standing Committee for Plants, Animal, Food and Feed and the Health Security Committee informed on the management of the crisis and its communication strategy.

The WHO International Network of Food Safety Authorities (INFOSAN) shall be used when trade from or to third countries is affected by the hazard involved without prejudice to the need for additional bilateral exchange of information with trade partners and competent authorities in third countries.

The Commission and the Member States shall provide additional information to relevant international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Animal Health Organisation (OIE) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) as appropriate.

Detailed tasks on crisis communication within the network of crisis coordinators are laid down in Annex I.