# Council Directive 2000/75/EC of 20 November 2000 laying down specific provisions for the control and eradication of bluetongue, Division B: TASKS OF THE COMMUNITY REFERENCE LABORATORY FOR BLUETONGUE

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

The Community reference laboratory has the following tasks:
1.. coordinating, in consultation with the Commission, diagnostic methods for bluetongue in the Member States, in particular by:
(a) specifying, holding and supplying strains of the bluetongue virus for the purpose of serological tests and the preparation of antiserum;
(b) the provision of reference sera and other reference reagents to the national reference laboratories for the purpose of standardising the tests and the reagents used in each Member State;
(c) the establishment and conservation of a collection of strains and isolates of the bluetongue virus;
(d) the regular organisation of Community comparative testing of diagnostic procedures;
(e) the collection and collation of data and information concerning the diagnostic methods used and the results of the tests carried out in the Community;
(f) the classification of isolates of the bluetongue virus, using the most advanced methods, in order to provide a better understanding of the epizootiology of bluetongue;
(g) monitoring developments worldwide in the area of surveillance, epizootiology and prevention of bluetongue;
2.. actively assisting in the identification of centres of bluetongue infection in the Member States by studying viral isolates sent to it for confirmation of diagnosis, classification and epizootiological studies;
3.. facilitating the provision of training and refresher courses for experts in laboratory diagnostics with a view to harmonising diagnostic techniques throughout the Community;
4.. mutual and reciprocal information exchange with the World Bluetongue Laboratory designated by the International Office for Epizootics (OIE), in particular concerning global developments with regard to bluetongue.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/2000/75/annex/II/division/B (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/eu-directive-2000-75/annex-II/division-B
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.