The Health Protection Agency (Amendment) Regulations 2007

These Regulations may be cited as the Health Protection Agency (Amendment) Regulations 2007 and shall come into force on 6th July 2007.

In these Regulations “the principal Regulations” means the Health Protection Agency Regulations 2005^f1.

after the definition of “the chairman” insert—

• ““competent authority” means a competent authority identified in accordance with Article 19 of the IHR (general obligations) and with a role as described at Article 22 of the IHR (role of competent authorities);

• “government department” for the purposes of these Regulations includes the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Ministers;”;

after the definition of “health service body” insert—

• ““the IHR” means the International Health Regulations (2005) of the WHO adopted by the fifty-eighth World Health Assembly on 23rd May 2005;

• “National IHR Focal Point” means the national centre, designated by a State Party to the IHR, which shall be accessible at all times for communications with the WHO IHR Contact Point under the IHR;”; and

after the definition of “primary care list” add—

• ““World Health Assembly” has the meaning set out in the Constitution of the World Health Organization adopted by the International Health Conference held in New York from 19th June to 22nd July 1946 and signed on 22nd July 1946;

• “WHO” means the World Health Organization, a specialised agency within the terms of Article 57 of the Charter of the United Nations, established by the Constitution of the World Health Organization;

• “WHO IHR Contact Point” means the unit within WHO which shall be accessible at all times for communications with the National IHR Focal Point.”.

After regulation 7 of the principal Regulations (directions – health functions) add—

“Directions – International Health Regulations

8.

(1)

The Secretary of State directs the Agency to act as a National IHR Focal Point for the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, each of the Channel Islands and each British Overseas Territory except in relation to Scotland in relation to matters which are within devolved competence (within the meaning of the Scotland Act 1998^f1and Northern Ireland in relation to a transferred matter (within the meaning of section 4(1) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998^f2).

(2)

Accordingly, the HPA shall exercise the following functions in particular—

(a)

to be accessible at all times for communication with the WHO IHR Contact Point (Article 4(2) of the IHR);

(b)

to send to the WHO IHR Contact Point urgent communications concerning the implementation of the IHR, in particular under Articles 6 to 12 of the IHR (Article 4(2)(a) of the IHR);

(c)

to disseminate information to, and consolidate information from, relevant sectors of the administration within the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, each of the Channel Islands and each British Overseas Territory including sectors responsible for surveillance and reporting, points of entry, public health services, clinics and hospitals and government departments (Article 4(2)(b) of the IHR);

(d)

to communicate with competent authorities in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, each of the Channel Islands and each British Overseas Territory on the relevant public health measures taken pursuant to the IHR (Article 22(1)(i) of the IHR);

(e)

to receive reports from competent authorities in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, each of the Channel Islands and each British Overseas Territory on implementation of necessary additional health measures including isolation of conveyances to prevent the spread of disease (Article 27(1) of the IHR).

(3)

The Agency has the following additional functions (in relation to the same territories and to the same extent specified in paragraph (1))—

(a)

to provide WHO with its contact details, to continuously update WHO in relation to any changes to its contact details, and to confirm its contact details to WHO annually (Article 4(4) of the IHR); and

(b)

to provide to WHO—

(i)

a list of bodies authorised to issue or extend the validity of Ship Sanitation Control Certificates or Ship Sanitation Control Exemption Certificates in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, each of the Channel Islands and each British Overseas Territory; and

(ii)

information on any changes which may occur to the status of the listed bodies (Article 20(3) of the IHR).”.