The European Union Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) Security Action Plan: Action B.2 dictates that each of the EU member states should establish a registry of facilities within the state possessing any of the substances included on the official EU list of high risk biological agents and toxins. Member states should ensure that each facility has proper security arrangements. Action Plan B.2. further dictates that each state should establish a process for verifying whether the security arrangements at aforementioned facilities are adequate, a record of all high risk materials kept in each facility, and mechanisms for determining whether storing such high risk biological agents and materials is absolutely necessary to. The overall goal of Action B.2 is to reduce the threat of and consequences of CBRN incidents of accidental, natural, or intentional origin, including acts of terrorism. The implementation period for Action B.2 is 2010-2014.

To assist member states in implementing Action B.2 of the action plan and thus complying with UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (UNSCR 1540) and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC), a group of European experts from Denmark, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, The United Kingdom, and Switzerland developed a series of recommendations for each Member State regarding the implementation of Action B.2. The resulting guidelines are published in Guidelines for the implementation of Action B2, which we have included as the documentation for this resource. These guidelines may be useful for legislative leaders attempting to bring their own country’s facilities into compliance, or others interested in examples of regional standards for biosecurity.

The EU CBRN Action Plan was enacted by The Council of the European Union (EU). The Council of the EU (or “The Council”) is one of the main decision-making bodies of the European Union. The Council and the European Parliament negotiate and adopt EU laws as well as the EU budget, based on proposals generated by the European Commission. The Council also coordinates policies for EU member states, develops the EU’s foreign and security policy, and negotiates agreements between the EU and other groups. This regulation, like all EU legislative texts, is available in the official languages of the EU member states (excluding Irish for resource-related reasons)