MANDATES OF OIE REFERENCE LABORATORIES AND COLLABORATING

Reference Laboratories of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) are required to function as centres of expertise and standardisation, to prepare, store and distribute biological reference materials, to develop new procedures for disease diagnosis and control, to gather, analyse and disseminate epidemiological data, and to provide expert consultancy for the OIE. A number of other activities are also desirable, such as, training, diagnostic testing for other countries, organisation of scientific meetings, and publication of scientific data. OIE Collaborating Centres are focused on cross-cutting topics rather than specific diseases, and they are not necessarily laboratory-based (although many are). Their mandate relates to operating as a centre for research, expertise, standardisation and dissemination of techniques, the harmonisation of international regulations for animal disease surveillance and control, and the provision of consultant expertise. Again a number of other activities are also desirable, such as training, scientific meetings and publications. Apart from aquatic animal diseases (which are dealt with by the Aquatic Animal Diseases Commission), the Biological Standards Commission (BSC) assesses applications for Reference Laboratory and Collaborating Centre status, and advises the OIE on their suitability. For establishe