Serious cross-border threats to health
On 17 March, IMCO considered the draft legislative opinion to ENVI by Mr Rasmus Andresen (Greens/EFA) on serious cross-border threats to health. Put forward by the Commission on 11 November 2020, this proposal provides a strengthened framework for health crisis preparedness and response at the EU level by addressing weaknesses exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
For IMCO it is particularly important that the proposal lays down rules on joint procurement of medical countermeasures. As serious cross-border threats to health are not limited to EU borders, joint procurement of medical countermeasures is to be extended to include EFTA and EU candidate countries. In addition, it is proposed that joint procurement procedure includes an exclusivity clause providing countries participating in a joint procurement shall not run parallel negotiation processes for the same product.