The project “The preparation of a Biosecurity toolbox to strengthen European Biosecurity” aims to shed light on current policies of EU Member States in relation to biosecurity, to evaluate the policies that European Member States should address to mitigate proliferation risks regarding biological materials. The main purpose of this project, funded by the European Commission, Directorate General Home Affairs (Specific contract HOME/2019/ISFP/FW/CBRN/0005) is to reduce accessibility to CBRN materials, with a special focus on biological agents that are used or are stored in laboratories.

The consortium executing the project is coordinated by RIVM (National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Netherlands) and includes ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development) and ENCO (consultancy providing specialized services on nuclear power and CBRN topics to both government and industry). Additional in-kind support is provided by members of the European Biosecurity Regulatory Forum (EBRF).

The project is divided into three phases: the first phase aims to provide an overview of current policies of EU Member states on biosecurity; the second phase has the objective to develop a Biosecurity Resource Toolbox containing guidelines, good practices and tools that assist Member States to advance their national biosecurity policies and to reduce accessibility of biological materials; the third phase, at the conclusion of the project, consists of the preparation of a workshop to present the outcomes and the biosecurity resources to EC and EU Member States.