• Strengthen legal tools in support of disease preparedness and control.
• Support the development of coherent European legal responses to the human pandemic influenza threat.
• Develop and support a network of expertise, knowledge and shared experience in public health law in relation to disease preparedness and control across the European Union.

This project aims to provide knowledge and build expert capacity, which will enable European countries to frame laws that assist public health programmes in relation to pandemic influenza, and that will provide a resource for policy formulation in the European Union. In so doing, the project will strengthen a coherent Europe-wide approach to pandemic influenza preparedness.

The proposal consists of two substantive components.
Component 1 will develop a European network of expertise in public health law, the European public health law network (EPHLN), with a website to facilitate exchange of data and expertise.
Component 2 will develop a critical portrait of national public health laws relevant to disease preparedness and control across 27 Member States as well as Croatia, Turkey, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. This will be achieved by means of case studies focusing on laws which support or constrain a defined list of public health communicable disease control measures.

A sustainable network of public health expertise across Europe.
A multidisciplinary forum for public health professionals, lawyers, policymakers and service delivery professionals to exchange views, knowledge and experience.
An information network on law for public health decision-makers.
Capacity building of public health law expertise within Europe.
A critical portrait of national laws across Europe with relevance to disease preparedness and control.
Identification of commonalities, inconsistencies and gaps in national laws to assist in harmonisation of disease preparedness.
Synthesis and analysis of results providing a resource for policy formulation by the EU and its Member States.