Data collection is an important task of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and a fundamental component of risk assessment (Articles 22 and 23 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002). EFSA receives a large volume of data from Member States (MSs) that is used in support of its risk assessment mission. Council Directive 2005/94/EC and Commission Decision 2010/367/EU lay down the guidelines for monitoring and reporting avian influenza surveillance data on poultry and wild birds by European Union (EU) MSs. EFSA has been assigned the task of collating, validating, analysing, and summarising in an annual report the results from the avian influenza surveillance programmes in poultry and wild birds. For the reporting of data, EFSA provides a Data Collection Framework that allows data providers to submit data in eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format through a web interface or a web service. Here, a data model describing the format, and the content requested when submitting data through the DCF, is provided. The data model supports the reporting of laboratory testing results for avian influenza in both wild birds, and poultry. The use of this reporting standard ensures that reported results are comparable between reporting countries. Data reported in this format will be used to generate epidemiological updates on the avian influenza surveillance testing carry out in Europe, and to provide scientific advice to the European Commission.

EU; xls; zoonoses_support@efsa.europa.eu