The European Council and the Commission have designated European Union Reference Laboratories (EURLs) with scientific and technical expertise within the areas of animal health, public health and zootechnics in a number of legal acts to prevent, control and eradicate major animal diseases.

The consortium between ANSES (France) and Sciensano (Belgium) is appointed as European Union Reference Laboratory for foot-and-mouth disease (COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2018/136 of 25 January 2018)