Norway signs the 1 Million Genomes Declaration

On 14 June 2019, Norway joined the EU Member States driven initiative on linking genomic databases across borders, becoming the 21st country to join this cooperation mechanism.

map of Europe highlighting the countries that have signed the1 Million Genomes Declaration

The signature by Norway took place today during the 5th Meeting of the Representatives of the Signatories of the Declaration ‘Towards access to at least 1 Million Genomes in the EU by 2022’. Member States of the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) have committed to collaborate on the secure and authorised access to national and regional banks of genomic and other health related data. To reach this goal, they are working on bringing together their existing infrastructures and expertise.

Background

The Declaration on genomics cooperation: ‘Towards access to at least 1 Million Genomes in the EU by 2022’, was launched on Digital Day 2 (10 April 2018) and has been signed already now by 21 Member States (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, The Netherlands,Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the UK). The initiative is also open to countries of the European Economic Area and the European Free Trade Association like Norway. It is part of the EU’s agenda for the Digital Transformation of Health and Care, as set out in its recently adopted Communication.

This cooperation mechanism is supported and facilitated by the European Commission, which works closely with the Member States in order to ensure that in 2022 there will be at least a cohort of 1 Million sequenced genomes accessible for research and personalised medicine in the EU.

More Information

Article Source: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/norway-signs-1-million-genomes-declaration

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