LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS ON PREVENTING AND COMBATING BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM
LEGISLATIVE ASPECTS ON PREVENTING AND COMBATING BIOLOGICAL TERRORISM

Summary/Abstract: Developments in the terrorist phenomenon at global and European level have led states to include terrorism, in their national security strategies, among the main risk factors to their national security. The national security strategies of most of the European Union states are thus the basis for the elaboration of normative acts regulating the aspects related to the prevention and combating of the terrorist phenomenon as a whole. The threat and use of biological weapons in terrorist attacks (bioterrorism), a new form of terrorism, could not be missing from such regulations. The article aims to present the main results of a comparative study carried out on the legislation on preventing and combating terrorism in several European Union states. The analysis has revealed that national laws regulate issues relating to the prevention and combating of biological threat differently. Thus, the role of each responsible structure, authority and institution in the field is different depending on its own national approach to the phenomenon. This analysis also highlights the need for the European Union to regulate this area much better, thus establishing the general framework, which will make it liable for any Member State to harmonise its legislation on preventing and combating bioterrorism.

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