Emergency Task Force (ETF)

The Emergency Task Force (ETF) is an advisory and support body that handles regulatory activities in preparation for and during a public-health emergency, such as a pandemic.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) established the ETF in accordance with the Regulation on EMA's Reinforced Role (Regulation (EU) 2022/123).

The ETF took over the activities of the COVID-19 EMA Pandemic Task Force that EMA convened in March 2020 to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The Regulation made the group permanent and entrusted it with an important role in crisis preparedness.

For more information, see Crisis preparedness and management.

Also on this topic

• Emergency Task Force (ETF) documents

Responsibilities

The ETF is responsible for the following activities in preparation for and during a public-health emergency:

• Providing scientific advice to developers of medicines that could address the public-health emergency
• Reviewing scientific data on these medicines, including data requested from their developers
• Engaging in preliminary discussions with these developers and providing them with feedback on how to best develop their medicines
• Offering scientific support to facilitate clinical trials in the EU for the most promising medicines
• Supporting the work of EMA's scientific committees evaluating applications for authorisation of these medicines and monitoring their safety
• Providing scientific recommendations on the use of medicines prior to their authorisation, in liaison with EMA's scientific committees, working parties and scientific advisory groups. These medicines can include medicines already authorised for a different indication
• Making the best use of real-world evidence to support preparation for crises and responding to them. This includes evidence from healthcare databases across the EU via DARWIN EU
• Cooperating closely with stakeholders and with European and international organisations

Work plan and rules of procedure

The ETF's three-year work plan and rules of procedure are available below.

The list of pathogens and threats under the ETF's remit is available in Annex 1 of the work plan.

Consolidated 3-year work plan for the Emergency Task Force (ETF)

Reference Number: EMA/473592/2024

Rules of procedure of the Emergency Task Force (ETF)

Reference Number: EMA/36439/2025

Superseded documents

Select the expandable panel below to access the previous versions of the ETF's rules of procedure, available as superseded documents:

ETF rules of procedure - superseded documents

Superseded - Rules of procedure of the Emergency Task Force (ETF)

Adopted Reference Number: EMA/336551/2021

Composition

The ETF is composed of the following experts:

• Representatives of EMA's committees and working parties, including its Patients’ and Consumers’ Working Party (PCWP) and Healthcare Professionals’ Working Party (HCPWP)
• Representatives of EMA
• Representatives of the Clinical Trials Coordination and Advisory Group (CTAG)
• Clinical-trial experts from the national competent authorities

The experts are nominated by the entities they represent based on their expertise.

The European Commission established the CTAG in accordance with Article 85 of the Clinical Trials Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 536/2014).

The Emergency Task Force is co-chaired by an EMA representative and by the chair or co-chair of the CHMP.

EMA's Management Board adopts the ETF’s composition in preparation for and in response to public-health emergencies.

EMA updated the ETF’s composition in July 2025 to replace departing members.

More information on the ETF's composition is available below:

Composition of the Emergency Task Force (ETF) for preparedness

Reference Number: EMA/206184/2025

Previous revisions and superseded documents

EMA previously revised the ETF's composition: 

• in March 2025, to reflect the expansion of the ETF’s activities to include antimicrobial resistance (AMR), among other updates;
• in July 2023, to reflect a shift in focus from emergency operations to preparedness activities, following the end of public health emergencies with Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and Mpox;
• in September 2022, to deal with mpox as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Select the expandable panel below to access the previous revisions of ETF's composition, available as superseded documents:

ETF composition - superseded documents

Superseded - Composition of the Emergency Task Force (ETF) for preparedness

Adopted Reference Number: EMA/35247/2025

Superseded - Composition of the Emergency Task Force (ETF) for the therapeutic response to the COVID-19 and Monkeypox Public Health Emergencies

Reference Number: EMA/687738/2022

Superseded - Composition of the Emergency Task Force (ETF) for the therapeutic response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Reference Number: EMA/555794/2021

Co-chairs and members

The current co-chairs are:

•    Marco Cavaleri, EMA's Head of Public Health Threats
•    Bruno Sepodes, chair of the CHMP

Below (in alphabetical order of surname) are the current members of the Task Force. The members' CVs and declarations of interests are available in the European expert list.