The Commission together with the EU Presidency and the United States has hosted the second EU-US expert seminar on the security of explosives in Brussels on 17-18 February, which brought together over 100 experts from the EU Member States, the US, Europol and the European Defence Agency.

The event is a continuation of a process launched at the first EU-US expert conference in 2008 to address the threat posed by terrorist use of explosives and is part of the implementation process of the joint EU-US Statement agreed in Toledo in January of this year. The event strengthened the cooperation, dialogue and exchange of good practices which will last many years to come.

Discussions during the second EU-US seminar concentrated on four key topics:

• The aftermath and response to the incident on the Northwest Flight 253.
• Response to incidents involving explosives in general, incl. standards for bomb technicians.
• The detection of explosives.
• Preventing the risk of misuse of precursors to explosives, incl. by outreach to private sector partners.

The seminar succeeded in increasing awareness about measures taken in the EU and the US concerning the security of explosives and in setting out an agenda for future expert level meetings. One of the key objectives during the Spanish Presidency of the European Union is to strengthen transatlantic relations and increase police coordination and cooperation in security matters.

The background for this work is the EU Action Plan on Enhancing the Security of Explosives, approved by the Council on 14 April 2008, based on a Commission proposal. One of the measures included in the Action Plan is the need to engage in dialogue and exchange of best practices with external partners concerning the security of explosives.