A package of measures has been agreed by European Union veterinary officers aimed at preventing the deadly bird flu virus from entering the 25-nation bloc.
The package concentrates on improving bio-security measures on farms and introducing early detection systems in high risk areas".
The EU also said governments must define the areas most at risk from bird flu where wild birds will be separated from poultry to minimise the risk of the disease spreading.
"The biosecurity measures require the member states to take the appropriate measures, according to national circumstances, to reduce the risk of avian influenza being spread from wild birds to domestic birds," the European Commission said.
"In particularly high-risk areas, this could include keeping poultry indoors," it said in a statement issued after an emergency meeting of EU health and veterinary experts to discuss the detection of bird flu in Romania and Turkey.
All EU governments were obliged to inform Commission authorities of the measures they planned to take for separating wild and domestic birds by November 5th.
"Common EU-wide risk factors were agreed as criteria for applying these measures, for example the location of farms along migratory flyways, the distance of holdings from wet areas where migratory water fowl may gather and the keeping of poultry or other domesticated birds in open-air farms," it said.
The experts also agreed specific criteria to help alert farmers and animal owners to any signs indicating that they needed to inform authorities of a possible bird flu risk - such a drop in egg production or increased bird mortality rates.
The Commission was also watching developments closely in Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, it said. A team of EU medical and laboratory experts would visit Turkey and Bulgaria from Monday to Thursday next week. Three other experts were also due to visit Romania.
Avian flu is currently transmitted to humans only if they eat or live in close contact with infected birds, but scientists say the H5N1 strain is mutating towards a form that could pass between humans.
A Department of Health spokesman said 400,000 units of the newly developed H5N1 vaccine had been ordered but would not be available until well into next year.