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22.11.2017

And the EMA goes to ... Amsterdam

Recommendation

2/3 September 2026
Copenhagen, Denmark

Root Cause Analysis
When “Human Error” isn’t enough: Successful Failure Investigation

It almost came to a penalty shoot out. But maybe there was no equipment available. So the final decision was made by drawing the name of the new EMA location out of a hat. How could that happen?

Four cities were in a final round: Bratislava, Copenhagen, Milan and Amsterdam. In the next voting rounds, Bratislava and Copenhagen were kicked out. The final draw led to a tie between Amsterdam and Milan (13 votes each - out of 26 Member States). So the decision of the new location was made by drawing lots. As a result, Amsterdam will be the new host of the agency, after Britain leaves the EU.

The decision now taken by the Member followed an assessment by the European Commission and EMA of formal applications, submitted by 19 Member States.

According to a EMA statement, the Agency "will begin working immediately with the Dutch government to prepare for the move and take up its operations in Amsterdam on 30 March 2019 at the latest". EMA will also publish a monitoring chart on its website that will allow stakeholders to track progress.