Researchers at universities and biotech companies would be vetted under counter-terrorism plans to be put forward by the European Union today.

Brussels will propose an EU system of security clearance for researchers to combat infiltration by bio-terrorists.

Institutions such as research hospitals should also be vetted to strict EU standards before being allowed to carry out sensitive experiments, according to plans already being drawn up by Brussels before the arrest of bomb suspects in Britain working as doctors.

Wide-ranging proposals on tackling bio-terrorism published today will also include the suggestion that all science undergraduates take lessons in ethics to raise awareness of the ways in which their work could be exploited by terrorists.

Another proposal, likely to raise fears of censorship, would restrict the publication of sensitive research findings in case they fell into the wrong hands.

Academics will be consulted on the proposals from the European Commission, which denies that it is jumping on an anti-terror bandwagon or seeking to legislate where EU countries already have bio-terror safeguards.

But Franco Frattini, the EU’s justice commissioner, told The Times in an interview that he was proposing Europe-wide measures because security gaps meant that some countries were a soft touch for terrorists.

Mr Frattini, the outspoken Italian commissioner who last week outlined EU laws to target internet bomb-making sites, will propose a European Bio Network to work with universities and biotech companies to improve their security. The idea was given a cautious welcome by Universities UK.

“We have safe havens where it is possible in the EU to carry out research without proper guarantees of security or of non-infiltration by suspect people,” Mr Frattini said.

“They [universities and research institutions] should be independent but to be independent does not mean to be tolerant, to avoid dealing seriously with the possibility that terrorists infiltrate scientific communities.

“It means that they are allies with the clean forces of society not with the dirty forces of society, that is the independent role of the scientific community. That is why I want them as my allies.” Mr Frattini said that, while a biological incident through release of a virus or an attack on the food chain was not thought to be imminent, all potential risks had to be assessed.

“If we leave it too late it is absolutely useless,” he said. “We are aware that terrorists are exploiting all the potentials to attack democratic countries.” In a European Commission green paper today, he will launch a consultation on “whether and how to provide researchers with security clearance if they will have to deal with dangerous materials and whether and how to adopt a code of conduct” for graduate researchers, like the Hippocratic Oath for doctors.

Mr Frattini added: “We need a higher European standard to allow only persons with appropriate training and knowledge to get access to premises or to extremely sensitive information. We do not have a high level European standard, we have in a number of member states good standards but not yet European standards.” Mr Frattini said that he was not yet proposing new legislation but wanted to hear views from universities and industry before making firm proposals later in the year.

Universities UK said that its voluntary arragement for vetting students was completing a three-year review by the Foreign Office and Cabinet Office.

A spokesman said that the new scheme would cover all non-EU postgraduate research students in certain sensitive subject areas. “It will require students who fall into the category above to seek and obtain ‘clearance’ before they can apply for a visa or entry clearance to come to the UK or to renew a visa if they are already in the UK,” he said.

He added: “We look forward to any codes or measures [from the EU] that help to counter the misuse of scientific research at UK universities.”

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust have a joint approach to bio-terror based on self-governance by universities. From 2005 they included a question on research proposal forms asking applicants to consider the risks of terrorist misuse associated with their proposal. Academic referees must also take this into account when awarding grants.

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