General objective and subject matter
1. The Union Civil Protection Mechanism ("the Union Mechanism") shall aim to strengthen the cooperation between the Union and the Member States and to facilitate coordination in the field of civil protection in order to improve the effectiveness of systems for preventing, preparing for and responding to natural and man-made disasters.
2. The protection to be ensured by the Union Mechanism shall cover primarily people, but also the environment and property, including cultural heritage, against all kinds of natural and man-made disasters, including the consequences of acts of terrorism, technological, radiological or environmental disasters, marine pollution, and acute health emergencies, occurring inside or outside the Union. In the case of the consequences of acts of terrorism or radiological disasters, the Union Mechanism may cover only preparedness and response actions.
3. The Union Mechanism shall promote solidarity between the Member States through practical cooperation and coordination, without prejudice to the Member States' primary responsibility to protect people, the environment, and property, including cultural heritage, on their territory against disasters and to provide their disaster-management systems with sufficient capabilities to enable them to cope adequately and in a consistent manner with disasters of a nature and magnitude that can reasonably be expected and prepared for.
4. This Decision lays down the general rules for the Union Mechanism and the rules for the provision of financial assistance under the Union Mechanism.
5. The Union Mechanism shall not affect obligations under existing relevant legal acts of the Union, under the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community or under existing international agreements.
6. This Decision shall not apply to the actions carried out under Regulation (EC) No 1257/96, Regulation (EC) No 1406/2002, Regulation (EC) No 1717/2006, Decision No 1082/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council ( 14 ) or Union legislation concerning action programmes in the fields of health, home affairs and justice.
Scope
1. This Decision shall apply to cooperation in the field of civil protection. Such cooperation shall include:
(a)
prevention and preparedness actions inside the Union and, as far as Articles 5(2) and 13(3) and 28 are concerned, also outside the Union; and
(b)
actions to assist with the response to immediate adverse consequences of a disaster inside or outside the Union, including in the countries referred to in Article 28(1), following a request for assistance through the Union Mechanism.
2. This Decision shall take into account the special needs of isolated, outermost and other regions or islands of the Union in terms of prevention of, preparedness for and response to disasters as well as the special needs of the overseas countries and territories in terms of disaster response.
Specific objectives
1. The Union Mechanism shall support, complement and facilitate coordination of Member States’ action in pursuit of the following common specific objectives:
(a)
to achieve a high level of protection against disasters by preventing or reducing their potential effects, by fostering a culture of prevention and by improving cooperation between the civil protection and other relevant services;
(b)
to enhance preparedness at Member State and Union level to respond to disasters;
(c)
to facilitate rapid and efficient response in the event of disasters or imminent disasters; and
(d)
to increase public awareness and preparedness for disasters.
2. Indicators shall be used for monitoring, evaluating and reviewing as appropriate the application of this Decision. Those indicators shall be:
(a)
progress in implementing the disaster prevention framework: measured by the number of Member States that have made available to the Commission a summary of their risk assessments and an assessment of their risk management capability as referred to in Article 6;
(b)
progress in increasing the level of readiness for disasters: measured by the quantity of response capacities included in the voluntary pool in relation to the capacity goals referred to in Article 11 and the number of modules registered in the CECIS;
(c)
progress in improving the response to disasters: measured by the speed of interventions under the Union Mechanism and the extent to which the assistance contributes to the needs on the ground; and
(d)
progress in increasing public awareness and preparedness for disasters: measured by the level of awareness of Union citizens of the risks in their region.
Definitions
For the purpose of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply:
1.
'disaster' means any situation which has or may have a severe impact on people, the environment, or property, including cultural heritage;
2.
'response' means any action taken upon request for assistance under the Union Mechanism in the event of an imminent disaster, or during or after a disaster, to address its immediate adverse consequences;
3.
'preparedness' means a state of readiness and capability of human and material means, structures, communities and organisations enabling them to ensure an effective rapid response to a disaster, obtained as a result of action taken in advance;
4.
'prevention' means any action aimed at reducing risks or mitigating adverse consequences of a disaster for people, the environment and property, including cultural heritage;
5.
'early warning' means the timely and effective provision of information that allows action to be taken to avoid or reduce risks and the adverse impacts of a disaster, and to facilitate preparedness for an effective response;
6.
'module' means a self-sufficient and autonomous predefined task- and needs-driven arrangement of Member States’ capabilities or a mobile operational team of the Member States, representing a combination of human and material means that can be described in terms of its capacity for intervention or by the task(s) it is able to undertake;
7.
'risk assessment' means the overall cross-sectoral process of risk identification, risk analysis, and risk evaluation undertaken at national or appropriate sub-national level;
8.
'risk management capability' means the ability of a Member State or its regions to reduce, adapt to or mitigate risks (impacts and likelihood of a disaster), identified in its risk assessments to levels that are acceptable in that Member State. Risk management capability is assessed in terms of the technical, financial and administrative capacity to carry out adequate:
(a)
risk assessments;
(b)
risk management planning for prevention and preparedness; and
(c)
risk prevention and preparedness measures;
9.
'host nation support' means any action undertaken in the preparedness and response phases by the country receiving or sending assistance, or by the Commission, to remove foreseeable obstacles to international assistance offered through the Union Mechanism. It includes support from Member States to facilitate the transiting of this assistance through their territory;
10.
'response capacity' means assistance that may be provided through the Union Mechanism upon request;
11.
'logistical support' means the essential equipment or services required for expert teams referred to in Article 17(1) to perform their tasks, inter alia communication, temporary accommodation, food or in-country transport.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
