Notification of disasters within the Union
1. In the event of a disaster within the Union, or of an imminent disaster, which causes or is capable of causing trans-boundary effects or affects or is capable of affecting other Member States, the Member State in which the disaster occurs or is likely to occur shall, without delay, notify the potentially affected Member States and, where the effects are potentially significant, the Commission.
The first subparagraph shall not apply where the obligation of notification has already been addressed under other Union legislation, under the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community or under existing international agreements.
2. In the event of a disaster within the Union, or of an imminent disaster, which is likely to result in a call for assistance from one or more Member States, the Member State in which the disaster occurs or is likely to occur shall, without delay, notify the Commission that a possible request for assistance through the ERCC can be expected, in order to enable the Commission, as appropriate, to inform the other Member States and to activate its competent services.
3. The notifications referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 shall, as appropriate, be made through CECIS.
Responding to disasters within the Union
1. When a disaster occurs within the Union, or is imminent, the affected Member State may request assistance through the ERCC. The request shall be as specific as possible.
2. In exceptional situations of increased risk a Member State may also request assistance in the form of temporary pre-positioning of response capacities.
3. Upon receiving a request for assistance, the Commission shall, as appropriate and without delay:
(a)
forward the request to the contact points of other Member States;
(b)
collect validated information on the situation, in conjunction with the affected Member State, and disseminate it to the Member States;
(c)
make recommendations, in consultation with the requesting Member State, for the provision of assistance through the Union Mechanism, based on the needs on the ground and any relevant pre-developed plans, as referred to in Article 10(1), invite Member States to deploy specific capacities and facilitate the coordination of the required assistance; and
(d)
take additional action to facilitate the coordination of the response.
4. Any Member State to which a request for assistance is addressed through the Union Mechanism shall promptly determine whether it is in a position to render the assistance required and inform the requesting Member State of its decision through the CECIS, indicating the scope, terms and, where applicable, costs of the assistance it could render. The ERCC shall keep the Member States informed.
5. The requesting Member State shall be responsible for directing assistance interventions. The authorities of the requesting Member State shall lay down guidelines and, if necessary, define the limits of the tasks entrusted to the modules or other response capacities. The details of the execution of those tasks shall be left to the person in charge appointed by the Member State rendering assistance. The requesting Member State may also request the deployment of an expert team to support its assessment, facilitate coordination on site between Member States' teams or provide technical advice.
6. The requesting Member State shall take the appropriate actions to facilitate host nation support for the incoming assistance.
7. The role of the Commission referred to in this Article shall not affect the Member States’ competences and responsibility for their teams, modules and other support capacities, including military capacities. In particular, the support offered by the Commission shall not entail command and control over the Member States’ teams, modules and other support, which shall be deployed on a voluntary basis in accordance with the coordination at headquarters level and on site.
Promoting consistency in the response to disasters outside the Union
1. When a disaster occurs outside the Union, or is imminent, the affected country may request assistance through the ERCC. The assistance may also be requested through or by the United Nations and its agencies, or a relevant international organisation.
2. Interventions under this Article may be conducted either as an autonomous assistance intervention or as a contribution to an intervention led by an international organisation. The Union coordination shall be fully integrated with the overall coordination provided by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and shall respect its leading role.
3. The Commission shall support the consistency in the delivery of the assistance through the following actions:
(a)
maintaining a dialogue with the Member States’ contact points in order to ensure an effective and coherent Union disaster response contribution through the Union Mechanism to the overall relief effort, in particular by:
(i)
informing Member States without delay of the full requests for assistance;
(ii)
supporting a common assessment of the situation and needs, providing technical advice and/or facilitating the coordination on site of assistance through the presence of a civil protection expert team on site;
(iii)
sharing relevant assessments and analyses with all relevant actors;
(iv)
providing an overview of assistance being offered by Member States and other actors;
(v)
advising on the type of assistance required in order to ensure that the assistance provided is consistent with the needs assessments; and
(vi)
assisting in overcoming any practical difficulties in the delivery of assistance in areas such as transit and customs;
(b)
immediately making recommendations, when possible in cooperation with the affected country, based on the needs on the ground and any relevant pre-developed plans, inviting Member States to deploy specific capacities and facilitating the coordination of the requested assistance;
(c)
liaising with the affected country on technical details, such as the precise needs for assistance, the acceptance of offers and the practical arrangements for the local reception and distribution of assistance;
(d)
liaising with or supporting OCHA, and cooperating with other relevant actors that contribute to the overall relief effort, in order to maximise synergies, seek complementarities and avoid duplication and gaps; and
(e)
liaising with all relevant actors, in particular in the closing phase of the assistance intervention under the Union Mechanism, to facilitate a smooth handover.
4. Without prejudice to the Commission's role, as defined in paragraph 3, and respecting the imperative for an immediate operational response through the Union Mechanism, the Commission shall upon activation of the Union Mechanism inform the European External Action Service to allow for consistency between the civil protection operation and the overall Union relations with the affected country. The Commission shall keep the Member States fully informed in accordance with paragraph 3.
5. On site, liaison shall be ensured as appropriate with the Union delegation for the latter to facilitate contacts with the government of the affected country. Where necessary, the Union delegation shall provide logistical support to the civil protection expert teams referred to in point (ii) of point (a) of paragraph 3.
6. Any Member State to which a request for assistance is addressed through the Union Mechanism shall promptly determine whether it is in a position to render the assistance required and inform the ERCC of its decision through the CECIS, indicating the scope and terms of any assistance it could render. The ERCC shall keep Member States informed.
7. The Union Mechanism may also be used to provide civil protection support to consular assistance to the citizens of the Union in disasters in third countries if requested by the consular authorities of the Member States concerned.
8. Pursuant to a request for assistance, the Commission may take additional necessary supporting and complementary action in order to ensure consistency in the delivery of the assistance.
9. Coordination through the Union Mechanism shall affect neither bilateral contacts between Member States and the affected country, nor cooperation between Member States and the United Nations and other relevant international organisations. Such bilateral contacts may also be used to contribute to the coordination through the Union Mechanism.
10. The role of the Commission referred to in this Article shall not affect the Member States’ competences and responsibility for their teams, modules and other support, including military capacities. In particular, the support offered by the Commission shall not entail command and control over Member States’ teams, modules and other support, which shall be deployed on a voluntary basis in accordance with the coordination at headquarters level and on site.
11. Synergies shall be sought with other instruments of the Union, in particular with actions financed under Regulation (EC) No 1257/96. The Commission shall ensure coordination between the instruments and, where appropriate, ensure that Member States' civil protection actions contributing to a wider humanitarian response are as far as possible financed under this Decision.
12. Whenever the Union Mechanism is activated, the Member States providing disaster assistance shall keep the ERCC fully informed of their activities.
13. Member States’ teams and modules participating on site in the intervention through the Union Mechanism shall liaise closely with the ERCC and the expert teams on site, as referred to in point (ii) of point (a) of paragraph 3.
Support on site
1. The Commission may select, appoint and dispatch an expert team composed of experts provided by Member States:
(a)
in the event of a disaster outside the Union as referred to in Article 16(3);
(b)
in the event of a disaster within the Union as referred to in Article 15(5);
(c)
upon request for prevention expertise in accordance with Article 5(2); or
(d)
upon request for preparedness expertise in accordance with Article 13(3).
Experts from the Commission and from other services of the Union may be integrated in the team in order to support the team and facilitate liaison with the ERCC. Experts dispatched by OCHA or other international organisations may be integrated in the team in order to strengthen cooperation and facilitate joint assessments.
2. The procedure for the selection and appointment of experts shall be the following:
(a)
Member States shall nominate experts, under their responsibility, who can be deployed as members of expert teams;
(b)
the Commission shall select the experts and the leader for those teams on the basis of their qualifications and experience, including the level of the Union Mechanism training undertaken, previous experience of missions under the Union Mechanism and other international relief work. The selection shall also be based on other criteria, including language skills, so as to ensure that the team as a whole has the available skills needed in the specific situation; and
(c)
the Commission shall appoint experts/team leaders for the mission in agreement with their nominating Member State.
3. Where expert teams are dispatched, they shall facilitate coordination between Member States' intervention teams and liaise with the competent authorities of the requesting state as set out in Article 8(d). The ERCC shall maintain close contact with the expert teams and provide them with guidance and logistical support.
Transport and equipment
1. In the event of a disaster, either within or outside the Union, the Commission may support Member States in obtaining access to equipment or transport resources by:
(a)
providing and sharing information on equipment and transport resources that can be made available by Member States, with a view to facilitating the pooling of such equipment or transport resources;
(b)
assisting Member States to identify, and facilitating their access to, transport resources that may be available from other sources, including the commercial market; or
(c)
assisting Member States to identify equipment that may be available from other sources, including the commercial market.
2. The Commission may complement the transport resources provided by Member States by providing additional transport resources necessary for ensuring a rapid response to disasters.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
