Third countries and international organisations
1. The Union Mechanism shall be open to the participation of:
(a)
European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA), in accordance with the conditions laid down in the EEA Agreement, and other European countries when agreements and procedures so provide;
(b)
acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates in accordance with the general principles and general terms and conditions for the participation of those countries in Union programmes established in the respective Framework Agreements and Association Council Decisions, or similar arrangements;
2. Financial assistance referred to in Article 20 and points (a), (b), (f) and (h) of Article 21(1) may also be granted to candidate countries and potential candidates not participating in the Union Mechanism, as well as to countries that are part of the ENP, to the extent that that financial assistance complements funding available under a future Union legislative act relating to the establishment of the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA II) and a future Union legislative act relating to the establishment of a European Neighbourhood Instrument.
3. International or regional organisations may cooperate in activities under the Union Mechanism where relevant bilateral or multilateral agreements between those organisations and the Union so allow.
Competent authorities
For the purposes of applying this Decision, Member States shall appoint the competent authorities and inform the Commission accordingly.
Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts is conferred on the Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.
2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Article 19(5) and (6) shall be conferred on the Commission until 31 December 2020.
3. The delegation of power referred to in Article 19(5) and (6) may be revoked at any time by the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.
4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the Council.
5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to Article 19(5) shall enter into force only if no objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament or the Council within a period of two months of notification of that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if, before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and the Council have both informed the Commission that they will not object. That period shall be extended by two months at the initiative of the European Parliament or the Council.
Urgency procedure
1. Delegated acts adopted under this Article shall enter into force without delay and shall apply as long as no objection is expressed in accordance with paragraph 2. The notification of a delegated act to the European Parliament and to the Council shall state the reasons for the use of the urgency procedure.
2. Either the European Parliament or the Council may object to a delegated act in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 30(5). In such a case, the Commission shall repeal the act without delay following the notification of the decision to object by the European Parliament or by the Council.
Implementing acts
1. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts on the following matters:
(a)
the interaction of the ERCC with Member States' contact points, as provided for in point (b) of Article 8, Article 15(3) and point (a) of Article 16(3); and the operational procedures for the response to disasters within the Union, as provided for in Article 15, as well as outside the Union, as provided for in Article 16, including identification of relevant international organisations;
(b)
the components of CECIS as well as the organisation of information sharing through CECIS, as provided for in point (b) of Article 8;
(c)
the process for deploying expert teams, as provided for in Article 17;
(d)
the identification of modules, other response capacities and experts as provided for in Article 9(1);
(e)
the operational requirements for the functioning and interoperability of modules, as provided for in Article 9(2), including their tasks, capacities, main components, self-sufficiency and deployment;
(f)
the capacity goals, the quality and interoperability requirements and the certification and registration procedure necessary for the functioning of the EERC, as provided for in Article 11, as well as the financial arrangements, as provided for in Article 21(2);
(g)
identifying and filling gaps in the EERC, as provided for in Article 12;
(h)
the organisation of the training programme, exercise framework and lessons learnt programme, as provided for in Article 13; and
(i)
the organisation of support for the transport of assistance, as provided for in Articles 18 and 23.
2. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 33(2).
Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee. That committee shall be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply. Where the Committee delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft implementing act and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
Evaluation
1. Actions receiving financial assistance shall be monitored regularly in order to follow their implementation.
2. The Commission shall evaluate the application of this Decision and submit to the European Parliament and to the Council:
(a)
an interim evaluation report on the results obtained and the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the implementation of this Decision by no later than 30 June 2017;
(b)
a communication on the continued implementation of this Decision by no later than 31 December 2018; and
(c)
an ex-post evaluation report by no later than 31 December 2021.
The interim evaluation report and the communication as referred to in points (a) and (b) respectively shall be accompanied, if appropriate, by proposals for amendments to this Decision.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
