Crisis preparedness and cooperation
Article 13
1. Local contingency planning shall take unrepresented citizens into account. Member States represented in a third country shall coordinate contingency plans among themselves and with the Union delegation to ensure that unrepresented citizens are fully assisted in the event of a crisis. The competent embassies or consulates shall be adequately informed of crisis preparedness arrangements and, where appropriate, involved therein. 2. In the event of a crisis, the Union and Member States shall closely cooperate to ensure efficient assistance for unrepresented citizens. They shall, where possible, inform each other of available evacuation capacities in a timely manner. Upon their request, Member States may be supported by existing intervention teams at Union level, including consular experts, in particular from unrepresented Member States. 3. The Lead State or the Member State(s) coordinating the assistance shall be in charge of coordinating any support provided for unrepresented citizens, with the support of the other Member States concerned, the Union delegation and the EEAS headquarters. Member States shall provide the Lead State or the Member State(s) coordinating assistance with all relevant information regarding their unrepresented citizens present in a crisis situation. 4. The Lead State or the Member State(s) coordinating assistance for unrepresented citizens may seek, if appropriate, support from instruments such as the crisis management structures of the EEAS and the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.