(1)

A number of substantial changes are to be made to Council Decision 2001/792/EC, Euratom of 23 October 2001 establishing a Community mechanism to facilitate reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions (3) (hereinafter the Mechanism) in order to make the European Union’s emergency response more consistent and efficient. In the interests of clarity, that Decision should be recast.

(2)

Recent years have witnessed a significant increase in the occurrence and severity of natural and man-made disasters, resulting in the loss of human lives and property, including cultural heritage, the destruction of economic and social infrastructure and damage to the environment.

(3)

Action by the Community to implement the resolution of the Council and of the representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 8 July 1991 on improving mutual aid between Member States in the event of natural or technological disaster (4) has helped protect people, the environment and property. The Convention of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe of 17 March 1992 on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents, approved by the Community by Council Decision 98/685/EC (5), has helped to further improve the prevention and management of industrial disasters.

(4)

The general purpose of the Mechanism is to provide, on request, support in the event of major emergencies and to facilitate improved coordination of assistance intervention provided by the Member States and the Community, taking into account the special needs of the isolated, outermost and other regions or islands of the Community. Recent years have seen a considerable growth in the number of countries calling upon the Mechanism for civil protection assistance. The Mechanism should be strengthened to ensure a more effective and visible demonstration of European solidarity and to allow for the development of a European rapid response capability based on the civil protection modules of the Member States, as called for by the European Council held on 16 and 17 June 2005 and by the European Parliament in its Resolution of 13 January 2005 on the tsunami disaster.

(5)

The Mechanism would take due account of relevant Community legislation and international commitments. This Decision should therefore not affect the reciprocal rights and obligations of the Member States under bilateral or multilateral treaties, which relate to the matters covered by this Decision.

(6)

The Mechanism should facilitate the civil protection response to all types of major emergencies occurring inside or outside the Community, including natural and man-made disasters, acts of terrorism and technological, radiological and environmental accidents, including accidental marine pollution. Civil protection assistance may be required in all of these emergencies to complement the response capabilities of the affected country.

(7)

Prevention is of significant importance for protection against natural, technological and environmental disasters and would require further action to be considered. By contributing to the further development of detection and early warning systems, the Community should assist Member States in minimising the lead time to respond to disasters and in alerting EU citizens. These systems should take into account and build upon existing information sources.

(8)

Preparatory measures need to be taken at Member State and Community level to enable assistance intervention teams in emergencies to be mobilised rapidly and coordinated with the requisite flexibility and to ensure, through a training programme, the effective response capability and complementarity of assessment and/or coordination teams, intervention teams and other resources, as appropriate.

(9)

Other preparatory measures include pooling of information related to necessary medical resources and stimulation of the use of new technologies. That information concerns medical resources which Member States might make available on a voluntary basis for the protection of public health following a request for intervention under the Mechanism. In accordance with Article 296 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, no Member State is to be obliged to supply information the disclosure of which it considers contrary to the essential interests of its security.

(10)

The development of additional civil protection assistance intervention modules, consisting of resources of one or more Member States which aim to be fully interoperable, should be considered in order to contribute to the development of a civil protection rapid response capability. Modules are organised at the level of the Member States and subject to their direction and command.

(11)

In the event of a major emergency within the Community, or imminent threat thereof, which causes, or is capable of causing, transboundary effects or which may result in a call for assistance from one or more Member States, there is a need for relevant notification to be made as appropriate through an established reliable common emergency communication and information system.

(12)

The Mechanism should make it possible to mobilise, and facilitate coordination of, assistance interventions in order to help ensure better protection primarily of people but also of the environment and property, including cultural heritage, thereby reducing loss of human life, injury, material damage, economic and environmental damage, and making achievement of the objectives of social cohesion and solidarity more tangible. The reinforced cooperation in civil protection assistance interventions should be based on a Community civil protection structure consisting of a monitoring and information centre and a common emergency communication and information system managed by the Commission and contact points in the Member States. It should provide a framework for collecting validated emergency information, for disseminating that information to the Member States and for sharing lessons learnt from interventions.

(13)

The contact points in the Member States should be in a position to provide information on the availability of the civil protection assistance requested by the affected country, including information on the availability of military assets and capabilities.

(14)

The availability of adequate means of transport needs to be improved to support the development of a rapid response capability at Community level. The Community should support and complement the efforts of Member States by facilitating the pooling of transport resources of Member States and contributing, where necessary, to the financing of additional means of transport.

(15)

With respect to civil protection assistance interventions outside the Community, the Mechanism should facilitate and support the actions undertaken by the Community and the Member States. Assistance interventions outside the Community can either be conducted autonomously or as a contribution to an operation led by an international organisation, for which case the Community should develop its relations with relevant international organisations.

(16)

The United Nations, where present, have an overall coordinating role for relief operations in third countries. The civil protection assistance provided under the Mechanism should be coordinated with the United Nations and other relevant international actors to maximise the use of available resources and avoid any unnecessary duplication of effort. Enhanced coordination of civil protection assistance through the Mechanism is a prerequisite to supporting the overall coordination effort and ensuring a comprehensive European contribution to the overall relief effort. In major emergencies where assistance is provided under both the Mechanism and Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/96 of 20 June 1996 concerning humanitarian aid (6), the Commission should ensure the effectiveness, coherence and complementarity of the overall Community response.

(17)

The Mechanism could also be a tool for facilitating and supporting crisis management in accordance with the Joint Declaration by the Council and the Commission of 29 September 2003 on the use of the Community Civil Protection Mechanism in crisis management referred to in Title V of the Treaty on the European Union. This Decision is without prejudice to the competences and role of the Presidency in crisis management under the said Title.

(18)

The Mechanism could also be used for supporting consular assistance to EU citizens in major emergencies in third countries, regarding civil protection activities, if requested by the consular authorities of the Member States.

(19)

Where the use of military assets and capabilities is considered to be appropriate, cooperation with the military will follow the modalities, procedures and criteria established by the Council or its competent bodies for making available to the Mechanism military assets and capabilities relevant to the protection of civilian populations.

(20)

The use of military assets and capabilities should also be consistent with the principles of relevant United Nations Guidelines.

(21)

Participation of candidate countries and cooperation with other third countries and with international and regional organisations should be possible.

(22)

The measures necessary for the implementation of this Decision should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission (7).

(23)

The objective of this Decision, namely to facilitate reinforced cooperation between the Community and the Member States in civil protection assistance intervention in the event of major emergencies or the imminent threat thereof, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States, and can therefore, by reason of the scale or effects of the proposed action, taking into account the benefits resulting from the operation of the Mechanism in terms of reducing the loss of human life and damage, be better achieved at Community level.

If a major emergency overwhelms the response capabilities of an affected Member State, this State should be able to appeal to the Mechanism to supplement its own civil protection resources. The Community may therefore adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Decision does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(24)

The Treaty establishing the European Community and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community do not provide powers for adopting this Decision other than those of Articles 308 and 203, respectively,