Implementing decision 2014/762 - 2014/762/EU: Commission Implementing Decision of 16 October 2014 laying down rules for the implementation of Decision 1313/2013/EU on a Union Civil Protection Mechanism and repealing Commission Decisions 2004/277/EC, Euratom and 2007/606/EC, Euratom (notified under document C(2014) 7489) - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 320/1

The general objective of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (‘Union Mechanism’) is 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.

As disasters can strike at any time, the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) established under Article 7 of Decision No 1313/2013/EU should ensure at all times close contact with the contact points of Member States.

The Common Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS) is an essential element of the Union Mechanism because it should guarantee authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of information exchanged among the Member States under routine conditions as well as in emergencies. A separate version of CECIS providing access to the secretariats of the regional sea conventions and third countries sharing a regional sea basin with the Union should be created in view of the specificities of the response to marine pollution incidents.

In order to ensure operational effectiveness, minimum requirements should be defined for the modules, other response capacities and experts identified in accordance with Article 9(1) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU, as well as for their operational requirements, functioning, and interoperability, as provided for in Article 9(2) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU. In particular, modules should be capable of working self-sufficiently for a given period of time, be quick to deploy, and interoperable. In order to enhance the interoperability of modules, measures are needed at Union and Member State levels.

The capacity goals for the European Emergency Response Capacity (EERC) should be defined and regularly reviewed in order to have a sufficient number of all necessary types of modules, other response capacities, and experts available for deployments under the Union Mechanism. The quality and interoperability requirements should be defined and regularly reviewed to ensure a uniform minimum level of quality and interoperability of all capacities participating in the EERC.

A certification and registration procedure, including self-assessment elements, should be defined to confirm that capacities in the voluntary pool fulfil all necessary requirements and, where necessary, benefit from limited Union co-financing of ‘adaptation costs’. This certification and registration procedure should, moreover, ensure an adequate geographic balance of capacities in accordance with the location of risks, and consider the participation of all interested Member States.

The identification of possible response capacity gaps of the EERC should allow the Commission and Member States to determine together where adequate capacities are not available inside or outside the voluntary pool. Member States addressing them individually or through consortia should benefit from limited Union co-financing provided this is cost-effective...