98/22/EC: Council Decision of 19 December 1997 establishing a Community action programme in the field of civil protection
Date: 1997-12-19
Institutions: Council of the European Union
Subjects: EU Member State, EU programme, European Commission, action programme, civil defence, cooperation policy

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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COUNCIL DECISION

of 19 December 1997

establishing a Community action programme in the field of civil protection

(98/22/EC)

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community, and in particular Article 235 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the European Parlia-
ment (2),

Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social
Committee (3),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the
Regions (4),

Whereas the action taken by the Community in this field
since 1985 has made it possible progressively to develop
cooperation between the Member States; whereas the
resolutions adopted since 1987 (5) constitute the basis for
this cooperation;

Whereas Community cooperation in the field of civil
protection helps to achieve the objectives of the Treaty by
promoting solidarity among Member States, raising the
quality of
life and contributing to preserving and
protecting the environment;

Whereas
the Community programme of policy and
action in relation to the environment and sustainable
development (6) presented by the Commission envisages
that the Community’s activity will be stepped up in the
fields of civil protection and environmental emergencies;

Whereas
the establishment of a Community action
programme providing support measures will help to
develop cooperation in this field even more effectively;
whereas such a programme should be based to a large
extent on experience already gained in this field;

Whereas action to prepare those responsible for, and
involved in, civil protection in the Member States is
important in order to increase their degree of prepared-
ness;

Whereas it is also important to undertake action targeted
at the general public so as to help European citizens to
protect themselves more effectively;

Whereas the Permanent Network of National Corres-
pondents on Civil Protection will continue to play an
active role for matters relating to civil protection;

(1) OJ C 142, 8. 6. 1995, p. 19 and OJ C 202, 12. 7. 1996, p. 9.
(2) OJ C 141, 13. 5. 1996, p. 258.
(3) OJ C 301, 13. 11. 1995, p. 3.
(4) OJ C 100, 2. 4. 1996, p. 111.
(5) OJ C 176, 4. 7. 1987, p. 1; OJ C 44, 23. 2. 1989, p. 3; OJ C
315, 14. 12. 1990, p. 1; OJ C 315, 14. 12. 1990, p. 3; OJ C
198, 27. 7. 1991, p. 1; OJ C 313, 10. 11. 1994, p. 1.

(6) OJ C 138, 17. 5. 1993, p. 5.

Whereas a Committee of Member States’ representatives
will be established to assist
the Commission in the
implementation of this Decision;

cooperation supports

Whereas, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity,
Community
and supplements
national policies in the field of civil protection in order
to make them more effective; whereas pooling of experi-
ence and mutual assistance will help to reduce the loss of
injuries and economic and environmental
human life,
damage throughout the Community;

Whereas it is appropriate to pay particular attention to
the Community,
the outermost or isolated regions of
because of their characteristics;

Whereas the programme should not last for more than
two years (1998, 1999);

a

financial

Whereas
amount, within the
reference
meaning of point 2 of the Declaration by the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission of 6 March
1995, is included in this Decision for the entire duration
of the programme, without thereby affecting the powers
of the budgetary authority as they are defined by the
Treaty;

Whereas the Treaty does not provide, for the adoption of
this Decision, powers other than those of Article 235,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

Article 1

A Community action programme (hereinafter called ‘the
programme')
in the field of civil protection is hereby
established in order to contribute to the protection of
persons, environment and property in the event of a
natural or technological disaster, without prejudice to the
internal division of competences in Member States.

The programme is intended to support and supplement
their
Member States’ efforts within the framework of
action on national, regional and local levels in matters of
civil protection, as well as
to facilitate cooperation
between Member States in this field.

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This programme excludes any measures aimed at the
harmonisation of the laws and regulations of the Member
States or of the organising of the national preparedness of
the Member States.

Article 2

The programme shall start on 1 January 1998 and

1.
end on 31 December 1999.

2. A plan to implement the programme, established for
two years and to be reviewed annually, shall be adopted,
in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 4
and on the basis, inter alia, of the information supplied
by Member States to the Commission.

The financial reference amount for the implementation
of the programme shall be ECU 3 million.

The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the
the financial
budgetary authority within the limits of
perspective.

3. Actions under the programme, the financial arrange-
ments and an indicative allocation of resources are set out
in the Annex.

Article 3

The plan for implementing the programme shall

1.
contain the individual actions to be undertaken.

Individual actions shall be selected primarily on the

2.
basis of the following criteria:

(a) contribution to lessening the risk and damage to
persons, environment and property in the event of a
natural or technological disaster;

(b) contribution to increasing the degree of preparedness
of those involved in civil protection in the Member
States, in order to increase their ability to respond to
an emergency;

(c) contribution to improving techniques and methods of

response: pilot projects;

(d) contribution to public information, education and
awareness, so as to help citizens to protect themselves
more effectively.

Each individual action shall be implemented in

3.
close cooperation with the competent authorities.

4.
Each action shall take account of the results of the
Community and national research in the relevant fields.

The Commission and Member States shall contrib-
the programme with other

5.
ute to the consistency of
Community actions.

Article 4

For the implementation of the programme, the Commis-
sion shall be assisted by a Committee composed of rep-
resentatives of
the Member States and chaired by a
representative of the Commission.

The representative of the Commission shall submit to the
committee a draft of
the measures to be taken. The
committee shall deliver its opinion on the draft, within a
time limit which the chairman may lay down according
to the urgency of
the matter. The opinion shall be
adopted by the majority provided for in Article 148(2) of
the Treaty for
the adoption of decisions which the
Council is to take on a proposal from the Commission.
The votes of representatives of the Member States within
the committee shall be weighted in the manner set out in
that Article. The chairman shall not vote.

The Commission shall adopt measures which shall apply
immediately. However,
in
accordance with the opinion of the committee, they shall
be communicated by the Commission to the Council
forthwith. In that event:

these measures are not

if

(a)

the Commission shall defer application of the meas-
ures which it has decided for a period of
three
months from the date of communication;

(b) the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may take a
different decision within the time limit referred to in
(a).

Article 5

The Commission shall evaluate annually the progress in
implementing the plan and present a written evaluation
report to the committee referred to in Article 4 accord-
ingly.

Article 6

This Decision shall apply with effect from 1 January
1998.

Article 7

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.

Done at Brussels, 19 December 1997.

For the Council

The President

F. BODEN

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ANNEX

Action

Financing arrangements

A. Action contributing to increasing the degree
of preparedness of those involved in civil
protection

1. Training

Indicative
allocation
of resources

58 to 70 %

Organisation of (mainly self-tuition) workshops
bringing together high-level experts from the
Member States permitting, within each dis-
cipline, the mutual sharing of experience by
means
their
in-depth discussions
methods, techniques and means with a view to:

of

of

 increasing their degree of preparedness,

 creating the conditions for the establish-
ment of a human network permitting more
effective operational cooperation between
Member States in case of emergency.

2. Exchange of experts

Organisation of exchanges of Member State
experts enabling them to follow short training
courses in another Member State.

Organisation of
the secondment of one or
more experts to the civil protection service(s)
of another Member State in order to allow the
expert(s) to present certain training courses or
to gain experience or
modules,
appraise
different
to study the
techniques used or
approaches taken within other civil protection
services.

3. Community simulation exercises

These exercises
are intended to compare
methods and to back up progress in national
civil protection systems.

Maximum Community financial
contribution: 75 % of the total
cost of the action, with a ceiling
of ECU 62 500 per action

Maximum 75 % of the experts’
travel and subsistence expenses
and 100 % of the costs of co-
ordinating the system

Maximum Community financial
contribution: 50 % of the parti-
cipation costs of observers from
the Member States invited by the
organising State,
the cost of
organising the associated work-
shops, preparing the exercise,
the final report, etc.

B. Projects contributing to improving tech-
response (pilot

niques and methods of
projects)

improving means,

Projects designed to increase the Member States’
are aimed
response capacity. These projects
mainly at
techniques and
procedures. Their scope must be such as to
interest all or several Member States, and could
include projects for the implementation of new
technologies related to civil protection.

15 to 20 %

Maximum Community financial
contribution: 50 % of the total
cost of each project

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Indicative
allocation
of resources

15 to 20 %

Action

Financing arrangements

C. Action contributing to improving public
information, education and awareness, so as
to help citizens to protect themselves more
effectively (1) (2)

Action encouraging exchanges of experience
between Member States, regions and local author-
ities in the field of initiatives to improve public
information, education and awareness, so as to
help citizens to protect themselves more effect-
ively. The idea is to build on the work done by
the Member States and to enable the authorities
and other organisations concerned to benefit from
similar experience in other Member States. The
target group is the general public.

Distribution of information material and travel-
ling exhibitions on Community cooperation in
the field of civil protection.

Maximum Community financial
contribution: 50 % of the total
cost of each action

100 % financing

D. Mobilisation of expertise

2 %

Mobilisation, as provided for in the civil protec-
tion operational manual, of expertise to reinforce
the arrangements made in the Member States by
authorities
resulting from
natural or technological disasters.

facing emergencies

Mobilisation of expertise requested by third coun-
tries
in specific emergency situations  on
condition that these actions are not eligible for
ECHO or other Community instruments.

Community financial contribu-
tion: 100 % of costs of experts’
missions

(1) Community action in the field of public health is excluded from this programme (see in particular Decision No 645/96/EC
of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 March 1996 adopting a programme of Community action on health
promotion, information, education and training within the framework for action in the field of public health (1996 to 2000)
(OJ L 95, 16.4.1996, p. 1).

(2) Action C should include conferences and other civil protection events open to large audiences (maximum Community
financial contribution: 30 %, with a ceiling of ECU 25 000) and other support actions to promote civil protection activities
in Member States,

(maximum Community financial contribution: 50 % of the total cost of the action).