1.A participating State or a third country affected by a major emergency shall, if assistance is required through the Community mechanism, address a formal request for civil protection assistance to the Monitoring and Information Centre.
2.In case of a major emergency occurring in a third country, which may require civil protection assistance, the Commission may decide on its own initiative to inform the third country of potential Community assistance if needed. The Monitoring and Information Centre shall keep the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union regularly informed of any developments.
3.The State requesting assistance shall provide the Monitoring and Information Centre with all relevant information concerning the situation, and in particular, specific needs, the support requested and the location.
If assistance in the form of experts and/or intervention teams and means is requested, the requesting State shall inform the Monitoring and Information Centre about the time frame and location of arrival of the assistance, and the on-site operational contact point managing the emergency.
4.Following coordination between the Monitoring and Information Centre and the requesting State, the Monitoring and Information Centre shall dispatch the request for assistance to the participating States and, where appropriate consult the resources database and inform the relevant Commission services. Any changes in the initial request for assistance by the requesting State shall immediately be transmitted to all participating States.
5.Following the formal request, the participating States shall immediately inform the Monitoring and Information Centre about their current capacity for providing assistance, indicating its scope and terms.
6.The information referred to in paragraph 5 shall immediately be compiled and transmitted by the Monitoring and Information Centre to the requesting State and to the other participating States.
7.The requesting State shall inform the Monitoring and Information Centre of which intervention teams and means it has selected.
8.With regard to requests for intervention teams and means, the Monitoring and Information Centre shall inform the participating States of the selection of the requesting State. The participating States providing the assistance shall keep the Monitoring and Information Centre regularly informed on the dispatch of the intervention teams and means.
9.With regard to requests for experts, the Monitoring and Information Centre shall:
(a)contact the participating States, using the ‘expert database’ set up in accordance with Article 17, and enquire about the availability of experts ready to leave, whenever necessary, within three hours after their designation;
(b)after consultation with the requesting State, make a selection from amongst the available experts and inform the participating States accordingly;
(c)immediately make contact with the experts and proceed to dispatch them in accordance with the dispatch procedure set out in Article 20(2);
(d)on the basis of an updated report established by the requesting State, the Monitoring and Information Centre shall prepare a briefing for the experts and intervention team leaders before their dispatch.
10.In the event of a major emergency occurring in a third country, the Monitoring and Information Centre shall work in close consultation with the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the European Union and relevant Commission services.
11.The requesting State shall activate its own arrangements allowing coordination of the dispatched assistance at national or regional levels. The requesting State shall facilitate border crossings for the interventions and ensure logistical support.