Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER V FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

Article 19 Budgetary resources

1. The financial envelope for the implementation of the Union Mechanism for the period 2014 to 2020 shall be EUR 368 428 000 in current prices.

EUR 223 776 000 in current prices shall derive from Heading 3 "Security and Citizenship" of the multiannual financial framework and EUR 144 652 000 in current prices from Heading 4 "Global Europe".

The annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council within the limits of the multiannual financial framework.

2. Appropriations resulting from reimbursement made by the beneficiaries for disaster response actions shall constitute assigned revenue within the meaning of Article 18(2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.

3. The financial allocation referred to in paragraph 1 may also cover expenses pertaining to preparatory, monitoring, control, audit and evaluation activities, which are required for the management of the Union Mechanism and the achievement of its objectives.

Such expenditure may, in particular, cover studies, meetings of experts, information and communication actions, including corporate communication of the political priorities of the Union, as far as they are related to the general objectives of the Union Mechanism, expenses linked to IT networks focusing on information processing and exchange, including their interconnection with existing or future systems designed to promote cross-sectoral data exchange and related equipment, together with all other technical and administrative assistance expenses incurred by the Commission for the management of the programme.

4. The financial envelope referred to in paragraph 1 shall be allocated, over the period 2014-2020, according to the percentages and principles set out in Annex I.

5. The Commission shall review the breakdown set out in Annex I in the light of the outcome of the interim evaluation referred to in point (a) of Article 34(2). The Commission shall be empowered to adopt, where necessary in light of the results of that evaluation, delegated acts in accordance with Article 30, to adjust each of the figures in Annex I by more than 8 percentage points and up to 16 percentage points. Those delegated acts shall be adopted by 30 June 2017.

6. Where, in case of a necessary revision of the budgetary resources available for response actions, imperative grounds of urgency so require, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts to adjust each of the figures in Annex I by more than 8 percentage points and up to 16 percentage points, within the available budgetary allocations and in accordance with the procedure provided for in Article 31.

Article 20 General eligible actions

The following general actions shall be eligible for financial assistance to enhance prevention of, preparedness for and effective response to disasters:

(a)

studies, surveys, modelling and scenario building to facilitate the sharing of knowledge, best practices and information;

(b)

training, exercises, workshops, exchange of staff and experts, creation of networks, demonstration projects and technology transfer;

(c)

monitoring, assessment and evaluation actions;

(d)

public information, education and awareness raising and associated dissemination actions, so as to involve citizens in preventing and minimising the effects of disasters in the Union and to help Union citizens to protect themselves more effectively and in a sustainable manner;

(e)

establishment and running of a programme of lessons learnt from interventions and exercises in the context of the Union Mechanism, including on areas relevant to prevention and preparedness; and

(f)

communication actions and measures to raise awareness of the civil protection work of the Member States and of the Union in the areas of prevention of, preparedness for and response to disasters.

Article 21 Eligible prevention and preparedness actions

1. The following prevention and preparedness actions shall be eligible for financial assistance:

(a) co-financing of projects, studies, workshops, surveys and similar actions and activities referred to in Article 5;

(b) co-financing peer reviews, referred to in point (d) of Article 6 and point (j) of Article 8;

(c) maintaining the functions provided by the ERCC, in accordance with point (a) of Article 8;

(d) preparing for the mobilisation and dispatch of the expert teams referred to in point (d) of Article 8 and Article 17 and developing and maintaining a surge capacity through a network of trained experts of Member States, referred to in point (f) of Article 8;

(e) establishing and maintaining the CECIS and tools to enable communication and sharing of information between the ERCC and the contact points of the Member States and of other participants in the context of the Union Mechanism;

(f) contributing to the development of transnational detection, early warning and alert systems of European interest, in order to enable a rapid response as well as to promote the inter-linkage between national early warning and alert systems and their linkage to the ERCC and the CECIS. Those systems shall take into account and build upon existing and future information, monitoring or detection sources and systems;

(g) planning response operations under the Union Mechanism, in accordance with Article 10;

(h) supporting the preparedness activities described in Article 13;

(i) developing the EERC, as referred to in Article 11, in accordance with paragraph 2 of this Article.

(j) identifying gaps in the EERC in accordance with Article 12 and supporting Member States in addressing those gaps by co-financing new response capacities, up to a maximum of 20 % of the eligible costs, provided that:

(i)

the need for new capacities is confirmed by risk assessments;

(ii)

the gap identification process set out in Article 12 demonstrates that those capacities are not available to Member States;

(iii)

those capacities are developed by Member States, either acting individually or through a consortium;

(iv)

those capacities are committed to the voluntary pool for a minimum period of two years; and

(v)

such co-financing of those capacities is cost-effective.

Where appropriate, preference shall be given to consortia of Member States cooperating on a common risk;

(k) ensuring the availability of logistical support for the expert teams referred to in Article 17(1);

(l) facilitating the coordination of Member States' pre-positioning of disaster response capacities inside the Union in accordance with point (g) of Article 8; and

(m) supporting the provision of advice on prevention and preparedness measures through the deployment of an expert team on site, upon the request of a Member State, third country, the United Nations or its agencies, as referred to in Article 5(2) and Article 13(3).

2. The eligibility for financial assistance for the action referred to in point (i) of paragraph 1 shall be limited to:

(a) costs at Union level of setting up and managing the EERC and the associated processes set out in Article 11;

(b) costs of obligatory training courses, exercises and workshops necessary for the certification of Member States' response capacities for the purposes of the EERC ("certification costs"). The certification costs may consist of unit costs or lump sums determined per type of capacity, covering up to 100 % of the eligible costs;

(c) non-recurrent costs necessary to upgrade Member States' response capacities from their purely national use to a state of readiness and availability that makes them deployable as part of the EERC, in accordance with the quality requirements of the voluntary pool and recommendations formulated in the certification process ("adaptation costs"). Those adaptation costs may include costs related to interoperability of modules and other response capacities, autonomy, self-sufficiency, transportability, packaging and similar costs, as well as the costs of forming multinational response capacities (for example workshops, trainings, development of common methodologies, standards, procedures and similar activities), provided that those costs specifically relate to the capacities' participation in the voluntary pool. They shall not cover the costs of the equipment or human resources necessary to initially set-up the response capacities or on-going maintenance or running costs. Those adaptation costs may consist of unit costs or lump sums determined per type of capacity, covering up to 100 % of the eligible costs, provided this does not exceed 30 % of the average cost of developing the capacity; and

(d) costs of establishing and managing framework contracts, framework partnership agreements or similar arrangements to address temporary shortcomings in extraordinary disasters, taking into account a multi-hazard approach.

The funding under point (d) of this paragraph:

(i)

may cover the costs or fees necessary to design, prepare, negotiate, conclude and manage the contracts or arrangements as well as the costs of developing standard operating procedures and exercises to ensure the effective use of assets. Such funding may also cover a maximum of 40 % of the costs of ensuring rapid access to those assets;

(ii)

shall not cover the costs of purchasing or developing new response capacities, nor the cost of operating these additional capacities in a disaster situation. The costs of operating those additional capacities in a disaster situation shall be borne by the Member States requesting the assistance;

(iii)

shall not exceed 10 % of the financial envelope set out in Article 19(1). In the event that the 10 % ceiling is reached before the end of the programming period, and when required to ensure the appropriate functioning of the Union Mechanism, that 10 % ceiling may, by means of implementing acts, be exceeded by up to 5 percentage points. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 33(2).

Article 22 Eligible response actions

The following response actions shall be eligible for financial assistance:

(a)

dispatching expert teams referred to in Article 17(1) together with logistical support and dispatching experts referred to in points (d) and (e) of Article 8;

(b)

in the event of a disaster, supporting Member States in obtaining access to equipment and transport resources as specified in Article 23; and

(c)

pursuant to a request for assistance, taking additional necessary supporting and complementary action in order to facilitate the coordination of response in the most effective way.

Article 23 Eligible actions linked to equipment and transport resources

1. The following actions shall be eligible for financial assistance in order to allow access to equipment and transport resources under the Union Mechanism:

(a) providing and sharing information on equipment and transport resources that Member States decide to make available, with a view to facilitating the pooling of such equipment or transport resources;

(b) assisting Member States to identify, and facilitating their access to, transport resources that may be available from other sources, including the commercial market;

(c) assisting Member States to identify equipment that may be available from other sources, including the commercial market; and

(d) financing transport resources necessary for ensuring a rapid response to disasters. Such actions shall be eligible for financial support only if the following criteria are met:

(i)

a request for assistance has been made under the Union Mechanism in accordance with Articles 15 and 16;

(ii)

the additional transport resources are necessary for ensuring the effectiveness of disaster response under the Union Mechanism;

(iii)

the assistance corresponds to the needs identified by the ERCC and is delivered in accordance with the recommendations given by the ERCC on the technical specifications, quality, timing and modalities for delivery;

(iv)

the assistance has been accepted by a requesting country, directly or through the United Nations or its agencies, or a relevant international organisation, under the Union Mechanism; and

(v)

the assistance complements, for disasters in third countries, any overall Union humanitarian response.

2. The amount of Union financial support for transport resources shall not exceed 55 % of the total eligible cost.

3. The Union financial support for transport may, in addition, cover a maximum of 85 % of the total eligible cost in the following situations:

(a) the costs relate to the transport of the capacities pre-committed to the voluntary pool in accordance with Article 11; or

(b) the assistance is necessary to address a critical need and the assistance is not, or not sufficiently, available in the voluntary pool.

4. The Union financial support for transport resources may, in addition, cover a maximum of 100 % of the total eligible cost described under points (i), (ii) and (iii) if this is necessary to make the pooling of Member States' assistance operationally effective and if the costs relate to one of the following:

(i)

the short-term rental of warehousing capacity to temporarily store the assistance from Member States with a view to facilitating their coordinated transport;

(ii)

the repackaging of Member States' assistance to make maximum use of available transport capacities or to meet specific operational requirements; or

(iii)

the local transport of pooled assistance with a view to ensuring a coordinated delivery at the final destination in the requesting country.

The Union financial support under this paragraph shall not exceed EUR 75 000 in current prices for each activation of the Union Mechanism. In exceptional cases, that ceiling may, by means of implementing acts, be exceeded. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 33(2).

5. In case of pooling of transport operations involving several Member States, a Member State may take the lead in requesting Union financial support for the entire operation.

6. When a Member State requests the Commission to contract transport services, the Commission shall request partial reimbursement of the costs according to the funding rates set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.

7. The following costs shall be eligible for Union financial support for transport resources under this Article: all costs relating to the movement of transport resources, including the costs of all services, fees, logistical and handling costs, fuel and possible accommodation costs as well as other indirect costs such as taxes, duties in general and transit costs.

Article 24 Beneficiaries

Grants awarded under this Decision may be awarded to legal persons, whether governed by private or public law.

Article 25 Types of financial intervention and implementing procedures

1. The Commission shall implement the Union's financial assistance in accordance with Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.

2. Financial assistance under this Decision may take any of the forms provided by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, in particular grants, reimbursement of expenses, public procurement or contributions to trust funds.

3. In order to implement this Decision, the Commission shall adopt annual work programmes, by means of implementing acts, except for actions falling under the disaster response of Chapter IV, which it is not possible to provide for in advance. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 33(2). The annual work programmes shall set out the objectives pursued, the expected results, the method of implementation and their total amount. They shall also contain a description of actions to be financed, an indication of the amount allocated to each action and an indicative implementation timetable. With regard to the financial assistance referred to in Article 28(2), the annual work programmes shall describe the actions foreseen for countries referred to therein.

Article 26 Complementarity and consistency of Union action

1. Actions receiving financial assistance under this Decision shall not receive assistance from other Union financial instruments.

The Commission shall ensure that the applicants for financial assistance under this Decision and beneficiaries of such assistance provide it with information about financial assistance received from other sources, including the general budget of the Union, and about on-going applications for such assistance.

2. Synergies and complementarity shall be sought with other instruments of the Union. In the case of a response to humanitarian crises in third countries the Commission shall ensure the complementarity and coherence of actions financed under this Decision and actions financed under Regulation (EC) No 1257/96.

3. When assistance under the Union Mechanism contributes to a Union humanitarian response, particularly in complex emergencies, actions receiving financial assistance under this Decision shall be based on identified needs and shall be consistent with the humanitarian principles as well as the principles on the use of civil protection and military resources as set out in the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid.

Article 27 Protection of the financial interests of the Union

1. The Commission shall take appropriate measures ensuring that, when actions financed under this Decision are implemented, the financial interests of the Union are protected by the application of preventive measures against fraud, corruption and any other illegal activities, by effective checks and, if irregularities are detected, by the recovery of the amounts wrongly paid and, where appropriate, by effective, proportionate and dissuasive administrative and financial penalties.

2. The Commission or its representatives and the Court of Auditors shall have the power of audit, on the basis of documents and on the spot, over all grant beneficiaries, contractors and subcontractors, who have received Union funds under this Decision.

3. The European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) may carry out investigations, including on-the-spot checks and inspections, in accordance with the provisions and procedures laid down in Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1) and Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96(2) with a view to establishing whether there has been fraud, corruption or any other illegal activity affecting the financial interests of the Union in connection with a grant agreement or grant decision or a contract funded under this Decision.

4. Without prejudice to paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, cooperation agreements with third countries and with international organisations, contracts, grant agreements and grant decisions, resulting from the implementation of this Decision shall contain provisions expressly empowering the Commission, the Court of Auditors and OLAF to conduct such audits and investigations, according to their respective competences.

(1)

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999 (OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1).

(2)

Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November 1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities' financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292, 15.11.1996, p. 2).