Commission Implementing Decision of 16 October 2014 laying down rules for the implementation of Decision No 1313/2013/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 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) (Text with EEA relevance) (2014/762/EU)

CHAPTER 13 TRANSPORT SUPPORT

Article 47 Forms of transport support

Transport support may take the form of:

(a)

pooling or sharing of transport capacities;

(b)

identifying, and facilitating Member States' access to, transport resources on the commercial market and or from other sources; or

(c)

providing Union support to Member States through grants or through transport services procured from private or other entities.

Article 48 Procedure for transport support through the Union Mechanism

1. The procedures provided for in Articles 49 and 50 shall apply whenever a request is made for transport support.

2. Requests shall be issued by the competent authority referred to in Article 56 and sent to the Commission in writing. They shall contain the information provided for in Part A of the Annex VIII.

3. In case of pooling of transport capacities, one Member State may take the lead in requesting Union financial support for the entire operation.

4. All requests for transport support under this Decision and related replies and exchanges of information between Member States and the Commission shall be transmitted to and processed by the ERCC.

5. Requests shall be transmitted through CECIS or electronic mail. Transmission of requests involving Union financing by CECIS, telefax, or electronic mail are accepted provided that the originals signed by the competent authority are subsequently provided to the Commission without delay.

6. However, the Commission may implement an electronic exchange system for all exchanges with beneficiaries, including the conclusion of grant agreements, the notification of grant decisions and any amendments thereto, pursuant to Article 179 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012(1).

Article 49 Requests for transport support

1. The Commission shall, upon receipt of a request for support, immediately notify the contact points, designated by Member States under Article 9(7) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU.

2. In the notification, the Commission may, where appropriate, invite Member States to provide it with details of any transport resources which they can make available to the Member State making the request or any other alternative solution they can propose to meet the needs expressed by the affected country. The Commission may indicate a maximum period of time for providing this information.

3. Upon the notification of contact points by the Commission referred to in paragraph 1 the requested transport support shall become eligible for Union co-financing, without prejudice to Article 53.

Article 50 Replies to requests for transport support

1. Member States which can provide transport support shall inform the Commission as soon as possible, and at the latest within 24 hours of receiving the notification referred to in Article 49 unless otherwise specified in the notification, of any transport resources they can make available on a voluntary basis in response to the request for support for pooling or identifying transport resources. That information shall contain the elements provided for in Part B of Annex VIII and include information on financial conditions or other restrictions, if any.

2. The Commission shall, as soon as possible, compile the information on available transport resources and forward it to the Member State making the request.

3. In addition to the information referred to in paragraph 2, the Commission shall forward to Member States any other information it has concerning transport resources available from other sources, including the commercial market and shall facilitate the access of Member States to those additional resources.

4. The Member State making the request shall inform the Commission of the transport solutions it has selected and shall liaise with Member States providing such support or the operator identified by the Commission.

5. The Commission shall inform all Member States of the selection made by the Member State making the request. That Member State shall keep the Commission regularly informed of the progress in the delivery of its civil protection assistance.

Article 51 Request for a grant

1. Where a possible transport solution has been identified by a Member State but Union funding is required to allow the transport of the civil protection assistance, the Member State may request a grant from the Union.

2. The Member State shall indicate in its request the percentage of Union co-financing it applies for, which shall not exceed 55 % of the eligible costs for transport actions under Article 23(2) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU and not exceed a maximum of 85 % of the eligible costs for transport actions under Article 23(3)(a) and (b) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU. The Commission shall immediately inform all Member States of the request.

3. The Commission may establish framework partnerships with the relevant competent authorities of Member States as referred to in Article 178 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012.

Article 52 Request for a transport service

1. In cases where no transport solution has been identified by the Member State requesting transport support, it may request the Commission to contract a transport service to private or other entities in order to transport its civil protection assistance to the affected country.

2. Upon receipt of a request as referred to in paragraph 1, the Commission shall immediately inform all Member States of the request and shall inform the Member State requesting a transport service of any available transport solutions and their costs.

3. On the basis of the exchange of information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2, the Member State shall confirm in writing its request for a transport service and its commitment to reimburse the Commission according to the provisions of Article 54. The Member State shall indicate what percentage of the costs it will reimburse. That percentage shall be no less than 45 % for transport actions under Article 23(2) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU and 15 % for transport actions under Article 23(3)(a) and (b) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU.

4. The Member State shall immediately notify the Commission of any changes to the request for a transport service.

Article 53 Decision on Union financing for transport support

1. In order to determine whether the criteria set out in Article 23(1)(d) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU and the principles of economy, efficiency and effectiveness of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council(2) are met, the following shall be taken into account:

(a) the information contained in the request for Union financing presented by the Member State according to Article 48(2);

(b) the needs expressed by the affected country;

(c) any needs assessments carried out by experts reporting to the Commission during the disaster;

(d) other relevant and reliable information available to the Commission at the time of the decision provided by Member States and by international organisations;

(e) the efficiency and effectiveness of transport solutions designed to ensure the timely delivery of civil protection assistance;

(f) possibilities for local procurement;

(g) other actions undertaken by the Commission.

2. Member States shall provide any additional information needed to assess the fulfilment of the criteria set out in Article 23(1)(d) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU. Member States shall inform the Commission as soon as possible upon receipt of a request from the Commission for such information.

3. The Commission shall indicate the pre-financing to be paid, which may be up to 85 % of the requested Union financial contribution, subject to the availability of budgetary resources. No pre-financing shall be provided for grants below the threshold established for low value grants as defined in Article 185 of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012, unless the Member State requesting financial support can demonstrate that the absence of pre-financing would compromise the implementation of the action.

4. The decision on financial support shall be communicated immediately to the Member State requesting financial support. It shall also be communicated to all other Member States.

5. Individual transport grant applications for which the Union financial contribution requested is less than EUR 2 500 are not eligible for Union co-financing, except if covered by the framework partnerships referred to in Article 51(3).

Article 54 Reimbursement of Union financing for transport support

For the costs incurred by the Commission under the procedure set out in Article 52, the Commission shall issue, within 90 days of the completion of the transport operation for which a Union financial support was granted, a debit note to the Member States having benefited from the Union financing for an amount corresponding to the provisions of the decision made by the Commission on the request for a transport service and representing at least 15 % of the transport costs for transport actions under Article 23(3) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU and 45 % for transport actions under Article 23(2) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU.

Article 55 Compensation for damage

The Member State requesting transport support shall refrain from making any request for compensation from the Union for damage caused to its property or service staff where such damage is the consequence of the provision of transport support governed by this Decision, unless it is proven to be the result of fraud or serious misconduct.

Article 56 Designation of competent authorities

Member States shall designate the competent authorities authorised to request and receive financial support from the Commission in application of this Decision and shall inform the Commission thereof within 60 days after notification of this Decision. Any changes in that information shall be immediately notified to the Commission.

However, notifications of competent authorities made by Member States under Article 12 of Decision 2007/606/EC, Euratom, shall remain valid until further notice from the concerned Member State.

(1)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 of 29 October 2012 on the rules of application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (OJ L 362, 31.12.2012, p. 1).

(2)

Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 (OJ L 298, 26.10.2012, p. 1).