For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
‘external borders’ means external borders as defined in point 2 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
‘border crossing point’ means border crossing point as defined in point 8 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
‘border control’ means border control as defined in point 10 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
‘border checks’ means border checks as defined in point 11 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
‘border surveillance’ means border surveillance as defined in point 12 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
‘air border surveillance’ means the surveillance of any flight of a manned or unmanned aircraft and its passengers or cargo to or from the territory of the Member States which is not an internal flight as defined in point 3 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399;
‘situational awareness’ means the ability to monitor, detect, identify, track and understand illegal cross-border activities in order to find reasoned grounds for reaction measures on the basis of combining new information with existing knowledge, and to be better able to reduce the loss of lives of migrants at, along or in the proximity of the external borders;
‘reaction capability’ means the ability to perform actions aimed at countering illegal cross-border activities at, along or in the proximity of the external borders, including the means and timelines to react adequately;
‘EUROSUR’ means the framework for information exchange and cooperation between the Member States and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency;
‘situational picture’ means an aggregation of geo-referenced near-real-time data and information received from different authorities, sensors, platforms and other sources which is transmitted across secured communication and information channels and can be processed and selectively displayed and shared with other relevant authorities in order to achieve situational awareness and support the reaction capability at, along or in the proximity of the external borders and the pre-frontier area;
‘external border section’ means the whole or a part of the external border of a Member State, as defined by national law or as determined by the national coordination centre or any other responsible national authority;
‘cross-border crime’ means any serious crime with a cross-border dimension that is committed or attempted at, along or in the proximity of the external borders;
‘pre-frontier area’ means the geographical area beyond the external borders which is relevant for managing the external borders through risk analysis and situational awareness;
‘incident’ means a situation relating to illegal immigration, cross-border crime, or a risk to the lives of migrants at, along or in the proximity of, the external borders;
‘statutory staff’ means staff employed by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in accordance with the Staff Regulations of Officials of the European Union (the ‘Staff Regulations’) and the Conditions of Employment of Other Servants of the Union (the ‘Conditions of Employment’) laid down in Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom, ECSC) No 259/68(1);
‘operational staff’ means border guards, return escorts, return specialists and other relevant staff constituting the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps in accordance with the four categories set out in Article 54(1), acting as members of the teams having executive powers, where applicable, and the statutory staff responsible for the functioning of the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) Central Unit that are not deployable as members of the teams;
‘member of the teams’ means a member of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps deployed through border management teams, migration management support teams and return teams;
‘border management teams’ means teams formed from the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps to be deployed during joint operations at the external borders and rapid border interventions in Member States and third countries;
‘migration management support teams’ means teams of experts which provide technical and operational reinforcement to Member States, including at hotspot areas, composed of operational staff, experts from the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and Europol and, where relevant, experts from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), other Union bodies, offices and agencies and Member States;
‘host Member State’ means a Member State in which a joint operation or a rapid border intervention, a return operation or a return intervention takes place, or from which it is launched, or in which a migration management support team is deployed;
‘home Member State’ means the Member State from which a staff member is deployed or seconded to the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps;
‘participating Member State’ means a Member State which participates in a joint operation, rapid border intervention, return operation, return intervention or in a deployment of a migration management support team, by providing technical equipment or staff of the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps, as well as a Member State which participates in return operations or return interventions by providing technical equipment or staff, but which is not a host Member State;
‘hotspot area’ means an area created at the request of the host Member State in which the host Member State, the Commission, relevant Union agencies and participating Member States cooperate, with the aim of managing an existing or potential disproportionate migratory challenge characterised by a significant increase in the number of migrants arriving at the external borders;
‘return’ means return as defined in point 3 of Article 3 of Directive 2008/115/EC;
‘return decision’ means an administrative or judicial decision or act stating or declaring the stay of a third-country national to be illegal and imposing or stating an obligation to return that respects Directive 2008/115/EC;
‘returnee’ means an illegally staying third-country national who is the subject of an enforceable return decision;
‘return operation’ means an operation that is organised or coordinated by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency and involves technical and operational reinforcement provided to one or more Member States under which returnees from one or more Member States are returned, either on a forced or voluntary basis, irrespective of the means of transport;
‘return intervention’ means an activity of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency providing Member States with enhanced technical and operational assistance consisting of the deployment of return teams and the organisation of return operations;
‘return teams’ means teams formed from the European Border and Coast Guard standing corps to be deployed during return operations, return interventions in Member States or other operational activities linked to the implementation of return-related tasks;
‘immigration liaison officer’ means immigration liaison officer as defined in point 1 of Article 2 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council(2).
Regulation (EU) 2019/1240 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on the creation of a European network of immigration liaison officers (OJ L 198, 25.7.2019, p. 88).