Info point: Which are the participating states?; The following 30 states participate in the Community Mechanism. These pool those resources that can be made available to disaster-stricken countries all over the world through this mechanism:

27 EU Member States
Austria	Germany	Netherlands
Belgium	Greece	Poland
Bulgaria	Hungary	Portugal
Cyprus	Ireland	Romania
Czech Republic	Italy	Slovakia
Denmark	Latvia	Slovenia
Estonia	Lithuania	Spain
France	Luxembourg	Sweden
Finland	Malta	United Kingdom

Other participating States
Iceland	Liechtenstein	Norway

According to the Decision, membership to the Mechanism is open to all EU candidate countries by signing an agreement with the Commission. Negotiations are already ongoing with Croatia to join the Mechanism under this framework.

The Community mechanism for civil protection

What is it?

The main role of the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection is to facilitate co-operation in civil protection assistance interventions in the event of major emergencies which may require urgent response actions. This applies also to situations where there may be an imminent threat of such major emergencies. It is therefore a tool that enhances community co-operation in civil protection matters and was established by the Council Decision of 23 October 2001. A Recast of this Council Decision was adopted on 8 November 2007.

In accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, it can provide added-value to European civil protection assistance by making support available on request of the affected country. This may arise if the affected country’s preparedness for a disaster is not sufficient to provide an adequate response in terms of available resources. By pooling the civil protection capabilities of the participating states, the Community Mechanism can ensure even better protection primarily of people, but also of the natural and cultural environment as well as property.

So as to enable and ensure an effective delivery of assistance, teams working in emergencies need to be mobilised rapidly. Moreover their work needs to be well co-ordinated while requiring flexibility. In order to achieve this, the Mechanism has its own tools that help to ensure this.

The Mechanism's tools

The Community Mechanism for Civil Protection has a number of tools intended to facilitate both adequate preparedness as well as effective response to disasters at a community level.

The Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) is the operational heart of the Mechanism. It is operated by DG Environment of the European Commission and accessible 24 hours a day. It gives countries access to a platform, to a one-stop-shop of civil protection means available amongst the all the participating states. Any country inside or outside the Union affected by a major disaster can make an appeal for assistance through the MIC. It acts as a communication hub at headquarters level between participating states, the affected country and despatched field experts. It also provides useful and updated information on the actual status of an ongoing emergency. Last but not least, the MIC plays a co-ordination role by matching offers of assistance put forward by participating states to the needs of the disaster-stricken country.

The Common Emergency and Information System (CECIS) is a reliable web-based alert and notification application created with the intention of facilitating emergency communication among the participating states. It provides an integrated platform to send and receive alerts, details of assistance required, to make offers of help and to view the development of the ongoing emergency as they happen in an online logbook.

A training programme has also been set up with a view to improving the co-ordination of civil protection assistance interventions by ensuring compatibility and complementarity between the intervention teams from the participating states. It also enhances the skills of experts involved in civil protection assistance operations through the sharing of best practices. This programme involves training courses, the organisation of joint exercises and a system of exchange of experts of the participating states.

Civil protection modules are made of national resources from one or more Member States on a voluntary basis. They constitute a contribution to the civil protection rapid response capability called for by the European Council in the Conclusions in June 2005 and by the European parliament in its Resolution in January 2005 on the tsunami disaster. Thirteen civil protection modules have been identified by the Commission together with Member States.

Emergencies

Since its creation, the Mechanism has provided civil protection assistance in a variety of natural and man-made disasters. In 2005 alone it received 14 requests for assistance and monitored no less than 20 other emergencies worldwide. Major disasters requested assistance included the Prestige accident (autumn 2002); earthquakes in Algeria (spring 2003), Iran(2003/4/5), Morocco (winter 2004) and most recently in Pakistan (autumn 2005); as well as the Tsunami in South Asia (winter 2004/2005); forest fires in Portugal (summers 2003/2004/2005); floods in Romania and Bulgaria (spring/summer 2005); and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the USA (autumn 2005).

The management of natural and technological disasters is a clear example of the added value of action at community level, where national responsibility for dealing directly with disasters remains unchallenged but is facilitated and assisted by the sum total of shared Community resources.