BAKGRUNN (fra kommisjonsbeslutningen, engelsk utgave)

(1) Decision No 1313/2013/EU sets out the legal framework of rescEU. rescEU is a reserve of capacities at Union level aiming to provide assistance in overwhelming situations where overall existing capacities at national level and those committed by Member States to the European Civil Protection Pool are not able to ensure an effective response to natural and man-made disasters.

(2) Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 sets out the initial composition of rescEU in terms of capacities and its quality requirements. The initial rescEU capacities consisted of aerial forest firefighting capacities using airplanes and helicopters.

(3) In accordance with Article 12(2) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU, rescEU is to be defined taking into account identified and emerging risks, overall capacities and gaps at Union level. One of the areas where rescEU should particularly focus is the area of emergency medical response.

(4) In the area of emergency medical response, an analysis of identified and emerging risks as well as of capacities and gaps at Union level reveals that rescEU capacities for medical aerial evacuation of disaster victims (‘Medevac’) and an emergency medical team type 3 (‘EMT type 3’) are needed.

(5) In order to prevent any risk of transmission from highly infectious disease patients, there should be two different types of Medevac capacities, the evacuation of disaster victims with highly infectious diseases and other disaster victims with non-infectious diseases.

(6) An emergency medical team (‘EMT’) is a deployable team of medical and other key personnel trained and equipped to treat patients affected by a disaster. The World Health Organisation classifies emergency medical teams under three different types depending on the level of care they offer. Given that no Member State presently possesses an EMT type 3 capacity that can respond to a government request for this level of clinical care, it proves to be a response capacity gap at Union level.

(7) Medevac and EMT type 3 capacities are capacities that could respond to low probability disasters with a high impact and, where appropriate and if defined as capacities established to respond to low probability risks with a high impact by means of implementing acts as provided for in Article 32(ha) of Decision 1313/2013/EU, full Union financial assistance would be provided to ensure availability and deployability for such capacities.

(8) To ensure implementation of Article 12(2) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU, Medevac and EMT type 3 capacities should be incorporated in the composition of rescEU.

(9) In accordance with Article 12(4) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU, quality requirements for response capacities forming part of rescEU are to be laid down after consultation with Member States and based on established international standards, where such standards already exist.

(10) Given the lack of established international standards for medical aerial evacuation capacity, the quality requirements for medical aerial evacuation capacities should be based on the existing general requirements for modules under the European Civil Protection Pool and best practices within the Union Mechanism. The quality requirements for EMT type 3 should be based on minimum standards provided by the World Health Organisation.

(11) In order to provide Union financial assistance for developing such capacities in accordance with Article 21(3) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU, their total estimated costs should be defined. Total estimated costs should be calculated taking into account the categories of eligible costs laid down in Annex IA to that Decision.

(12) Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/570 should therefore be amended.

(13) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the committee referred to in Article 33(1) of Decision No 1313/2013/EU