Use of the European Union Critical Communication System by civil protection services and organisations

PURPOSE: to establish the framework for the use of the European Union Critical Communication System (EUCCS) by the Member States’ services and other organisations in charge of civil protection.

PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.

ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.

BACKGROUND: people facing emergency situations in Europe depend on the fast, effective, and professional response of emergency services. Both during daily operations or when addressing man-made and natural disasters, such as forest fires and floods, Member States’ services and other organisations in charge of civil protection work with other services and there is a need to communicate seamlessly, exchange information in real time, and collaborate effectively between one another and across borders.

The proposed Regulation establishing the European Union Critical Communication System ensures secure and reliable connectivity for critical communication used by law enforcement authorities. It mandates the interoperability of critical communication systems used by public authorities carrying out law enforcement functions and provides for the interconnection of Member States’ critical communication systems to allow for seamless cross-border communications.

To realise the full operational value of the European Union Critical Communication System and to ensure that Member States’ critical communication systems become interoperable, it should be possible for Member States to connect their authorities in charge of civil protection to their critical communication system and thus provide the basis for their interconnection into the European Union Critical Communication System. The deployment of dedicated rapidly deployable communication tools and systems should ensure the continuity of critical communication where terrestrial communication networks are insufficient or disrupted and secure satellite connectivity services are unavailable.

CONTENT: the proposal for a Regulation for the establishment of the European Union Critical Communication System (EUCCS) enables the interoperability of critical communication systems used by police, border and coast guards and other public authorities carrying out law enforcement functions and provides for the interconnection of Member States critical communication systems to allow for seamless cross-border communication. Today, such communication is hampered by separate systems that are not interconnected and function only on the authorities’ home territory or region.

The purpose of this proposal is to extend these benefits, on equal terms, to authorities in charge of civil protection (such as firefighting, rescue, emergency medical services and ambulance services and civil protection) to connect and to use the EUCCS. This proposal is therefore intrinsically linked to the above-mentioned proposal for a Regulation establishing the European Union Critical Communication System, allowing for increased efficiency, notably in the response to cross-border disasters, incidents and crises.

The proposal gives discretion to Member States to decide whether to connect authorities in charge of civil protection to the EUCCS. Therefore, the participation of authorities in charge of civil protection remains voluntary. However, only the participation of all the authorities, including authorities in charge of civil protection, will allow the EUCCS to reach its full potential to respond more efficiently to major emergencies which require these services to coordinate simultaneously. Restricting participation to only certain emergency services would leave out valuable resources and would not fully address the problems observed, namely the poor interconnectivity between different types of first responders.

To unfold the operational value of the EUCCS, it is therefore essential that Member States connect all their emergency services to their national critical communication systems and thus provide the basis for interconnecting via the EUCCS more than five million first responders in emergency services across Europe.

The proposed Regulation establishes the framework for the creation and use of the EUCCS by the Member States’ services and other organisations in charge of civil protection in line with the provisions in the area of civil protection, space and defence, cybersecurity, digital innovation and infrastructure and spectrum. Specifically, the Union Civil Protection Mechanism is used for facilitating operational cooperation between Member States in emergency response. The 112 and eCall provisions, as part of the Electronic Communications Code and the Digital Networks Act, regulate the telecommunication sector.