Humanitarian aid

The Council's common position takes over the main points of the commission's amended proposal and 14 EP amendments (either in full or in part). In particular, the common position incorporates those amendments seeking to strengthen coordination with international and/or non-governmental organizations, lay down certain conditions for NGO access to Community financing (impartiality, previous experience), give the Commission the task of monitoring and evaluating humanitarian projects, define global humanitarian aid plans and include new operations eligible for funding (inter alia, housing and shelter for refugees). It does not, however include the requirement to submit evaluation reports to the EP, although it does ensure that Parliament will be better informed by means of new provisions regarding the annual report it is to receive, which must include an assessment of the action taken. At the same time, the Council inserts a number of new provisions covering the following: - inclusion among the activities eligible for financing humanitarian mine-clearance operations and awareness campaigns for local communities on anti-personnel mines; - insertion of a new article on emergency operations (and the procedure for taking decisions on such activities); this enables the Commission to take decisions on emergency operations costing no more than ECU 10 m. It must inform the Member States of such operations within 48 hours; - information to forward to the committee: the Commission must undertake to inform the humanitarian aid steering committee of the evaluations it intends to carry out and any timetable for doing so; - the Council requires the Commission to evaluate humanitarian operations and global plans in conjunction with the Member States; - insertion of a review clause under which the Commission is obliged to submit three years after the entry into force of the Regulation an overall evaluation of the activities financed by the Community, together with suggestions on the future of the Regulation; - provision for a type IIIa committee for decisions regarding action to protect humanitarian aid goods and staff and decisions concerning direct operations by the Commission, with a type IIb committee taking responsibility for global humanitarian plans and amounts in excess of ECU 2 m. �