Humanitarian aid

OBJECTIVE: to give a legal basis to humanitarian aid which has no legal basis and to define the scope of this aid, coordination procedures and terms of cooperation between the Community, the Member States and international and non-governmental organizations. CONTENT: * The first part of the proposal sets out clear objectives and general criteria for humanitarian aid provided by the Community and specifies: . the types of situation which may give rise to humanitarian aid (such as emergency and post-emergency aid, aid in the event of war, short-term rehabilitation and reconstruction work, aid for refugees and repatriated persons and reintegration aid, natural disaster early warning systems, protection for the victims of conflict etc.); . the types of assistance which might be financed (purchase and delivery of any product needed in order to implement operations, costs of outside staff (expatriate and local), storage, transport and distribution of relief and public awareness campaigns). This aid is non-repayable; . the types of eligible aid which support humanitarian action proper (preliminary studies, technical assistance, public awareness campaigns etc.). * The second part of the proposal specifies the procedures for implementing humanitarian projects and addresses relations with operational partners and cooperation with the Member States of the Union (humanitarian projects financed by the Community are implemented either at the request of international organizations or on the initiative of the Commission). This part also defines the criteria by which eligible organizations are selected. * The third part of the proposal defines the operational procedures to be followed when implementing humanitarian aid programmes financed by the Community. It suggests that the Commission should have overall responsibility for taking decisions on and implementing humanitarian projects. However, it would assisted for certain decisions by an advisory committee made up of representatives from the Member States of the Community and chaired by a representative from ECHO (EC Humanitarian Office). This section also includes provisions on the regular evaluation of humanitarian aid and the presentation of an annual report by the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on all these humanitarian aid operations.�