O presente Acordo entra em vigor a partir da data da última notificação, por escrito, certificando que as Partes completaram as formalidades internas necessárias à sua entrada em vigor.
O presente Acordo é assinado por prazo indefinido.
Cada uma das Partes pode denunciá-lo de forma escrita.
O presente Acordo expirará seis meses após a data em que uma das Partes receba a notificação da decisão da sua denúncia.
O termo do presente Acordo não afectará as obrigações de ambas as Partes visadas no presente Acordo nem as actividades já iniciadas sob a sua alçada que não possam ser completadas até à data do seu termo, caso as Partes não tenham acordado outras disposições.
Feito em duplicado, em Lisboa, em 9 de Outubro de 1998, nas línguas portuguesa, russa e inglesa, sendo todos os textos igualmente válidos. Em caso de divergência de interpretação, o texto em inglês prevalecerá.
Pelo Governo da República Portuguesa:
Armando Vara.
Pelo Governo da Federação da Rússia:
Sergei Kuvhuguitovich Shoigu.
(ver texto em língua russa no documento original)
AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PORTUGUESE REPUBLIC AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION ON CO-OPERATION IN THE FIELD OF CIVIL PROTECTION EMERGENCY PREVENTION AND RESPONSE.
The Government of the Portuguese Republic and the Government of the Russian Federation, hereinafter referred to as Parties:
Underlining the commitments to strengthen the traditional warm relations between the two peoples, pursuant to the Treaty for Friendship and Cooperation between Portugal and the Russian Federation from July, 22, 1994;
Admitting that the co-operation in the field of civil protection emergency prevention and response will contribute for welfare and safety of both States;
Taking into account that emergencies could occur in both countries;
Mindful that the exchange of scientific and technical information in the field of civil protection emergency prevention and response is of mutual interest;
Taking into account the possibility of emergencies that cannot be responded by means and resources of neither of the Parties and the need that this fact enforces co-ordinated actions of the Parties in order to achieve the goal of emergency prevention and response;
Bearing in mind the role of the United Nations and other international organisations in the field of emergency prevention and response;
have agreed as follows:
Article 1
Definitions and terms
The terms applied in the present Agreement shall have the following meanings:
«The requesting Party» is the Party, applying to the other Party with the request to send teams for providing assistance and delivery of equipment and support materials;
«The providing Party» is the Party, satisfying the request of the other Party to send teams for providing assistance and delivery of equipment and support materials;
«Emergency» is a situation that occurs in an area caused by serious accident, dangerous natural phenomena, natural catastrophe or other origin, which may or have caused human losses, health damage or environmental degradation, considerable material losses and disturbances of human life and welfare;
«The team for providing assistance» is an organised group of specialists from the providing Party including the military personnel tasked to provide assistance and equipped with all necessary facilities;
«Emergency prevention» is a number of measures, undertaken beforehand aimed at the maximum possible reduction of risk of emergency, as well as to preserve health of population, decrease scale of environmental damage and material losses in case of emergency;
«Emergency response» is the search and rescue and other urgent operations, undertaken in case of emergency aimed at saving lives and preserving population health, decreasing scale of environmental damage and material losses, as well as localising and stopping typical dangerous impacts on emergency zones;
«Emergency zone» is an area on which an emergency situation occurs;
«Search and rescue operations» are actions to save people, material and cultural assets, protecting environment in an emergency zone, localising emergency and neutralising, or stopping, on the minimum possible level, its dangerous impacts;
«Equipment» is material, technical and transport facilities, team equipment and team personnel equipment to provide assistance;
«Support materials» are material resources allocated for distribution among the population affected by an emergency;
«The competent body» is the entity, authorised by the Parties to conduct and co-ordinate the activities related to the implementation of the present Agreement.
Article 2
Forms of co-operation
Co-operation under the present Agreement shall include:
Organisation and carrying out the monitoring of dangerous technological and environmental processes, as well as natural phenomena;
Forecast of emergencies and post-disaster assessment;
Assessment of risk for environment and population related with possible pollution caused by industrial accidents, catastrophes and natural disasters;
Joint planning, development and carrying out of scientific and research projects, exchange of scientific and research documentation and results of research developments;
Exchange of information, periodical publications, methodological or any other documentation, video and photo materials, as well as technological know-how;
Organisation of joint conferences, seminars, workshops, meetings, as well as exercises and simulations;
Preparation of publications and reports;
Training of experts on institutions of the other Party State, exchange of trainees, professors, scientists and experts;
Interaction between the competent bodies of both Parties;
Mutual assistance in providing technical facilities and equipment;
Planning and carrying out activities related to emergency prevention and response;
Rendering of mutual assistance in case of emergency;
Any other activity related with emergency prevention and response which may be agreed upon by the competent bodies of both Parties.
Article 3
Co-operation between organisations and institutions
Parties will promote as appropriate, co-operation between governmental and non-governmental institutions, as well as with other organisations, institutions, legal entities and personalities, acting in the field of emergency prevention and response.
Article 4
Competent bodies
Parties shall designate the following competent bodies:
For the Portuguese Party - National Service for Civil Protection;
For the Russian Party - the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters.
In case of designation of another competent body, the Parties will accordingly notify each other, in writing, through diplomatic channels.
Article 5
Joint commission
To implement this Agreement the competent bodies of Parties will establish a joint commission for co-operation in the field of emergency prevention and response with definition of its composition, actions and work procedures.
Article 6
Exchange visit conditions
The Party hosting representatives of the other Party, coming to participate in the activities under this Agreement and not directly related with providing assistance in disaster response, shall cover all the expenses of their stay and transportation on its territory, unless otherwise agreed upon by the Parties.
Transportation costs to and from the State territory of the receiving Party shall be covered by the sending Party.
Article 7
Providing assistance
Parties are the competent bodies responsible for the requests for assistance in case of emergency.
Assistance shall be provided according to request, in which the requesting Party presents the information on the characteristics of emergency, specifies the type and amount of the required assistance.
The providing Party shall examine the request for assistance in the shortest possible time and inform the requesting Party on the possibility, amount and conditions of its rendering.
The competent body of the requesting Party will manage the activities, carried out by the teams for providing assistance of the providing Party, through team leaders.
Article 8
Types of assistance
Assistance shall be provided by sending teams for providing assistance, supporting material or in another requested form.
Teams for providing assistance shall be used to carry out search and rescue operations in the emergency zone.
The requesting Party shall inform team leaders of the providing Party on the situation development in the emergency zone and on the chosen places of operations and, if necessary, provide these teams with interpreters and means of communication as well as ensure security, medical assistance, free of charge, and co-ordination of teams.
The equipment of teams for providing assistance must be self-sufficient in the emergency zone for 72 hours. Upon running out of supplies the requesting Party shall provide these teams with means required for further work.
Article 9
Cross-border procedures of teams for providing assistance and mode of their stay on the territory of the State of the requesting Party
Members of the teams for providing assistance will cross state border of the requesting Party through border-crossing points opened for international travel using the appropriate passports. They may stay on the territory of the requesting Party State without visas and residence permits. The team leader must have the appropriate document issued by the competent body of the providing Party confirming his authority and the list of members of the team for providing assistance.
The rules for border-crossing and stay in the territory of the requesting Party State, concerning search-dog teams, will be defined in accordance with state quarantine regulations of the requesting Party.
Members of the teams for providing assistance are obliged to abide by legislation in force in the requesting Party State during their mission in the territory of the requesting Party State. In this regard, they shall fall under the state jurisdiction of the providing Party in the sphere of labour legislation and related issues. In case these teams include military personnel, they shall be subject to legislation of the providing Party State, that regulates status of the military personnel.
The transportation of the teams for providing assistance and their support material and equipment may be caried out by automobile, train, ships or aircraft.
The rules applicable to means of transportation, mentioned above, in order to render assistance will be determinated by the competent bodies of the Parties with the agreement of the appropriate ministries and agencies.
Article 10
Procedures for equipment and support material, export and import for providing assistance in case of emergency
Equipment and support materials brought in and taken out of the State territory of the requesting Party or from the State territory of the providing Party for providing assistance in case of emergency shall be exempted from customs duties, charges and taxes.
The customs should clear equipment and support material through a simplified procedure and grant such goods priority in accordance with the notifications, issued by the competent bodies of both Parties, such notifications specifying the list of the member of the team for providing assistance, as well as equipment and support material, brought in and taken out.
Teams for providing assistance shall be prohibited to transport any other goods except their equipment and support materials.
Upon completion of assistance work the equipment brought into the State territory of the requesting Party should be taken out of it. If, due to special circumstances, taking out the equipment is impossible it will be handed over without reimbursement to the competent body of the requesting Party on agreed terms. In this case it is necessary to notify the competent authorities and the customs authorities of the requesting Party indicating the type, quantity and location of the equipment handed over.
In case of necessity of urgent medical aid the required quantity of medicines containing narcotic substances can be brought into the State territory of the requesting Party.
In this case the leader of the team for providing assistance should present customs bodies of both requesting and providing Parties a declaration specifying which medicines contain narcotic substances indicating their nomenclature and quantity.
The specified medicines shall not be handed over to the requesting Party and shall be used only by qualified medical personnel under the control of the representatives of this Party.
The unused medicines containing narcotic substances shall be taken out of the State territory under customs control of the requesting Party according to the document confirming their nomenclature and quantity. For utilised medicines containing narcotic substances the customs authorities of the requesting Party shall be presented a certificate of their utilisation signed by the leader and the physician of the team for providing assistance and certified by a representative of the competent body of the requesting Party.
Article 11
Use of aircraft
The competent body of the providing Party shall inform the competent body of the requesting Party on the decision to use aircraft for providing assistance with the indication of track, call sign, type of the aircraft, number of crew members, type of cargo and flight plan.
The requesting Party shall authorise flights to a fixed site of its territory.
Flights should be carried out following rules laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation and by each of the Parties flight rules.
Article 12
Reimbursement of expenses
The requesting Party shall reimburse the providing Party of all the expenses related with providing assistance, if Parties have not agreed otherwise.
The requesting Party may at anytime cancel its request for assistance. In such case the providing Party, has the right to reimbursement of expenses.
The reimbursement of expenses should be made immediately after the claim of the providing Party if Parties have not agreed otherwise.
The providing Party shall provide insurance for all the members of the teams for providing assistance. The insurance expenses will be included into the total cost of assistance.
The providing Party shall be exempt from charges for flight, landing, handling parking area, takeoff, as well as for the radionavigation services.
Issues related with reimbursement for fuel and maintenance of aircraft of the providing Party shall be discussed on a case-by-case basis.
Article 13
Compensation for loss and injury
The requesting Party shall cover the expenses related to injury or death of members of the teams for providing assistance if such injury or death has occurred in the performance of tasks related to the implementation of this Agreement.
If, during the performance of tasks involved in the implementation of this Agreement in the State territory of the requesting Party, a member of the team for providing assistance causes loss or injury to a person or legal entity, this loss or injury shall be reimbursed by the requesting Party in accordance with the legislation applicable in cases of loss or injury caused by its citizens providing assistance in emergencies.
Loss or injury caused by a member of the team for providing assistance intentionally or as a result of gross negligence shall be reimbursed by the providing Party.
Article 14
Use of information
Information obtained as a result of activities developed under the present Agreement, except for information which may not be disclosed according to State legislation of both Parties, can be published and used following routine procedures and regulations of each of the Parties, if other conditions have not been agreed upon, in writing, by the competent bodies.
Article 15
Settlement of disputes
All disputes concerning interpretation and applicability of the present Agreement shall be eliminated by consultations between Parties in accordance with the norms of international law.
Article 16
Final regulations
The present Agreement comes into force as from the date of the last written notification, certifying that Parties completed the relevant internal state formalities necessary for its coming into force.
The present Agreement is signed for an indefinite term. Each of the Parties may, in written form, denounce the present Agreement.
The present Agreement shall expire six months after the date on which one of the Parties receives a notification with the decision to denounce it.
Termination of the present Agreement will not affect neither the obligations of both Parties envisaged in the present Agreement nor activities underway according to it, which activities could not have been completed before the date of its term if Parties have not agreed otherwise.
Done in duplicate in Lisbon on the 9 day of October 1998 in the English, Portuguese, and Russian languages, all texts being equally authentic.
In case of any divergence of interpretation the English text shall prevail.
For the Government of the Portuguese Republic:
Armando Vara.
For the Government of the Russian Federation:
Sergei Kuvhuguitovich Shoigu.