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AGREEMENT
between the Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government  of Georgia on Collaboration within the Field of Civil Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response

The Government of the Republic of Latvia and the Government of Georgia, hereinafter referred to as the Parties,

recognising the necessity of collaboration between the two Parties and endeavouring to facilitate mutual assistance in the field of prevention, preparedness and response to civil emergencies and elimination of their consequences;

considering the benefits which may be brought to the Parties by the exchange of scientific and technical information in the above-mentioned field;

taking into account the probability and severity of civil emergencies, where co-ordinated assistance interventions may be required to complement the response capabilities of the affected Party with a purpose to reduce the loss of human life and damage to the environment and property;

have agreed as follows.

Article 1
Definitions

For the objective of the Agreement the following expressions shall mean:

1. "civil emergencies" refer to situations that originated as a result of natural and man-made disasters, such as fire, technological, radiological and environmental accidents, epidemics and other types of disasters which severely threaten or damage human life, health, property and environment;

2. "requesting Party" refers to the Party which addresses to the other Party with the request for sending assistance groups, equipment and maintenance materials;

3. "offering Party" refers to the Party which complies with the request of the other Party for sending assistance groups, equipment and maintenance materials;

4. "assistance groups" refer to groups of specialists from offering Party assigned to render assistance and to provide necessary equipment;

5. "equipment" refers to materials, technical facilities, means of transport, medicines and medical equipment, equipment of assistance groups and personal equipment used for rendering assistance;

6. "maintenance materials" refer to material means intended for free of charge delivery to the population affected by civil emergencies;

7. "competent authorities" refer to authorities designated by each Party for the coordination of activities related to the implementation of the Agreement.

Article 2
Object of Collaboration

The Parties to the Agreement convinced of the necessity of collaboration set up a permanent co-operation to encounter civil emergencies and to develop this co-operation by suitable means within the available resources and due to the needs of both Parties.

Article 3
Forms of Collaboration

Collaboration within the framework of the Agreement will include the following forms:

a) elaboration and perfection of measures and methods for the prevention of civil emergencies and for the elimination of their consequences;

b) organization of operative exchange of information:

i. on civil emergencies, that occurred on the territories of the states of the Parties;

ii. on requests and proposals of the Parties in the field of mutual assistance, as well as assistance rendered by respective international organizations;

iii. on mutual assistance rendered for elimination on the consequences of civil emergencies;

c) attraction of international organizations to ensure preparedness of the Parties in prevention of civil emergencies and to obtain assistance in case of their occurrence;

d) organization and realization of monitoring over natural and technological processes;

e) prediction of civil emergencies and assessment of their consequences;

f) exchange of experts;

g) training of personnel;

h) organization of joint consultations;

i) exchange of information and technologies;

j) organization of joint seminars and meetings;

k) joint planning, elaboration, realization and demonstration of research projects;

l) maintenance of connection between the competent authorities of the Parties;

m) elimination of consequences of civil emergencies;

n) any other activity related to the prevention of civil emergencies and to the elimination of their consequences, as it may be agreed between the competent authorities of the Parties.

Article 4
Competent Authorities

1. For the purpose of the Agreement the competent authorities of the Parties are:

a) In the Republic of Latvia:

State Fire and Rescue Service,

Emergency Medical Service;

b) In Georgia:

Emergency Situations Management Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

2. Both Parties of the Agreement will provide contact information and details of the competent authorities through diplomatic channels, as well as their contact points, which will be accessible on a 24 hour basis.

3. In execution of the Agreement the competent authorities of the Parties are entitled to get into immediate direct contact.

4. The Parties of the Agreement will inform each other immediately of any change concerning the competences of the competent authorities through diplomatic channels.

Article 5
Request for Assistance and Exchange of Information

1. Assistance shall be provided on the basis of a written request of the competent authority of the requesting Party, or, in the extremely urgent case, on the basis of a verbal request. Any verbal request shall be confirmed in writing as soon as possible, but not later than in 3 (three) hours after receipt of a verbal request. In the request, the competent authority of the requesting Party shall provide information about the place, time and date of the beginning of the civil emergency, the nature and extent of the civil emergency and the evaluation of the current situation; the measures already taken and planned and the required support and the priorities of assistance.

2. The competent authority of the offering Party shall, within the shortest possible period of time, make a decision on possibility to provide assistance and inform the competent authority of the requesting Party of its immediate capabilities, the conditions and extent of assistance.

3. The competent authority of the offering Party informs the competent authority of the requesting Party in writing on the border crossing point planned for crossing by the assistance group, time of the border crossing and used vehicles.

Article 6
Mutual Assistance and Co-ordination Measures

1. The provision of assistance may be implemented by sending assistance groups, equipment and maintenance materials or by transferring the necessary information and experience.

2. The competent authority of the requesting Party shall coordinate, manage and supervise the activities of assistance groups of the offering Party through the appointed representative of the aforementioned assistance groups.

3. The competent authority of the requesting Party shall inform the appointed representative of the assistance group of the changes in the situation in the area of the civil emergency and shall determine the order of activities and, whenever necessary, shall provide interpreters and other necessary support and tools to these assistance groups free of charge.

4. The equipment of the assistance groups should be sufficient to operate autonomously in the area of civil emergency during at least 72 hours from the moment of their arrival.

5. The requesting Party shall ensure the safety of the assistance groups; provide free emergency medical care, meals and accommodation, as well as the basic means of sustenance after the stocks of the assistance groups have run out.

6. Assistance groups shall honour the national laws and regulations of the requesting Party during their stay in the territory of the state of the requesting Party.

Article 7
Border Crossing

1. With a view to ensure rapid and efficient assistance, the Parties shall limit the formalities of the border crossing procedure to the lowest possible level.

2. Assistance groups may cross the state border of the requesting Party out of turn at the border crossing points open for international traffic with valid travel documents.

3. The appointed representative of the assistance groups must have a letter of assignment issued by the competent authority of the offering Party, indicating powers of the assistance group and the list of members of the assistance group. The driver of the vehicle if any shall present additionally to the valid travel document a document authorizing to drive that vehicle and the registration certificate of the vehicle.

4. Upon submitting the aforementioned documents the visas for the members of the Georgian assistance group shall be issued at the border crossing point by the State Border Guard of the Republic of Latvia.

5. The procedure of crossing the state border of the requesting Party by assistance groups with rescue-dogs and their stay in the territory of the state of the requesting Party shall be determined pursuant to the quarantine rules in force in the territory of the state of the requesting Party.

6. For the purpose of transportation of assistance groups, their equipment and maintenance materials, any suitable vehicle can be used in order to reach the destination as soon as possible.

7. The border-crossing procedure in accordance with conditions of this Article shall be valid even when one of the states of the Parties is a transit state in respect of a third state requesting assistance in the event of civil emergency, and the transit is necessary to provide effective assistance. Competent authorities referred to in the paragraph 1 of Article 4 of the Agreement shall notify each other in due time about the necessity of transit to provide assistance to a third state and shall co-ordinate the procedure for the transit of the equipment and maintenance materials.

Article 8
Transportation of Equipment and Maintenance Materials Across the Border

1. The equipment, maintenance materials and assistance group members' personal belongings that are imported or exported pursuant to the Agreement shall be exempted from customs duties and another fees, if it is not contrary to the national laws and regulations of the states of the Parties.

2. When providing assistance, assistance groups may, apart from their personal belongings needed for travelling, import, export and transit only the equipment necessary to perform their task.

3. Any equipment and maintenance materials not used or not destroyed shall be returned to the offering Party.

4. Medicines containing narcotic and psychotropic substances may be imported only in quantities necessary for medical assistance purposes in accordance with the national laws and regulations of the states of the Parties. Only the qualified medical personnel in accordance with the relevant regulation shall use them. In this case the appointed representative of the assistance group shall present to the customs control bodies a declaration listing medicines containing narcotic and psychotropic substances and indicating their nomenclature and amount.

5. Appointed representative of the assistance group shall, upon crossing the state border, submit a separate list of the equipment required for the performance of the task of the assistance group and a separate list of the maintenance materials, to the customs authority of the requesting Party.

6. The relevant authorities of the requesting Party may control the usage and storage of the above-mentioned materials and substances.

7. The medicines containing narcotic and psychotropic substances not used during the mission shall be taken out from the territory of the state of the requesting Party. The certificate on utilized medicines signed by the appointed representative and the physician of the assistance group of the offering Party and certified by the competent authority of the requesting Party shall be presented to the customs control bodies of the requesting Party upon the completion of the mission.

8. The conditions of this Article shall be also valid for transit of the equipment and maintenance materials through the territory of the state of one of the Parties in the event of providing assistance to a third state.

Article 9
Use of Aircraft

1. Either Party may, for the purposes of assistance, permit the use and transit flight of the aircraft of the other Party.

2. The competent authority of the offering Party shall inform the competent authority of the requesting Party of the use of aircraft for the purposes of providing assistance, submitting data on the following:

‒ type of the aircraft;

‒ the country of nationality and registration and the nationality and registration mark of the aircraft;

‒ the number and list of the members of the on-board crew and passengers;

‒ the nature of cargo transported (specifying equipment and maintenance materials);

‒ the planned flight route, the envisaged place of landing and flight data.

3. The offering Party is exempted from any payments for flying over, landing, parking, taking off and navigating services for the aircraft, which provides assistance under the Agreement. The competent authorities of the Parties shall, when aircraft is used for providing assistance, separately agree on the reimbursement of costs in relation to the supply of fuel and maintenance services for the aircraft on a case by case basis.

4. Border crossing and customs control of aircraft shall be carried out in landing places of aircraft.

Article 10
Reimbursement of Assistance

Unless otherwise provided for by the Parties, also taking into account the provisions of the Agreement, assistance shall be provided free of charge.

Article 11
Compensation of Damages

1. The Parties resign each other any right that they may have for claiming compensation in case of damage to property including damage to the environment caused by a member of the assistance group in the course of performing his/her assignment related to the implementation of the Agreement and any claim for compensation arising from damage to the health or the death of a member of the assistance group when such an event takes place in the course of and in relation to the performing of tasks related to the implementation of the Agreement.

2. When a member of the assistance group of the offering Party causes damage to a third person in the territory of the state of the requesting Party while performing a task related to the implementation of the Agreement, liability shall be borne by the requesting Party, in accordance with its national laws and regulations applicable to damage caused by its own assistance group.

3. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Article shall not be applied when the damage was caused as a result of criminal offence committed intentionally or through negligence.

4. The liability for payment for damages specified in this Article shall extend to the damage caused by the assistance group during the period from the moment of entry to the territory of the state of the requesting Party until departure.

5. The competent authorities shall closely co-operate to ease the assessment of claims for compensation. For this purpose, they shall exchange all information available to them concerning the circumstances of causing the damage.

6. The Parties shall also apply the provisions of this Article as appropriate when either of them is a transit state.

Article 12
Coordination while Providing Assistance

The competent authorities will take all the necessary procedure to establish and maintain close liaison between the competent authorities and the assistance groups while providing assistance.

Article 13
Completion of the Assistance Operations

The assistance groups must terminate their operations immediately if demanded by the requesting Party or when completed their tasks. Thereafter, all assistance groups will leave the territory of the state of the requesting Party immediately.

Article 14
Expenses related to Visits and Trainings

1.The Party sending experts and observers to the other Party bears their traveling costs and the host Party bears the costs of accommodation and transportation within the state, unless the Parties agree otherwise on a case by case basis.

2. The Party sending participants and trainees to the other Party bears their traveling costs and the host Party bears the costs of accommodation, medical care and transportation within the state during training of the mentioned persons, unless the Parties agree otherwise on a case by case basis.

Article 15
Use of information

Any information obtained as a result of the activity performed pursuant to the Agreement may be disclosed to a third party only on the basis of the prior consent of the Party transferring the information, taking into account the provisions of the national laws and regulations of the Parties in force in their states, and may be disclosed to the public only when the competent authorities of the Parties have agreed to do so in advance in writing.

Article 16
Common Committee

1. The competent authorities shall form a common committee carrying out following duties:

a) implementing the Agreement by preparing and identifying the cooperation programs phases between the Parties to the Agreement and working on its continuation and developing;

b) proposing suitable recommendations for developing the Agreement according to the Parties' future aspirations, and presenting them to the competent authorities in order to assume suitable procedures to implement the recommendations.

2. The common committee will alternately meet on the territory of the state of either Party once a year or when necessary. The common committee is headed by the delegation leader of the host Party.

Article 17
Use of Language

In the course of their collaboration in accordance with the Agreement the Parties shall use the English language.

Article 18
Settlement of Disputes

Any dispute regarding the interpretation or application of the Agreement shall be resolved between the Parties by means of consultations and/or negotiations.

Article 19
Other International Agreements

The Agreement shall not affect the rights and obligations of the Parties set forth in other international agreements.

Article 20
Amendments and Supplements

The Agreement may be amended and supplemented in written form by mutual consent of the Parties. The amendments and supplements shall be drawn up in a form of separate document and shall constitute an integral part of the Agreement. The document shall enter into force in the same way as the Agreement.

Article 21
Entry into Force

1. The Agreement is concluded for an indefinite period of time and shall enter into force on the first day of the next month following the day of the receipt of the last written notification through diplomatic channels by which the Parties notify each other of the completion of the internal procedures necessary for the Agreement to enter into force.

2. Each Party may terminate the Agreement at any time by giving the other Party a written notice of its intention through diplomatic channels. Such termination shall take effect on the ninetieth day following the date of receipt of such notice.

Done at Batumi on 30 May 2014 in two originals, each in Latvian, Georgian and English languages, all texts being equally authentic. In case of any divergence in interpretation of the provisions of the Agreement, the English text shall prevail.

For the Government of the Republic of Latvia Rihards Kozlovskis

For the Government of Georgia Aleksandre Tchikaidze