As Presented to the Working Group on Emergency Telecommunications (WGET)

Issue

Description

National Implementation Plan

Each country should have a written plan that describes the basic mechanisms and structures needed to deploy Tampere resources, to include security, licenses, duties, frequency allocation policies, etc. This also should address how agencies coordinate activities and how they interact with international relief bodies. (See Appendix A). The United States site can be found at http://www.state.gov/www/issues/relief/index.html.

Relief Agency Implementation Plan

International relief bodies and industry also need written plans that interlace their operational requirements and risks with the unique requirements and restrictions of the national plans. As much as possible, these plans should be posted on the internet. In addition, they should be incorporated in the standard operating procedure manuals of the agency.

Emergency Relief Coordinator Plan

The ERC should post on the internet a written plan that describes: (a) The ERC's own responsibilities (b) Common models for use by both national authorities and relief bodies. (c) best implementation practices, (d) links to national homes pages. Where a nation or agency is unable to develop its own web site, the ERC should consider using ReliefWeb as a location for the relevant information.

Termination

Notifications of Termination must be in writing. Terms of termination must bear in mind the impact on the emergency.⁽²⁵⁾ The Operational Coordinator must also be informed. 

Central Contact Points

1. National facilitators: Governments should have a Tampere Convention National Facilitator. As in the United States, this person or organization does not have to be in charge of Convention implementation; but should assist in the development of national positions on urgent issues. The United States National Facilitator is Larry Roeder in the US Department of State. His phone number is 202-647-5070. Fax number is 202-647-9722. Email is lroeder@hotmail.com.
2. Government Agency Contact Points: Each government Agency with any relevance to Tampere, e.g. Customs, Communications, Relief, etc. also needs its own contact point, which should have authority in its own organization to make decisions. Operational Agencies must be reachable on a 24 hours basis. An operational agency is one that manages disaster mitigation and response for the government. In the United States, the Tampere Operational Agencies are FEMA, State and AID/OFDA. FEMA is responsible for domestic disasters. AID/OFDA is responsible for external disasters. State handles Treaty Level and Policy implementation issues.

Internet⁽²⁾

An explanation of US Government procedures will be at: http://www.state.gov/www/issues/relief/index.html. See also http://www.state.gov/www/issues/relief/tpere1.html

Since the Convention also requires the Operational Coordinator keep the community informed of how the convention is being maintained, OCHA should also maintain a website (ReliefWeb) that links the information on the national pages and such other organization's pages as may be appropriate. ⁽³⁾ In those cases where a national authority can't maintain such a web site, the Emergency Relief Coordinator should develop one on the OCHA ReliefWeb site.

An essential activity for the Emergency Relief Coordinator would be to list on the ReliefWeb government contacts that handle licenses, customs issues, etc. -- or at a minimum link to government pages with this information. This will be a major job, especially since the contacts will change on a regular basis, so National Tampere Facilitators should also have a responsibility to keep these lists up to date.

Model Agreements

The agreements should also contain procedures for escalating disputes quickly out of the administrative level. as well as seek to minimize regulatory barriers of all kinds.⁽⁴⁾

Fees

Although the Convention provides for a regularized method of developing fair payments for services, it also calls for reducing or removing regulatory barriers (to the extent allowed by national law). Since fees are a barrier, visa fees, import/export duties, licensing fees and other permit fees should be waived (where practical) if the relief agency is invited into the country under the Tampere Convention. At a maximum, relief agencies should not be charged more than local nationals should normally pay.⁽⁵⁾

OTHER BEST PRACTICES

Responsibility of Relief Agency

Responsibility of Host Government

Responsibility of Emergency Relief Coordinator

(See footnote for USG procedures)⁽⁶⁾

As we have seen in Kosovo and elsewhere, visas for humanitarian relief workers can take too long. A solution is to agree to "expedite visa procedures when a relief workers is in a Tampere situation."

Make sure that all visa restrictions have been taken into account.

Process the visa requests as fast as possible or waive the visa requirement.

Create links to national rules off of the OCHA Tampere Web Site.

Before deploying, be aware of import or export license restrictions for exporting governments and disaster prone nations.⁽⁷⁾

Develop expedited humanitarian license procedures. (This does not mean eliminating restrictions -- only agreeing to reasonably expedite the decision making process).⁽⁸⁾

Create links to national rules off of the OCHA Tampere Web Site.

Is the equipment or its quantity relevant or sensitive, given the specific nature of the emergency?⁽⁹⁾

In a conflicted situation, the host government may not allow qualities or types that exceed reasonable requirements.

Equipment shall not be deployed for unauthorized purposes.⁽¹⁰⁾

Make sure that all restrictions are taken into account. (Example: Foreign nationals can't obtain a radio operator's license in the US, but they can operate under an American's license.)

List regulations and restrictions.⁽¹¹⁾

Issue quickly.⁽¹²⁾

Identify mechanisms (relative to the appropriate organization) for foreign workers to take in order to operate. *

Customs Inspections⁽¹³⁾

Be sure that all government rules are followed and all forms are filled out.

Special expedited procedures are needed. (This doesn't mean inspections do not take place, only that they should be reasonable and quick. Emergency equipment should also be given priority over non-emergency shipments).⁽¹⁴⁾

Create a universal Tampere Customs Declaration.⁽¹⁵⁾

Use standard procedures, i.e. in order to avoid confusion in the emergency.⁽¹⁶⁾

Don't ask for an excessive amount of frequencies.

Make a reasonable amount of frequencies available and issue them quickly. ⁽¹⁷⁾

Publish relevant contacts and guidelines on Tampere relevant policy and procedures concerning the allocation of radio frequencies, spectrum priorities, .etc.

Identify procedures to clear frequencies for disaster use and coordinate spectrum requirements.⁽¹⁸⁾

Follow common sense rules and obey national laws. Do not interfere in internal affairs.

Host authority needs to provide reasonable protection for personnel and equipment -- but the protection should not inhibit the relief operation.

Allow the unfettered sharing of information about natural hazards, health hazards and disasters with non-State entities and intergovernmental organizations, and disseminate such information to the public, particularly to at-risk communities.⁽¹⁹⁾

Establish protocols that take into consideration the nature of the emergency. ⁽²⁰⁾

Establish reasonable protocols that do not interfere with operational needs.

The notification of a request for help, decision to help or not and the nature of help.

Work with the Emergency Relief Coordinator.

The nature and scope of the request should be clear.⁽²¹⁾

Once a request is made, notify the Emergency Relief Coordinator.⁽²²⁾

Governments rendering assistance should make the scope, costs and terms clear.

Keep all states parties informed of assistance requests and efforts.

Assistance can't be provided without permission of the host government.⁽²³⁾

Diversion

Do not interfere in the internal affairs of the host government.⁽²⁴⁾

Do not alter the use of the equipment for unauthorized purposes.

See Article Five of the Convention

The convention provides that P's and I's be given to relief workers.⁽²⁶⁾

Although P's and I's are not provided to nationals of the requesting party, the government should accommodate the emergency efforts of these workers.⁽²⁷⁾