Protection

Topic description

Scope:

Projects must be aiming to achieve one or more of the following outcomes:

Protecting public spaces:

• Development, implementation and roll-out of new concepts of urban landscape design aiming at reducing the vulnerability of public spaces, offering shelters in case of active shooting attack, blocking the way of ramming vehicles and mitigating blast waves;

• Increase cross-sectoral preparedness of EU Member States' agencies and authorities to terrorist attack against public spaces, incl. via trainings, exercises and establishment of regional law enforcement training facilities providing comprehensive training programmes for law enforcement/security authorities in protection of public spaces and other soft targets. The training programmes should be closely aligned with the Commission's ongoing activities in this area;

• Development of cross-border, cross-sectoral cooperation and coordination mechanisms for first responders in the immediate response to terrorist attacks, incl. via trainings, exercises and exchange of best practice and lessons learned;

• Enhancing protection of public spaces, urban areas and other soft targets via trainings, sharing of best practices and awareness raising activities.

Strengthening CBRN security:

• Increase cross-sectoral preparedness of EU Member States' agencies and authorities to CBRN incidents in the context of the EU CBRN preparedness and response programme, incl. via trainings, exercises and improvement of law enforcement CBRN training facilities;

• Increase cooperation between CBRN training institutes and facilities in the EU with a view, to create an EU catalogue of training curricula, taking into account work already done;

• Increase awareness of high-risk CBRN materials amongst EU export control experts, including training programme;

• Provide guidance and advice on technical and scientific issues to Member States and EU institutions on CBRN security, including during incidents, through the development of an EU expert support structure.

Commission Recommendation on the implementation of Regulation 98/2013:

• Capacity building in restricting and controlling the marketing and use of explosives precursors: Projects supporting the Commission Recommendation on the implementation of Regulation 98/2013 by, e.g., designing wide-reaching awareness-raising initiatives, increasing cross-border cooperation, identifying low-risk alternatives to high-risk chemicals, and/or developing innovative methods and tools for enforcing legislation and for helping public authorities and the supply chain assess their risks and vulnerabilities and comply with requirements and recommendations.

Emerging threats to critical infrastructure and public spaces:

• Increase protection against existing and new threats, including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs);

• Address the issue of insider threats in the context of private operators (outside the aviation sector).