Memorandum of Understanding between
the Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Belgium, the Minister
of Defence of the Kingdom of Denmark, the Minister of Defence of
the Republic of Estonia, the Minister of Defence of the Republic
of Finland, the Minister of Defence of the Federal Republic of
Germany, the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Latvia as
represented by the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Latvia,
the Minister of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania,
the Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the
Minister of Defence of the Kingdom of Norway, the Minister of
National Defence of the Republic of Poland, the Minister of
Defence of the Kingdom of Sweden, the Secretary of State for
Defence of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, concerning Co-operation on the Development of the Baltic
Naval Squadron
The Minister of Defence of the
Kingdom of Belgium,
the Minister of Defence of the
Kingdom of Denmark,
the Minister of Defence of the
Republic of Estonia,
the Minister of Defence of the
Republic of Finland,
the Minister of Defence of the
Federal Republic of Germany,
the Minister of Defence of the
Republic of Latvia,
the Minister of National Defence
of the Republic of Lithuania,
the Minister of Defence of the
Kingdom of the Netherlands,
the Minister of Defence of the
Kingdom of Norway,
the Minister of National Defence
of the Republic of Poland,
the Minister of Defence of the
Kingdom of Sweden,
the Secretary of State for Defence
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Pursuant to the Agreement between
the Governments of the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of
Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania Concerning the Establishment
of the Baltic Naval Squadron signed in Riga on 16 April 1998,
Considering that the support of
the Baltic Naval Squadron is in the spirit of the Partnership for
Peace Programme,
Taking note of the Agreement among
the States Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty and the other
States participating in the Partnership for Peace regarding the
status of their Forces and the Additional Protocol thereto done
in Brussels on 19 June 1995,
have decided as follows:
Section 1
Introduction
(1) This Memorandum of
Understanding establishes the co-operative framework for the
training and development of the Baltic Naval Squadron,
hereinafter referred to as BALTRON.
(2) Where appropriate:
a) Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania are hereinafter referred to as the Baltic
States;
b) Belgium, Denmark, Finland,
Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland are
hereinafter referred to as the Supporting States.
(3) Other donor States may support
this project.
Section 2
Purpose
(1) The multinational programme
according to this Memorandum of Understanding is designed to
assist the Ministers of Defence of the Baltic States to develop
and sustain BALTRON as a Naval Force which provides as its
primary role mine counter measures capabilities.
(2) The Ministers of Defence of
each Supporting State will provide assistance according to their
national fields of expertise, within the limits of its national
legislation, and according to its own resources and budgetary
procedures.
Section 3
Status of
Personnel
(1) In connection with the support
rendered pursuant to this Memorandum of Understanding, the
Agreement among the States Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty
and the other States participating in the Partnership for Peace
regarding the status of their Forces, done in Brussels on 19 June
1995 (PfP SOFA), and, where applicable, the Additional Protocol
thereto will be applied between those States who are Parties to
the above mentioned Agreement and Protocol.
(2) In the relationship between a
State Party to the PfP SOFA and a State not Party thereto, all
issues concerning the status of personnel will be solved in the
spirit of the PfP SOFA and the Additional Protocol thereto.
Section 4
Organisation
(1) To facilitate effective
co-ordination and to avoid unnecessary duplication of effort and
resources, the Participants have established a multinational
Steering Group under German chairmanship. The Steering Group is
responsible for overall control and direction of the BALTRON
Assistance Programme.
(2) The Participants have
established a multinational Naval Working Group under German
chairmanship for developing the detailed aspects of the BALTRON
Assistance Programme, for reviewing the terms of the Project Plan
at regular intervals and for overseeing its implementation.
(3) English will be the training
and command language of BALTRON.
(4) The Ministers of Defence of
the Baltic States will be responsible for the management of the
project, recruitment and retention of their personnel, and for
providing host nation support, in accordance with the Project
Plan and the terms of the Annex.
(5) The Ministers of Defence of
the Supporting States will endeavour to provide assistance to the
Baltic States in such a way as to maximise, where appropriate,
the opportunities for interoperability. The Ministers of Defence
of the Supporting States will assist with the organisation and
training of BALTRON as well as with the planning of arrangements
for its logistic support.
Section 5
Security
(1) Classified information will be
transferred only through Government-to-Government channels or
through channels approved by the Designated Security Authorities
of the Participants. Such information will bear the level of
classification and denote country of origin.
(2) Except as otherwise accepted,
all classified information exchanged or generated in connection
with this Memorandum of Understanding will be used, transmitted,
stored, handled and safeguarded in accordance with the applicable
national security laws and regulations of the receiving
State.
(3) Each participant will take all
steps available within national legislation to ensure that
information provided or generated pursuant to this Memorandum of
Understanding is protected from further disclosure unless the
other Participants concerned consent to this disclosure.
(4) Consistent with national laws
and regulations, Participants will not release classified
information to any third party either directly or under Freedom
of Information provisions without the prior consultation of its
originator and the other Participants.
(5) In accordance with their
national laws and regulations the Participants will investigate
all cases in which it is known or where there are grounds for
suspecting that classified information provided or generated
pursuant to this Memorandum of Understanding has been lost or
disclosed to unauthorised persons. Each Participant will also
promptly and fully inform the other Participants of the details
of any such occurrences, and of the final results of the
investigation and of the corrective action taken to preclude
recurrences.
(6) For any facility wherein
classified information is to be used, the responsible Participant
will approve the appointment of a person or persons, to exercise
effectively the responsibilities for safeguarding at such
facility the information pertaining to the Memorandum of
Understanding.
(7) Each Participant will ensure
that access to classified information is limited to those persons
who possess requisite security clearances rendered following
national procedures and regulations and have a specific need for
access to classified information in order to participate. No
individual will be granted access to classified information
solely by virtue of appointment rank or security clearance.
(8) All visiting personnel will
comply with security regulations of the host Participant. Any
information disclosed or made available to visitors will be
treated as if supplied to the Participant sponsoring the visiting
personnel, and will be subject to the provisions of this
Memorandum of Understanding.
(9) All classified information
exchanged or generated under this Memorandum of Understanding
will continue to be protected in the event of withdrawal by any
Participant or upon termination of the Memorandum of
Understanding.
(10) For the purpose of achieving
and maintaining comparable standards of protection of the
classified information exchanged in accordance with this
Memorandum of Understanding, each Participant will, on request,
provide information and will for that purpose facilitate
communication in these matters between the relevant authorities
of the Participants.
(11) The competent authorities of
the Participants will co-operate in the implementation of these
provisions.
Section 6
National law and
International Obligations
This Memorandum of Understanding
is not intended to supersede national law or international
obligations by which the participants are bound. In case of
contradiction, national law and international obligations will
prevail.
Section 7
Settlement of
Disputes
Any dispute concerning the
interpretation or application of this Memorandum of Understanding
will be resolved by consultation between the Participants without
recourse to any outside jurisdiction.
Section 8
Withdrawal
Each Participant may withdraw from
this Memorandum of Understanding by giving three months written
notification to the other.
Section 9
Amendments
This Memorandum of Understanding
may be amended at any time in writing, by the mutual consent of
the Participants.
Section 10
Accessions
Once it has come into effect, this
Memorandum of Understanding will be open for accession by the
Minister of Defence of any other State subject to the approval of
the existing Participants and to such conditions as they may
decide.
Section 11
Effective
Date
This Memorandum of Understanding
becomes effective on the date of the last signature and will
remain effective unless terminated by mutual consent.
Section 12
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Annex
The following Annex concerning the
Responsibilities of the Ministries of Defence of the Baltic
States is part of this Memorandum of Understanding.
Signed in Brussels on 12 June 1998
in one original in the English language, to be deposited in the
Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany which will
submit certified copies to each Participant.
Annex
to the Memorandum
of Understanding
Concerning
Co-operation on the Development
of the Baltic
Naval Squadron
Responsibilities
of the Ministries of Defence
Of the Baltic States
Section I
Introduction
This Annex records the
understandings, referred to in Section 4 of the Memorandum of
Understanding, reached between the Ministries of Defence of the
Supporting States and the Baltic States concerning the latters’
responsibility for providing host nation support for BALTRON
training activities as well as for personnel to undergo training
in the Baltic States.
Section II
Definitions
In this Annex, the following
definitions apply:
a) "Receiving State"
means the Baltic State on whose territory the training is
conducted;
b) "Sending State"
means the State whose personnel are deployed to the Receiving
State;
c) "Personnel of the
Sending State" means members of the armed forces or
civilian personnel of the Sending State;
d) "Training" means
basic and specialist individual naval training, continuation
training and English Language Training;
e) "Project Plan" means
the plan which outlines the project phases, including the
number of personnel expected to participate in those
phases.
Section III
Provision of
Personnel for Training
(1) The Ministries of Defence of
the Baltic States will make personnel available to undergo
training in accordance with the Project Plan.
(2) When deployed for training
outside their country, each national contingent will be under the
command of its own commanding officer who will have desciplinary
authority over his personnel and who, in the case of minor
offences, will be able to award punishment without reference to
his national chain of command.
(3) Absence from training for any
reason will be agreed in advance between the commanding officer
and the chief English language instructor in the Receiving State
during English Language Training and the chief instructor during
naval training. Such absence will only be authorised in
exceptional circumstances, or as a result of illness certified in
writing by a qualified medical practitioner.
(4) In circumstances where either
the Ministry of Defence of a Baltic State wishes to withdraw one
of its participants from the programme, or where the instructor
finds a participant unsuitable for the programme, withdrawal will
require the joint authorisation of the Ministry of Defence and/or
Chief of Defence as appropriate of the Baltic States concerned
and of the chief instructor of that phase of the training. Where
instructors find a participant unsuitable for medical or safety
reasons, joint authorisation, as described above, will not be
required.
(5) In the event of an authorised
withdrawal as described in the above paragraph, the Ministry of
Defence of the Baltic State concerned will provide a replacement
and train him at its own expenses, to the appropriate standard in
English as quickly as possible.
Section IV
Host Nation
Support
(1) For each training visit the
Ministry of Defence of the Receiving State accepts the general
responsibility of providing the services and facilities specified
hereunder.
(2) Accommodation:
a) The projected accommodation
requirements are based on the estimated personnel numbers laid
down in the Project Plan;
b) The accommodation for the
instructors will meet the following standards: Sufficient
self-contained, furnished, flats with two or three bedrooms (one
bedroom per instructor). These will be clean and hygienic, with
hot and cold running water, heating and electricity. The flats
should be located as closely as possible to each other, and
should have access to an international pay phone.
(3) Infrastructure will be
provided to support the training during the relevant period. The
requirement will be based on the number of personnel expected to
undergo training in accordance with the Project Plan. The
following services and facilities will be required:
a) Classrooms: a sufficient
number, with desks and chairs, to meet the requirements at
the time. Each will be in a suitable condition, and have
electricity, running water, heating and lighting;
b) Offices: a sufficient
number to meet the requirement at the time. These should be
in a suitable condition, and have electricity, heating and
lighting;
c) Stores: each training base
should have the following stores:
(i) one for training
materials;
(ii) one for clothing,
equipment and miscellaneous items;
(iii) an armoury.
(4) Logistic Support:
Logistic support should be
provided to support the training taking place at the training
bases at any given time. The level required will be commensurate
with the number of personnel in accordance with the Project Plan.
The following services and facilities will be provided:
a) Messing: sufficient messing
and canteen facilities to meet the requirements at any given
time, the food should be of a suitable standard and meet
appropriate nutritional requirements;
b) Transport: sufficient to
meet the requirements at any given time;
c) POL: petrol, diesel oils,
lubricants and anti-freeze for all vessels/vehicles;
d) Maintenance: sufficient
capacity for the repair of ships, electronic equipments,
etc.
e) Liaison Officers and
interpreters: one liaison officer per training base, and
interpreters, as necessary, to meet the requirements at any
given time.
(5) Customs procedures
Whenever stores, equipment,
general supplies, etc. are being moved to one or more training
bases, the Receiving State should provide assistance with customs
clearances to facilitate the timely and safe delivery of items to
the training bases.
(6) Medical facilities:
a) The Ministry of Defence of
the Receiving State will provide free of charge to the
personnel of the Sending State access to necessary medical
facilities. The Ministries of Defence of the Sending States
may, if they wish, use their own doctors and medical
facilities;
b) Rescue helicopters from
Sending State should - in emergancy situations — be given the
right to cross the territory of a Receiving State and land
where required in order to evacuate military and civilian
personnel on duty in the BALTRON project. Permission will be
requested by the Sending States according to the
international rules.
(7) Provision of Equipment:
The Ministry of Defence of the
Baltic State to which equipment has been supplied, will ensure
that such equipment is used in direct support of the training and
operation of BALTRON. Landing or arrival fees, if any, incurred
by the delivery of equipment to the point of entry, will be
covered by the receiving State. The Ministries of Defence of the
Baltic States should ensure that equipment is able to move freely
between training bases.