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

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.