Our modern society, plural in its services to the citizen and complex in its organization, is affected by multiple risks that reveal its vulnerability. It is therefore essential to maintain a system of alert and foresight to guarantee the safety of people and their property, in order to preserve it against the catastrophes and calamities that endanger it. Law 2/1985, of 21 January, of Civil Protection, established a system by which all administrations coordinated in the prevention and fight to deal with emergency situations. In order to achieve greater efficiency in this objective, the legislation implementing the provision of the Civil Protection service has undergone specific changes. The guarantee of the safety of persons and their property when a disaster or calamity seriously endanger them, is the responsibility of all public administrations, and therefore the review of their reporting criteria and the specific services with which all of them contribute in this area, require a permanent alert and the organisation of measures which give a rapid, energetic and effective response to the risks faced. In this sense, the Organic Law 5/2005, of 17 November, of the National Defense, in its article 15.3 also established as mission of the Armed Forces that these must preserve the security and the welfare of the citizens in the alleged serious risk, disaster, calamity or other public needs. With this in mind, taking into account past and recent national and international experiences, Spain has sought to put itself at the forefront of the organization in the face of emergency situations, having operational state instruments with the to address them. It is a matter of contributing, therefore, in the current conditions of the resources that our country has to offer, to provide an adequate response to the magnitude of the risks of accidents, calamities or public misfortunes that threaten society. In order to make effective the mission attributed to the Armed Forces by this Organic Law, the Agreement of the Council of Ministers of 7 October 2005, created the Military Emergency Unit, as a joint force composed of personnel of all the Forces Armed, capable of being deployed in an orderly manner on the ground, concentrating operational means in a short time and having personnel with specific training to deal with emergency situations under appropriate conditions of discharge qualifications and permanent availability, in order to be able to intervene immediately in situations of serious emergency. Following the adoption of various provisions which have organized this Unit and the development of the efforts necessary to put it into operation, it is now a question of regulating the conditions for the intervention of the Military Emergency Unit, with the The aim of this unit is to provide the unit with the regulatory framework which will serve as an effective instrument for fulfilling the task entrusted to it. In this sense, the regulations contained in the Protocol of Intervention, annexed to this Royal Decree, are intended to ensure the maintenance of their operability, safeguarding the principles of unity, discipline and hierarchy that inform the " The Armed Forces ' Joint Assembly will establish the necessary rules for coordination with the means of the other public administrations that can be mobilized according to each emergency that the UME will have to take into account in its actions. All this is done, moreover, in the operational framework designed by Law 2/1985 of 21 January, of Civil Protection, which attributes to the Minister of the Interior the status of higher authority in matters of Civil Protection and, consequently, grants him the ability to mobilize state resources when the intensity of emergency situations so requires or when requested by the Autonomous Communities. In its virtue, on the proposal of the Vice-President of the Government and Minister of the Presidency, in agreement with the Ministers of Defence, the Interior, the Environment and the Environment, and after deliberation by the Council of Ministers at its meeting on 23 March March 2007,

D I S P O N G O:

Single item.

The Protocol of Intervention of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), whose text is annexed to this Royal Decree, is approved.

Additional disposition first.

The UME is organized organically in the Ministry of Defense, depending on the Minister of Defense.

Additional provision second.

1. The air means of fighting fires operated to date by the 43rd Group of the Air Forces, from the entry into force of this Royal Decree are assigned organically to the Ministry of Defense and functionally to the Ministry of Environment, which will decide on its use.

However, when the UME participates in an emergency operation, it may require and order the immediate release of its Air Force operations from the Ministry of the Environment, and it will be the one to direct it. their use. 2. The appropriations necessary for the maintenance and operation of the seaplanes referred to in paragraph 1 shall be maintained in the budget of the Ministry of the Environment. 3. The Ministers of Defense and Environment will agree on a specific protocol to establish the conditions of attention by the Ministry of Defense to the needs of the operability, maintenance and availability of the air means of which it is Minister for the Environment. 4. The Ministers of Defence and the Environment shall agree, in the same protocol as referred to in the previous paragraph, on the conditions for coordination and complementarity of the air resources of the Ministry of the Environment with the UME and the address by the latter of its use when they match an operation. 5. In December 2009, the Government shall evaluate the deployment, equipment, operation and operation of the UME and shall establish the definitive system of human resources and air-against-fire means available to the various Ministerial Departments.

Single repeal provision.

As many provisions of equal or lower rank are repealed, they oppose the provisions of this royal decree.

Final disposition first.

1. The First Vice-President of the Government and Minister of the Presidency is empowered to lay down the provisions necessary for the development and implementation of the Protocol of Intervention, which is incorporated as an Annex.

2. The Minister of Defence is empowered to lay down the provisions necessary to regulate the operational conditions that result from the participation of the UME in operations abroad. 3. The Minister of Defense is empowered to lay down the rules governing the framing, organization and operation of the UME in the field of its Department.

Final disposition second.

The Ministry of Defense, in the field of its competences, will be able to hold those concerts, collaboration agreements, technical agreements or management agreements, which contribute to the best and most efficient operation of the EMU, with the various bodies of the public authorities, as well as bodies and undertakings established in the supply sector or any other which may be related to the various emergency situations.

Final disposition third.

This royal decree will enter into force on the day following its publication in the "Official State Gazette".

Given in Madrid, on March 23, 2007.

JOHN CARLOS R.

First Vice-President of the Government and Minister of the Presidency, MARIA TERESA FERNÁNDEZ DE LA VEGA SANZ

ANNEX Intervention Protocol of the Military Emergency Unit

First. -1. The Military Emergency Unit (UME) has as its mission to intervene anywhere in the national territory in order to contribute to the security and well-being of the citizens, together with the institutions of the State and the Administrations. public, in the cases of serious risk, disaster, calamity or other public needs, in accordance with the provisions of the Organic Law 5/2005, of 17 November, of the National Defense, and in the rest of the legislation in force.

2. The UME, created by the Council of Ministers Agreement of 7 October 2005, is an integral unit of the Armed Forces, organized in the Ministry of Defense, which will intervene in accordance with the provisions of the present Protocol. 3. For the performance of its missions, the UME will be able to use personnel and means from other units of the Armed Forces in cases where it is necessary. Second. -1. The intervention of the UME may be ordered if any of the following emergency situations occur with a serious nature:

(a) Those that have their origin in natural hazards, including floods, floods, earthquakes, landslides, heavy snow and other adverse weather events of great magnitude.

b) Wildfires. (c) Those arising from technological risks, including chemical, nuclear, radiological and biological risks. (d) Those resulting from terrorist attacks or illegal and violent acts, including those against critical infrastructure, dangerous facilities or with nuclear, biological, radiological or chemical agents. (e) pollution of the environment. (f) Any other decided by the President of the Government.

2. Once an emergency has been produced and the intervention of the EMU has been ordered, the operational actions to be carried out by the EMU will focus primarily on the adoption of measures to safeguard, protect or help the life and integrity of the people and their assets, the environment, natural spaces and their resources and the historical-artistic heritage.

3. The operational actions of the EMU are concretized in the planning, training and intervention. It will only carry out the preventive work necessary to deal with a declared emergency. 4. Emergencies at sea are excluded from the scope of the UME, without prejudice to the fact that, in exceptional circumstances, its intervention may be agreed upon, on a proposal from the Minister for Development, in accordance with the provisions of the present Protocol. Third. -1. The Minister of Defense, by delegation of the President of the Government, will order the intervention of the UME, on the proposal of the Minister of the Interior. 2. The competent authorities in matters of civil protection will be able to request from the Ministry of the Interior the collaboration of the EMU. The Ministry of the Interior will request the intervention of the UME. 3. The decision to end the intervention of the EMU in a specific emergency situation must be taken by the Minister of Defence, informing the same authority that he requested the intervention. 4. The members of the Military Emergency Unit shall always act in the framework of the Unit of the Unit. In all cases in which he intervenes, a representative of the Ministry of Defense (UME) will be part of the management of the aforementioned emergencies. 5. The start and end of the intervention of the UME will be notified by the Ministry of Defense to the National Crisis Management Center of the Presidency of the Government. Fourth. -1. In the cases of emergencies declared of national interest, in accordance with the provisions of Article 9 of the Basic Standard of Civil Protection, approved by Royal Decree 407/1992 of 24 April, and for the case in which the Minister of Defense is decide on the intervention of the UME, the management and operational coordination of the actions to be carried out in the disaster area will be the responsibility of the head of the UME under the Ministry of the Interior. 2. national interest, and for the case in which the Minister of Defense orders the intervention of the UME, his Action shall be in accordance with the provisions of the legislation in force in the field of civil protection. Fifth. -1. The UME may use public and private means for the performance of the assigned tasks and for the duration of its intervention, as provided for in Article 6 of Royal Decree 1378/1985 of 1 August 1985. 2. The indemnities and remedies provided by the proceedings on the goods referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be governed by the provisions of the legislation in force on the matter. Sixth. -1. The liability for damages caused by the staff of the UME in the execution of the assigned tasks shall be attributable to the Public Administration to which the competent authority belongs to the emergency. 2. In cases where the UME intervenes without having produced a previous proposal of another Administration other than the General Administration of the State, the responsibility shall correspond to the latter. Seventh. -1. In order to enable the UME to successfully complete the assigned tasks, the General Administration of the State shall facilitate access to existing networks and systems of alert and emergencies. 2. With the same objective, the Ministry of Defense will sign with the Autonomous Communities the collaboration agreements necessary for the access of the UME to its alert and emergency networks. Eighth. -Members of the Military Emergency Unit, in the performance of their missions, shall enjoy the character of the "agent of the authority".