This Agreement sets out the conditions under which the Contracting Parties may, within the limits of their possibilities, assist each other in the event that a natural disaster or natural disaster occurs in the territory of the other Party Caused by human activity that would cause serious harm to people, property and the environment.

Under the terms of this Agreement, the following terms mean:

"Requesting State" means the Contracting State whose competent authorities request from the other State the dispatch of intervention teams equipped with equipment and means of relief and/or assistance equipment;

"Sending State" means the Contracting State of which the competent authorities are following a request from the other State concerning the dispatch of intervention teams equipped with equipment and means of relief and/or assistance equipment;

"Rescue teams": specialized units for emergency response and equipped with the necessary equipment and emergency means;

"Equipment" and "means of emergency" means the personal equipment, equipment and vehicles fitted to the rescue teams;

"Assistance equipment" means goods intended for distribution to the affected population;

"Operating equipment" means the goods necessary for the use of equipment and supplies to rescue teams, in particular fuel and foodstuffs.

For the purposes of the provisions of this Agreement, the competent authorities shall be:

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For the Italian Republic: the President of the Council of Ministers, or, by his delegation, the Minister for the Coordination of Civil Protection or the Under-Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers with delegation to Protection Civil and the Minister of the Interior;

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For the Swiss Confederation: the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and, in the border region, the cantonal governments.

These authorities may designate, in accordance with their own internal provisions, other authorities entitled to request assistance or receive requests for assistance; they shall forthwith inform the aforementioned authorities of the other Party Contracting Party.

The authorities so designated have the competence to communicate with each other.

The Contracting Parties shall exchange by diplomatic means the addresses, telephone numbers, telex and telefax numbers of the aforementioned authorities, as well as those of the authorities which they may have designated to formulate and receive the Requests for assistance.

The nature, extent and manner of implementation of the assistance shall be determined in the event of mutual agreement between the authorities referred to in Art. 3.

Assistance at the scene of the natural or man-made disaster shall be provided by emergency teams which have received special training, in particular in the following areas: fire fighting, control of hazards Radioactive and chemical contamination, first aid and emergency medical aid, search, rescue and clearing. The rescue teams are equipped with the appropriate specialized equipment.

Where necessary, assistance shall be provided by any other appropriate means.

Rescue teams can be sent by land, air, lake or river.

The management of operations is the responsibility of the authorities of the requesting State.

The authorities of the requesting State referred to in Art. 3 specify, at the time of the formulation of a request, the tasks which they intend to entrust to the teams of the sending State, without entering into the details of their execution.

The instructions for the sending State rescue teams shall be communicated to their leaders only; they shall forward the instructions for execution to their subordinates.

The authorities of the requesting State shall provide adequate protection and assistance to the emergency teams of the sending State.

At the end of the operations, the technical organs of the sending Party shall transmit to the technical bodies of the requesting Party a written report on the interventions made.

The technical bodies of the requesting Party shall transmit to the technical bodies of the sending Party a final report on the event.

In order to ensure the necessary efficiency and speed of intervention, the Contracting Parties undertake to limit the border crossing formalities to the minimum necessary.

The person in charge of a unit of intervention shall present a certificate attesting to the relief mission, the type of unit and the list of persons who belong to it. This certificate is issued by the authority on which the unit depends. Persons in the response unit are exempt from the requirement to submit the required documentation for the crossing of the border. They must, however, be provided with a piece of identification, in the event of possible control.

In particularly urgent cases, the certificate referred to in the preceding paragraph may be replaced by a certificate established for that purpose, and the result of which is that the border must be crossed in order to carry out a relief mission.

If the circumstances so require, the crossing of the border may be carried out outside the authorized crossing points. The competent authorities for border surveillance must be informed in advance by the requesting State.

In an evacuation beyond the border, the authorities of the two countries immediately communicated the names of the evacuees.

Each Contracting Party is obliged to readmit persons, first aid or evacuees, from its territory to that of the other Contracting Party, irrespective of their nationality and even if they do not have a part Of official identity. Foreigners remain subject to their residence and settlement status prior to crossing the border.

Contracting Parties shall, in the same manner, facilitate the crossing of the border of equipment, emergency means and equipment of operation and assistance: their importation, in accordance with the cases of crossing the border outside Authorised crossing points must be brought to the attention of the competent customs authorities and the authorities responsible for border surveillance.

Rescue teams shall not provide any goods other than the equipment, emergency means and equipment of operation and assistance necessary for the relief mission.

The means indicated in the preceding paragraphs shall be placed under the temporary importation regime. No documents are requested or established at the entry or exit of these goods. When crossing the border, the head of the intervention team shall present to the customs services (or send them as soon as possible) a complete list of the equipment and the means of relief and operation.

Equipment, emergency means and equipment of operation and assistance shall be exempt from all customs duties if they have been used in a relief operation or re-exported at the end of the operation. Where special circumstances do not permit such re-export, the species, the condition and quantity of such goods, and the place where they are located, must be brought to the attention of the authorities responsible for the Which will inform the competent customs service; in this case, the national law of the requesting State shall apply.

The import into the territory of the requesting State of medicinal products containing narcotic drugs and the re-export to the territory of the sending State of the quantities not used shall not be considered as import and export within the meaning of the International agreements on narcotic drugs concluded by both Contracting Parties. The medical products mentioned above can only be imported in the context of urgent medical needs and used only by qualified medical staff according to the legal standards of the sending State.

At the end of the relief operations, the personnel and the equipment, the means of relief, the equipment of operation and assistance which would not have been used shall return to the territory of the sending State by a crossing point Allowed.

The competent authorities of the two countries are examining the modalities for obtaining the necessary authorisations for exceptional transport, as well as the arrangements for the free use of toll motorways and tunnels.

If, for the purpose of an intervention in a third country, one of the Contracting Parties is required to transit emergency crews, equipment, means of relief and assistance and operating equipment in the territory of the other Party, The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties to this Agreement undertake to make this transit as easy as possible.

Each Contracting Party shall permit aircraft originating in the territory of the other Party to fly over its own territory and to land and take off even outside the airports.

The intention to use aircraft during an intervention shall be communicated immediately to the applicant authority with the indication, as clearly as possible, of the type and registration of the aircraft, as well as the flight crew, of the aircraft. Loading, taking place and time of take-off and landing.

The provisions concerning relief on the road are applicable Mutatis mutandis Air transport.

The flights shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions on air navigation in force in the requesting State.

If the rescue teams include military personnel, it will be submitted for the duration of the intervention to the national legislation which regulates its status. The possible passage of weapons over the border must be authorized by the requesting Party.

The expenditure of the relief operation, including expenditure resulting from the loss or total or partial destruction of the equipment, shall be borne by the competent authorities of the sending State.

During the duration of their mission, the emergency teams of the sending State shall be maintained and hosted at the expense of the requesting State and supplied to the extent of their needs.

In case of need, they will receive appropriate medical assistance.

The requesting State undertakes to take responsibility for all damage resulting directly from the relief operations carried out on its territory pursuant to this Agreement.

In the event of death, bodily injury or any other damage to the physical health of the emergency personnel of the sending State, the sending State shall refrain from making a claim for compensation to the requesting State, provided that such accidents are directly Related to the accomplishment of the mission.

The authorities of the Contracting Parties shall exchange all relevant information relating to the interventions during which the damage referred to in this Article has occurred.

The authorities referred to in s. 3 of this Agreement shall cooperate within the limits of their respective national laws and may enter into agreements concerning, inter alia:

A.

The execution of relief operations;

B.

Measures to prevent and combat natural or man-made disasters. In this context, the authorities

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Exchange any useful information of a scientific or technical nature, including information concerning the management of accidents which have occurred or may occur in their respective territories;

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Develop research programs;

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Organise seminars and scientific and technical courses as well as exchanges of visits by specialised staff;

C.

Joint exercises for relief operations in the territory of each of the Contracting Parties.

Once a year, or exceptionally more often if one of the Parties so requests, a meeting of officials and experts appointed by the competent authorities of each Party shall be held alternatly in one of the two States for the purpose of establishing Technical aspects of the regulation and organization of cooperation provided for in this Agreement.

The possibility of using radio links between the authorities mentioned in Art. 3, between these authorities and the rescue teams or between the emergency teams themselves shall be examined by the telecommunications administrations of the Contracting Parties which issue the necessary directives.

These jurisdictions are:

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For the Italian Republic: the Administration PT-Direction Centrale Services Radioelectrical;

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For the Swiss Confederation: the Directorate General of PTT ¹ .

The frequencies of the radio links shall be fixed in special arrangements and within the limits of the directives issued by the competent authorities.

If they cannot be resolved otherwise, disputes relating to the interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be dealt with through diplomatic channels.

If the Parties do not reach agreement through diplomatic channels, the dispute shall be referred to arbitration.

The arbitral tribunal shall consist, in each case, of three arbitrators. Each Contracting Party shall appoint an arbitrator; the two arbitrators thus appointed shall designate by common accord the national of a third State as a third-party-presiding arbitrator. The arbitrators shall be appointed within two months, the President within three months after one of the Contracting Parties has communicated to the other that it intends to submit the dispute to a arbitral tribunal.

If the time limits specified in s. 3 are not complied with and in the absence of any other arrangement, each Contracting Party may invite the President of the European Court of Human Rights to make the required designations. If the President has Italian nationality or Swiss nationality, or is prevented for another reason, the Vice-President shall proceed to the appointment. If the Vice-President also has Italian or Swiss nationality, or is also prevented from doing so, the following member in the hierarchy of the Court who has neither the Swiss nationality nor the Italian nationality makes the appointment.

The arbitral tribunal shall decide in accordance with the rules of international law and in particular of this Agreement. He himself rules his procedure.

The decisions of the arbitral tribunal, both procedural and substantive, shall be taken by a majority of the votes of its members. The absence or forbearance of one of the members of the arbitral tribunal designated by the Contracting Parties shall not prevent the court from ruling.

Court decisions are binding. Each Party shall bear the costs of the arbitrator appointed by the Party and the costs of its representation in the proceedings before the court. The costs of the presiding arbitrator and the other costs shall be borne equally by the Contracting Parties.

If the arbitral tribunal so requests, the courts of the Contracting Parties shall grant it the mutual legal assistance necessary to carry out the quotations and hearings in accordance with the agreements in force.

This Agreement shall in no way affect the rights and obligations of Contracting Parties arising from other international agreements.

This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the exchange of instruments of ratification between the Contracting Parties.

It may be denounced at any time by each of the Contracting Parties with six months' written notice.

Done at Rome, 2 May 1995, in two originals in the Italian language.