European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection
A separate chapter under the responsibility of the Civil Emergency Preparedness and Strategies Division is the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection. Its general objective is to improve the protection of critical infrastructures in the European Union. This objective is supposed to be achieved by Council Directive No. 2008/114/EC and other accompanying European projects (Critical Infrastructure Warning Information Network, European Reference Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection) and financial measures. The Civil Emergency Preparedness and Strategies Division acts as a contact point for coordinating issues related to the European Programme for Critical Infrastructure Protection within the Czech Republic and with other Member States, the Council of the EU and the European Commission.
- Council Directive No. 2008/114/EC
- Critical Infrastructure Warning Information Network
- European Reference Network for Critical Infrastructure Protection
This directive implements the procedure for the identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructures and a common approach to assessing the need to increase the protection of such infrastructures in order to contribute to the population protection.
Current status
Czech Republic has already transposed the Council Directive No. 2008/114/EC into national law by amending Act No. 240/2000 Coll. on Crisis Management, which entered into force on the 1st of January 2011. The implementation process of this Directive is therefore completed in the deadline set by the European Commission.
Based on the Article 4 of the Directive the Czech Republic has discussed the identification and designation of European Critical Infrastructures (hereinafter referred to as "ECI") on a bilateral and multilateral basis with neighbouring Member States: Austria, Slovakia, Germany and Poland. With these Member States the Czech Republic has signed general and technical protocols.
Based on the Articles 4 and 7 of the Directive the European Commission is continuously informed about the number of designated ECI in the Czech Republic. The European Commission also receive summary report from each Member State, which contents general data on vulnerability types, threats and risks identified by individual sectors with ECI.
The ECI, which could affect the above mentioned Member States, was identified in the Czech Republic only in the field of energy.