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1. When a disaster occurs within the Union, or is imminent, the affected Member State may request assistance through the ERCC. The request shall be as specific as possible. A request for assistance shall lapse after a maximum period of 90 days, unless new elements justifying the need for continued or additional assistance are provided to the ERCC.

2. In exceptional situations of increased risk a Member State may also request assistance in the form of temporary pre-positioning of response capacities.

3. Upon receiving a request for assistance, the Commission shall, as appropriate and without delay:

(a) forward the request to the contact points of other Member States;

(b) collect and analyse validated information on the situation, in conjunction with the affected Member State, with the goal of generating common awareness of the situation and the response to the situation, and disseminate that information directly to the Member States;

(c) make recommendations, in consultation with the requesting Member State, for the provision of assistance through the Union Mechanism, based on the needs on the ground and any relevant pre-developed plans, as referred to in Article 10(1), invite Member States to deploy specific capacities and facilitate the coordination of the required assistance; and (d) take additional action to facilitate the coordination of the response.

4. Any Member State to which a request for assistance is addressed through the Union Mechanism shall promptly determine whether it is in a position to render the assistance required and inform the requesting Member State of its decision through the CECIS, indicating the scope, terms and, where applicable, costs of the assistance it could render. The ERCC shall keep the Member States informed.

5. The requesting Member State shall be responsible for directing assistance interventions. The authorities of the requesting Member State shall lay down guidelines and, if necessary, define the limits of the tasks entrusted to the modules or other response capacities. The details of the execution of those tasks shall be left to the person in charge appointed by the Member State rendering assistance. The requesting Member State may also request the deployment of an expert team to support its assessment, facilitate coordination on site between Member States' teams or provide technical advice.

6. The requesting Member State shall take the appropriate actions to facilitate host nation support for the incoming assistance.

7. The role of the Commission referred to in this Article shall not affect the Member States’ competences and responsibility for their teams, modules and other support capacities, including military capacities. In particular, the support offered by the Commission shall not entail command and control over the Member States’ teams, modules and other support, which shall be deployed on a voluntary basis in accordance with the coordination at headquarters level and on site.