Article 39 Procedure for launching a rapid border intervention

A request by a Member State to launch a rapid border intervention shall include a description of the situation, possible aims and envisaged needs, and the profiles of staff needed, including those staff having executive powers, as applicable. If required, the executive director may immediately send experts from the Agency to assess the situation at the external borders of the Member State concerned.

The executive director shall immediately inform the management board of a Member State's request to launch a rapid border intervention.

When deciding on the request of a Member State, the executive director shall take into account the findings of the Agency's risk analyses and the analysis layer of the European situational picture as well as the outcome of the vulnerability assessment referred to in Article 32 and any other relevant information provided by the Member State concerned or another Member State.

The executive director shall immediately assess the possibilities for redeployment of available members of the teams within the standing corps, in particular statutory staff and staff seconded to the Agency by the Member States, present in other operational areas. The executive director shall also assess the additional need to deploy operational staff in accordance with Article 57 and, once staff within the required profiles have been exhausted, to activate the reserve for rapid reaction in accordance with Article 58.

The executive director shall take a decision on the request to launch a rapid border intervention within two working days from the date of receipt of the request. The executive director shall simultaneously notify the Member State concerned and the management board in writing of the decision. The decision shall state the main reasons on which it is based.

When taking the decision referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article, the executive director shall inform the Member States about the possibility of requesting additional operational staff in accordance with Article 57 and, where applicable, Article 58 by indicating possible numbers and profiles of staff to be provided by each Member State.

If the executive director decides to launch a rapid border intervention, he or she shall deploy available border management teams from the standing corps and equipment from the technical equipment pool in accordance with Article 64, and where necessary, he or she shall decide on the immediate reinforcement by one or more border management teams, in accordance with Article 57.

The executive director together with the host Member State shall draw up and agree upon an operational plan as referred to in Article 38(2) immediately and, in any event, no later than three working days from the date of the decision.

As soon as the operational plan has been agreed upon and provided to the Member States, the executive director shall immediately deploy the operational staff available through redeployments from other operational areas or other duties.

In parallel to the deployment referred to in paragraph 9, and where necessary to secure the immediate reinforcement of the border management teams redeployed from other areas or duties, the executive director shall request from each Member State the number and profiles of additional staff to be additionally deployed from their national lists for short-term deployments as referred to in Article 57.

If a situation arises where the border management teams referred to in paragraph 7 and the staff referred to in paragraph 10 of this Article are insufficient, the executive director may activate the reserve for rapid reaction by requesting from each Member State the number and profiles of additional staff to be deployed as provided for in Article 58.

The information referred to paragraphs 10 and 11 shall be provided in writing to the national contact points and shall indicate the date on which the deployments of staff from each category are to take place. A copy of the operational plan shall also be provided to the national contact points.

Member States shall ensure that the number and profiles of staff are immediately made available to the Agency to guarantee a complete deployment in accordance with Article 57 and, if applicable, Article 58.

The deployment of the first border management teams redeployed from other areas and other duties shall take place no later than five working days after the date on which the operational plan is agreed between the executive director and the host Member State. Additional deployment of border management teams shall take place, where necessary, no later than 12 working days after the date on which the operational plan is agreed.

Where the rapid border intervention is to take place, the executive director shall, in consultation with the management board, immediately consider the priorities with regard to the Agency's ongoing and planned joint operations at other external borders in order to provide for possible reallocation of resources to the areas of the external borders where a strengthened deployment is most needed.