19.9.2017
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
L 239/55
information exchange, with information-sharing activating a demand for the production of ISAA reports. Full activation
adds IPCR round table meetings to the toolbox, bringing to the table the Presidency (typically the Coreper II chair, or
a subject expert at PermRep Counsellor level but exceptionally round tables were held at Ministerial level).
Actors
The rotating Presidency (typically Coreper Chair) is in the lead
For the European Council, the Cabinet of the President
For the European Commission, DSG/DG level and/or subject experts
For the EEAS, DSG/MD level and/or subject experts
For the GSC, the Cabinet of the SG, the IPCR team and the responsible DGs.
Scope of activities: Generating a common integrated picture of the situation and escalating awareness of bottlenecks or
shortcomings at each of the three levels in order to the address them at the political level, generating decisions at the
table if they fall within the remit of the participants, or to generating proposals for action that go to Coreper II and up
to Council.
Shared situational awareness:
(not active): IPCR monitoring pages can be generated to track developing situations that might escalate into a crisis with
EU ramifications
(IPCR information-sharing): ISAA reports will be drafted by the ISAA lead on the basis of input from the Commission
services, EEAS, and Member States (through the IPCR questionnaires)
(IPCR full activation): in addition to ISAA reports, informal IPCR round tables bring together different actors concerned
in the MS, the Commission, EEAS, relevant agencies, etc. to discuss shortcomings and bottlenecks.
Cooperation and response:
Activate/synchronise additional crisis management mechanisms/instruments depending on nature and impact of the
incident. These may include, for example the Civil Protection Mechanism, the Framework for a Joint EU Diplomatic
Response to Malicious Cyber Activities or the ‘Joint Framework on countering hybrid threats’.
Crisis communications:
The IPCR Crisis Communicator's Network may be activated by the Presidency, after consultation with the relevant
services in the Commission, GSC and EEAS, in order to support the creation of common messages, or elaborate on the
most effective communication tools.
3. CYBERSECURITY CRISIS MANAGEMENT IN ARGUS — INFORMATION-SHARING WITHIN THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Facing unexpected crises that required action at European level, i.e. the Madrid terrorist attacks (March 2004), the
South-East Asia Tsunami (December 2004) and the London terrorist attacks (July 2005), the Commission in 2005
established the ARGUS coordination system, supported by an eponymous general rapid alert system (1) (2). It aims to
provide a specific crisis coordination process in case of a major multisectoral crisis, to enable sharing crisis-related
information in real time and ensure rapid decision-making.
ARGUS defines two phases depending on the severity of the event:
Phase I: is used for ‘information-sharing’ on a crisis of limited scale
(1) Commission of the European Communities, 23 December 2005, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the
Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions: Commission Provisions on ‘ARGUS’ General
Rapid Alert System, COM(2005) 662 final.
(2) Decision 2006/25/EC, Euratom.
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