(1)

‘Agency’ means the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union established by Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004;

(2)

‘sea operation’ means a joint operation, pilot project or rapid intervention carried out by Member States for the surveillance of their external sea borders under the coordination of the Agency;

(3)

‘host Member State’ means a Member State in which a sea operation takes place or from which it is launched;

(4)

‘participating Member State’ means a Member State which participates in a sea operation by providing technical equipment, border guards deployed as part of the European Border Guard Teams or other relevant staff but which is not a host Member State;

(5)

‘participating unit’ means a maritime, land or aerial unit under the responsibility of the host Member State or of a participating Member State that takes part in a sea operation;

(6)

‘International Coordination Centre’ means the coordination structure established within the host Member State for the coordination of a sea operation;

(7)

‘National Coordination Centre’ means the national coordination centre established for the purposes of the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1052/2013;

(8)

‘operational plan’ means the operational plan referred to in Article 3a and Article 8e of Regulation (EC) No 2007/2004;

(9)

‘vessel’ means any type of water craft, including boats, dinghies, floating platforms, non-displacement craft and seaplanes, used or capable of being used at sea;

(10)

‘stateless vessel’ means a vessel without nationality or assimilated to a vessel without nationality when the vessel has not been granted by any State the right to fly its flag or when it sails under the flags of two or more States, using them according to convenience;

(11)

‘Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants’ means the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime signed in Palermo, Italy in December 2000;

(12)

‘place of safety’ means a location where rescue operations are considered to terminate and where the survivors’ safety of life is not threatened, where their basic human needs can be met and from which transportation arrangements can be made for the survivors’ next destination or final destination, taking into account the protection of their fundamental rights in compliance with the principle of non-refoulement;

(13)

‘Rescue Coordination Centre’ means a unit responsible for promoting efficient organisation of search and rescue services and for coordinating the conduct of search and rescue operations within a search and rescue region as defined in the International Convention on Maritime Search and Rescue;

(14)

‘contiguous zone’ means a zone contiguous to the territorial sea as defined in Article 33 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, where formally proclaimed;

(15)

‘coastal Member State’ means a Member State in whose territorial sea or contiguous zone an interception takes place.