Verdrag tussen het Koninkrijk België, het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden en het Groothertogdom Luxemburg inzake de integratie van de luchtruimbewaking tegen dreigingen die uitgaan van niet-militaire luchtvaartuigen (renegades)

For the purpose of this agreement the meaning of the terms used therein are as follows:
1. „Common Area of Interest (CAoI)”: the area consisting of the sovereign airspace of the Parties.
2. „Third State Airspace (TSA)”: any airspace outside of the CAoI of a State not Party to this Treaty.
3. „Air Incident”: Any abnormality in assigned NATO and national airspace requiring tactical actions, including the use of aircraft. Air incidents can be of a military and of a non-military nature. Air Incidents of a non-military nature encompass Renegade(s).
4. „Renegade”: A civil air platform that is assessed as operating in such a manner as to raise suspicion that it might be used as a weapon to perpetrate a terrorist attack.
5. „Assigned Aircraft (AAC)”: the military aircraft assigned to execute the obligations under this Agreement.
6. „Assigned Aircraft (AAC) Rotation”: the rotational contribution with Assigned Aircraft by Parties.
7. „Recognised Air Picture (RAP)”: an air threat analysis of the detected air movements of all aircraft within a particular airspace, with each aircraft being identified as friendly or hostile, and ideally containing additional information, such as type of aircraft, flight number and flight plan. The information may be drawn from a number of different sources, including military and civilian sensors, civilian air traffic control and allied nations or NATO.
8. „Control and Reporting Centre (CRC)”: air defence centre that is responsible for the build-up of a RAP of all movements in its assigned airspace and that is the command and control authority of the AAC.
9. „General Aviation Security Measures (GASM)”: the identification and classification of an aircraft, which is done by the national Control and Reporting Centres (CRC).
10. „Active Aviation Security Measures (AASM)”: security measures executed by AAC or other military means of the Parties, including: – interrogation, which comprises the visual or electronic identification of an aircraft and the shadowing of an aircraft;
– intervention, which comprises the forced flight path, prohibition of overflight and/or the imposed obligation on the suspect aircraft to land at a designated area;
– use of warning burst with flares;
– use of kinetic force, from warning burst with guns up to and including the use of lethal force. For the purposes of this Agreement, AASM over Luxembourg shall not include the use of lethal force.
– interrogation, which comprises the visual or electronic identification of an aircraft and the shadowing of an aircraft;
– intervention, which comprises the forced flight path, prohibition of overflight and/or the imposed obligation on the suspect aircraft to land at a designated area;
– use of warning burst with flares;
– use of kinetic force, from warning burst with guns up to and including the use of lethal force.
11. „National Governmental Authority (NGA)”: national competent authority of a Party in respect of the national airspace in which the Renegade is present, responsible for implementing the necessary measures to maintain air security in accordance with the relevant national rules and regulations. Under this Agreement the respective NGA’s are: for the Netherlands Minister of Security and Justice; for Belgium Minister of Defence; and for Luxembourg the Minister of Defence, or their respective successors.
12. „NGA representative”: under this Agreement the respective NGA representatives are: for the Netherlands the Master Controller on duty of the national CRC; for Belgium the CRC Master Controller or Senior Duty Officer, which has a coordinating and reporting responsibility towards the Belgian NGA; and for Luxembourg the High Commissioner for National Protection Luxembourg (“Haut-Commissaire à la Protection nationale”), or their respective successors. This Agreement, however, does not exclude the possibility of a future CRC-cooperation, which will be detailed in a separate Technical Arrangement CRC to be signed by Parties’ Ministers of Defence.
13. „Terrorist attack”: attack committed with such aim as to constitute a terrorist offense under the Council Framework Decision of 13 June 2002 on combatting terrorism (2002/475/JHA).
14. „(Re)Transfer of Authority (TOA/RTOA)”: the activity by which the responsibilities and the air defence means are (re)transferred from NATO to the NGA (through the NGA representative) or vice versa.
15. „Receiving State”: the State in whose national airspace the movements and/or AASM by AAC of the Sending State take place.
16. „Sending State”: the State that executes AASM through national AAC within the airspace of the Receiving State. For the purposes of this Agreement, Luxembourg is not considered to be a Sending State.
17. „TACON”: Tactical Control, meaning command authority over assigned or attached forces or commands, or military capability or forces made available for tasking, that is limited to the detailed direction and control of movements or manoeuvres within the operational area necessary to accomplish missions or tasks assigned.

This Agreement provides the legal framework necessary for the integration of air security in response to threats posed by Renegades and aims at improving the intervention capacities of the Parties with regard to Renegades through synergy of efforts and by pooling and sharing of resources.

1. This Agreement applies to all military means of the Parties that contribute to the execution of GASM and AASM and that are required to achieve an integrated air security that can confront threats posed by Renegades in Parties’ CAoI.
2. The application of this Agreement extends to the CAoI.

The Parties shall exchange such information on the RAP as is necessary to prevent and respond to threats to air security in the CAoI and as is necessary to enable the NGA to take the necessary or appropriate actions under this Agreement.

1. Claims between the Parties in relation to compensation for damage (including the loss of use), injury or death, resulting from the execution of this Agreement shall be waived by the Parties in accordance with the relevant provisions of Article VIII of the NATO SOFA.
2. Third party claims that are the result of damage (including the loss of use), injury or death resulting from the execution of this Agreement shall be dealt with in accordance with applicable international and national laws and regulations. In order to compensate for damage, injury or death resulting from the execution of this Agreement, the Parties involved may indemnify third parties ‘ex gratia’ via an equal share of the total amount of damages between the Sending and the Receiving State, without prejudicial acknowledgment of responsibility. In such case the Party in whose airspace or territory the damage, injury or death occurred, may propose the amount to be paid of such ‘ex gratia’ compensation.

1. In furtherance of this Agreement Belgium and the Netherlands shall monitor the movement in the CAoI and protect the CAoI through execution of GASM and AASM as described in Article 1 paragraph 9 and 10. For Luxembourg, the monitoring and protection of the CAoI shall be assured by Belgium and the Netherlands according to the modalities laid down in the present Agreement and in the arrangement(s) specified in Article XI of this Agreement, hereinafter referred to as “technical arrangement(s)”.
2. The AAC of Belgium and the Netherlands shall participate in turn in the AAC Rotation over the CAoI.
3. In the event of a non-military Air Incident that is in or close to the Receiving State’s airspace, the Sending State shall provide TOA and TACON over its AAC to the Receiving State.
4. The use of force by AAC against a Renegade is legitimate if:
a) the AAC is under TACON of the Receiving State; and
b) the AAC has received authorisation from the NGA of the Receiving State to use force against a Renegade in the CAoI.
Pursuant to Article 1, paragraph 10, no lethal force shall be used over Luxembourg airspace.
Detailed arrangements with regard to the use of force by AAC shall be laid down in technical arrangements.
5. The provisions of the NATO SOFA apply to all aspects of the integration and cooperation as described in this Agreement, unless specifically stated otherwise in this Agreement.

1. For the purpose of implementing this Agreement, the Parties shall, within their means and capabilities, provide each other with support services. These support services, as well as the conditions for providing such services shall be stipulated in detail in technical arrangements, to be concluded by the respective Ministers of Defence.
2. The Parties undertake to conduct regular cross-border exercises to maintain the necessary level of readiness to contribute to AAC Rotation. Details shall be stipulated in technical arrangements to be concluded by the respective Ministers of Defence.

Parties shall respect the relevant security-, safety- and environmental protection regulations and instructions in force in the Receiving State, particularly in respect of weapons, ammunition, and aircraft. The use of weapons and ammunition shall be governed by the Receiving State’s law.

Each Party shall bear its own costs incurred in connection with the implementation and the execution of this Agreement.

In the event of an aviation accident or incident occurring in the national airspace or on the national territory of one of the Parties, and an aircraft of another Party is involved, a flight safety investigation shall be conducted in conformity with:
a) Annex XIII to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, signed in Chicago on 7 December 1944;
b) The relevant NATO Standardisation Agreements (STANAGS), such as STANAG 3531.

Technical arrangements may be concluded for this Agreement. The technical arrangements may be amended or supplemented by mutual consent.

Disputes that may arise from the implementation, execution or interpretation of this Agreement shall be resolved exclusively through consultation between the Parties and shall not be referred to any national or international tribunal, or any other third party for settlement.

Any Party may, at any time, request amendment of this Agreement by providing written notice to the other Parties. In the event of such a request being made, the Parties shall promptly enter into negotiations. Amendments shall enter into force according to the procedure described in Article XIV, paragraph 1.

1. This Agreement shall enter into force on the first day of the second month after the date on which the Parties have notified the Depositary that they have completed the necessary domestic requirements for entry into force of this Agreement.
2. This Agreement shall remain in force unless terminated by the mutual written consent of the Parties or by any Party giving not less than 180 days’ notice in writing to the Depositary of its intent to terminate. Notwithstanding termination of this Agreement, all reimbursement obligations incurred pursuant to its terms shall remain binding on the responsible Party until satisfied.

1. The Kingdom of the Netherlands shall be the Depositary of this Agreement.
2. The Depositary shall register this Agreement with the United Nations in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.

1. As regards the Kingdom of the Netherlands, any measures or actions taken under this Agreement by the AAC in its national airspace and under its national authority shall be governed by the rules that apply to the national armed forces in the event of military assistance to the police for criminal law enforcement.
2. As regards the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this Agreement shall apply to the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.