The RAMOGE Agreement between France, Italy and Monaco establishes a joint intervention plan for spill response in the Mediterranean Sea (from the mouth of Rhône river on the West, to the lighthouse of Capo d’Anzio in the East, including Corsica and Sardinia islands). The area is divided into 2 sub-areas, one where each party shall provide assets in an automatic way, and the other where joint intervention is scheduled only after request to national authority concerned by the pollution. The plan describes all the operational procedures, assets available, time to mobilize, expertise, national doctrines for use of dispersants etc.

SAR MEDOCC is a technical agreement between France, Spain and Italy on SAR organization in Western Mediterranean Sea and adjacent areas, in force since 1972. It aims at coordinating the SAR organizations of the three contracting parties regarding aircrafts in distress, according to Chicago convention on International Civil Aviation, and, as far as possible, safety of life at sea or ashore. Morocco takes part as an observer.

The Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Mauritius Republic passed an agreement on maritime search and rescue, establishing cooperation between the different authorities. This arrangement especially defines the standard operating procedures for the Rescue Coordination Centres (RCCs), particularly the determination of the responsible RCCs, the communication about the search areas, the transferring of SAR coordination responsibility or the liaison during a SAR operation. This agreement also deals with the use of the different SAR assets belonging to the two Parties and the SAR operational expenses.

The Government of the French Republic and the Government of His Serene Highness the Prince of Monaco passed an agreement on maritime search and rescue, recalling that the SAR conference held in Valencia (Spain) in 1997 on the initiative of the International Maritime Organization assigned France a maritime Search and Rescue Region (SRR) in the Mediterranean Sea. Monegasque territorial waters shall be included in the SRR assigned to France in the Mediterranean Sea. In this SRR, the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre shall be CROSS La Garde, under the authority of the Préfet maritime de la Méditerranée. In the context of Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), this centre shall receive alerts coming from Monegasque territorial waters.

This operational cooperation plan applies to large-scale spill response (oil, HNS). It establishes the technical conditions and procedures for requests for assistance between the General Direction of the Maritime Authority (Portugal) and the Maritime Prefecture of the Atlantic (France) regarding the deployment and activation of assets. The applicable area is between the parallels 40°N and 46°N, and from the meridian 14°W, to the Portuguese, Spanish and French coasts. The parties may agree to extend it beyond this area in case of exceptional situation.

The Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Portuguese Republic passed an agreement for the exchange of information between the French Antilles and the Portuguese maritime search and rescue services. The maritime rescue coordination centres (MRCCs) of the two Parties shall regularly exchange the information, especially when a SAR operation is launched on the high seas in their search and rescue area. They shall exchange information on the available units in proximity to the location of the alert and carry out combined liaison tests at least to ensure their capacity to communicate.

Through this bilateral plan, the French and the Spanish authorities agree for joint action in the case of maritime rescue, assistance to ship in distress, and marine pollution in the Bay of Biscay. The area is delimited by parallels 42°30’N and 46°00’N, meridian 10°25’W, and French and Spanish coasts. A separation line marks the limits of the areas of initial responsibility.

This bilateral operational cooperation plan signed in 1972 and updated in 2016 schedules terms of collaboration between French and Spanish authorities in the field of maritime rescue, marine pollution and assistance to ships in distress in the Mediterranean Sea. It gives details on the availability of air and naval assets in an area delimited by French and Spanish SRR as well as in the specific area of the LION Plan.

Prevention, preparedness, and response on marine pollution

Since 2008, this technical agreement between the French Maritime Gendarmerie and Spanish Guardia Civil comes down to meetings, joint patrols on Atlantic and Mediterranean border sections, personnel exchange during illegal immigration and fishery control operations. In 2020, operations for securing Spanish leisure areas (for instance in the Baleares islands) will be added.