Suspension

A suspension of the implementation of the humanitarian Action is a temporary stopping of the activities of the Action, due to circumstances which make it impossible or excessively difficult to continue.

The Humanitarian Organisation may suspend the implementation of the Action if changes in circumstances in the field are likely to make it impossible or excessively difficult to continue the implementation of the Action, notably in the event of force majeure, serious threat to the safety of humanitarian workers, and in cases of incompatibility between the further implementation of the Action and compliance with humanitarian principles or conflict of interests.

The Humanitarian Organisation shall inform the Commission immediately justifying the suspension, the measures adopted and the expected date of resumption. The Humanitarian Organisation shall also inform the Commission of the details of the expenses expected to be incurred during the suspension period.

Examples of circumstances which make it impossible or excessively difficult to continue the activities:

• “Force majeure”, i.e. circumstances which occur regardless of any human will or intervention, e.g. natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, etc.;
  

• “Fait du Prince”, i.e. decisions taken by national, regional or local authorities which affect the implementation of the Actions (e.g. prohibition to import humanitarian goods, refusal of access to the region affected by the crisis, etc.);
  

• Actions taken by third parties for whom the Partner has no responsibility: e.g. riots, attacks against refugee camps, etc.;
  

• Serious threats to the safety of the humanitarian workers (e.g. security concerns);
  

• Incompatibility between the continuation of the humanitarian Action and respect of the humanitarian principles.
  

When the above circumstances no longer apply, the suspension is ended and the Partner will resume the implementation of the Action.
As a general rule, suspensions should not last longer than one third of the implementation period of an Action, unless DG ECHO confirms that a longer suspension period is allowed.
In some cases, it will be possible for the Partner to continue implementing part of an Action (i.e. those activities which have not been hampered by the circumstances listed above) during the suspension period. This has to be defined in the exchange of information between DG ECHO and the Partner.

In any case the costs to be incurred during the suspension period will be subject to discussions between DG ECHO and the Partner.



References and useful links

• General conditions, Article 15 and 16
• Fact sheet A.5