Contents:
Accreditation
Press Centre
Unloading of technical equipment
Photo/TV coverage
Parking for press vehicles / booking of stand-up postions
Annex 1: Security clearance application form
Annex 2: Standard letter - request for collection of a group of badges
Download this document here
The Press Centre, specially equipped with the usual facilities for the press and audiovisual media, although with limited capacity for the latter, will also be in the Justus Lipsius building.
Media representatives will find attached some technical information on the facilities available; for any additional information, please contact the Press Office at the General Secretariat of the Council:
tel.: + 32-2-285 6231
+ 32-2-285 6151
+ 32-2-285 8969
fax: + 32-2-285 8026/8541
e-mail: press.office@consilium.eu.int
Access to the Press Centre will be granted only to duly accredited media representatives, who will receive a special badge.
SECURITY CLEARANCE
Already registered
Representatives who submitted a security clearance application form for the European Council in December 2005 need not re-apply as such clearance is valid until the end of June 2006.*
New registration
In order to obtain accreditation for the European Council, an additional procedure designed to protect individual freedom will have to be completed . The Royal Decree of 3 June 2005 on security clearances and the Law of 11 December 1998 (Article 16) provide that the consent of the person seeking security clearance is required before the security investigation can be carried out. You must therefore fill in section 1 of the security clearance application form (see Annex 1) which you will find on the form under "European Council/Accreditation": http://ue.eu.int/eucouncil/at/accreditation
You must also print the form as you will have to produce the signed original when you come to collect your badge. The rest of the registration formalities remain the same. Thus, when you have filled in the security clearance application form, it is up to you to register (see "Media accreditation procedure") by filling in the second, usual form.
By registering on line on the website of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU, within the time limit, you will save time and avoid additional formalities and procedures.
The on-line accreditation form and instructions are on the website:
http://ue.eu.int/eucouncil/at/accreditation.
Information communicated on the site of the General Secretariat of the Council of the EU for accreditation may be forwarded to one or more national security authorities for security checking purposes. Use of the on-line accreditation form implies acceptance of these conditions, as indicated on the on-line registration page.
While on General Secretariat premises, you must wear your summit identification badge visibly at all times. Anyone found not wearing a badge may be asked to leave.
At any time while on General Secretariat premises, you may be asked by a member of the security staff to prove your identity by producing an official document, even if you are wearing your summit identification badge visibly.
Media accreditation procedure
Please note the following instructions before applying to register on line:
- a recent ID-size photograph in JPEG (.jpg) format. Any application without such a photograph will be rejected;
- the serial numbers of your passport or ID card and of your press card.
All identification documents submitted via the on-line accreditation form must be valid on the day of the summit.
Fill in the on-line accreditation form and submit it by 12.00 on Tuesday 14 March 2006 – APPLICATION DEADLINE (faxes will not be accepted)
Please be very careful when entering your details. Even simple errors (e.g. forename and surname reversed) may result in a failed security check and hence a refusal, for technical reasons, to issue an identification badge for the summit.
In the event of technical problems, please contact internet.ce@consilium.eu.int
For both types of on-line accreditation, once your application has been recorded, you will receive a message on your screen, confirming that your form has been duly received. The Security Office will also inform you of the result of your application.
Accreditation badges must be collected in person from the Résidence Palace, 155 rue de la Loi, Brussels on:
When you collect your identification badge, you must present all of the following:
Unless you produce both documents no accreditation badge will be issued.
Collection of groups of badges (press agencies, television stations, etc.)
Deadline for applications by fax (+32-2-285.85.41) to collect a group of badges: 12.00 on Thursday 16 March 2006.When collecting groups of badges for a media organisation (as from Tuesday 21 March) , you must present the ORIGINAL of a letter (faxes will not be accepted) indicating that the bearer is authorised by his/her media organisation to collect those badges (see Annex 2). In addition, in the case of new registrations, the person collecting a group of badges must produce a security clearance application signed in the original by each of the persons for whom the badges are intended (see Accreditation above) if they are of Belgian nationality or resident in Belgium.
Note:
When applying to collect groups of badges, please make sure that all the persons on the list have been correctly registered on the Council website. Otherwise, it will not be possible to use the procedure for collecting groups of badges. Please also indicate members of the media of Belgian nationality or resident in Belgium who require security clearance.
Those whose on-line applications have been rejected for technical reasons, or who have not applied by the deadline (12.00 on 14 March 2006), must follow the late accreditation procedure and will not be able to have their badges collected as part of a group (see the internet site as from 12.00 on 14 March 2006). Significant delays may occur.
In addition to the usual press rooms, a Press Centre will be installed on other floors of the Justus Lipsius Building. Please note that smoking is not permitted there.
For security reasons the Press Centre must close at 20.00 on Wednesday 22 March 2006. It will re-open at 07.30 on Thursday 23 March 2006. Only those producing the special European Council badge will have access to the Press Centre on Thursday 23 March 2006.
Work rooms: about 1 440 workstations, on levels 00, 01 and 02 and also levels 20 and 35 in the briefing rooms; all will be equipped with a telephone, with a connection for analogue and digital modems, and a power socket.
On levels 00 and 02, wireless Internet connections for PCs will be available (IEEE 802.11b).
It should be noted that no PCs will be installed and that workstations in rooms A, B and C (level 00) are only fitted with an analogue modem connection (RJ11).
The Press Centre cannot guarantee the reservation of work spaces. Media representatives who reserve work spaces are requested to indicate their name and the name of the media.
However, reserved spaces not occupied at the beginning of the proceedings of the European Council may be taken by others.
contact: Ms Pita CROŸ, Eurovision News Producer
Tel.: + 41-(0)22 717 28 40
Fax: + 41-(0)22 747 48 40
Mobile: + 41-(0)79 250 47 45
e-mail: bookings@eurovision.net
The Council TV studio on level 01 is available to TV stations for interviews with members of the delegations participating in the meeting. Conditions of use and prior reservations must be obtained on-line using the reservation application form to be found at: http://ue.eu.int/cms3_fo/showPage.asp?id=802&lang=en.
For information please contact:
Mr Mikael CARPELAN
Tel.: + 32-2-285.50.77
Fax: + 32-2-285.85.41
Mobile: + 32-478-76.98.19
e-mail: mikael.carpelan@consilium.eu.int
or
Mr Tamás BADACSONYI
Tel.: + 32-2-285.53.85
Fax: + 32-2-285.85.41
Mobile: + 32-486-49.70.44
e-mail: tamas.badacsonyi@consilium.eu.int
Levels 01 and 02 of the Press Centre Reservations must be made in advance with the Press Office:
Tel.: + 32 2 285 6231
Fax: + 32 2 285 8541
e-mail: press.office@consilium.eu.int
Each desk is equipped with a telephone (analogue line) and an ISDN connection. For extra and temporary ISDN connections, please contact Belgacom, Ms Serlippens (tel.: 32-2-202.20.96).
A restaurant and bars will be available to the press (levels 00, 01 and 02).
Closed-circuit television carrying host broadcaster pictures and messages will be in operation throughout the Press Centre.
Unloading and installation of technical equipment must be carried out between 07.00 and 17.00 on Wednesday 22 March via the following entrance points:
Access with the "European Council" or a one-day badge, which will be made available at the entrance points.
Delivery vehicles must leave the area of the Justus Lipsius building immediately after unloading.
Please note that the radio/TV booths on level 35 will close at 18.00 for imperative security reasons.
Please note that unloading may be carried out only on 22 March.
The equipment must be removed between 08.00 and 18.00 on Saturday 25 March at the Etterbeek entrance (to be confirmed in the light of the course taken by the European Council meeting). If you remove equipment on Friday 24 March (after the security perimeter has been removed), please inform Mr Tamás Badacsonyi that you are leaving.
Please contact Mr Badacsonyi (by 12.00 on 14 March) to let him know either in English or in French for both Wednesday 22 and Saturday 25 March 2006:
by e-mail: presse.dechargement@consilium.eu.int – Mobile: +32-486-49.70.44.
This information is essential to ensure that the individual badges can be made available at the Etterbeek entrance or the Froissart entrance on your arrival (if you do not have a European Council badge) and to prevent all teams arriving at the same time.
Programme details for the events to be covered will be provided later.
For satellite TV broadcasting vehicles and TV/radio vehicles: in front of the main entrance on rue de la Loi.
Advance booking is essential. Limited number of positions available.
Contact Ms Goldsmith before 14 March:
Tel.: + 32-2-285.89.69
Fax: + 32-2-285.50.65
Mobile: 0476-76.21.56
e-mail: valerie.goldsmith@consilium.eu.int
Please state: registration number and size/type of vehicle as well as mobile phone contact number.
Electricity supply: 220V/32A per vehicle.
Please note that, because of the work in progress in the courtyard, all stand-up positions will be on platforms in front of the main entrance on rue de la Loi.
*However, those media representatives who failed to collect their badges at the European Council meeting on 15 and 16 December 2005 will have to come to the Résidence Palace with the signed original of the clearance application form.
FOR THE ATTENTION OF MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA OF BELGIAN NATIONALITY OR RESIDENT IN BELGIUM WHO ARE REGISTERING FOR THE FIRST TIME FOR THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL MEETING
Security clearance application form
Annex to the Royal Decree of 3 June 2005 amending the Royal Decree of 24 March 2000 implementing the Law of 11 December 1998 on classification and security clearances
WARNING
Articles 22a to 22e of the Law of 11 December 1998 on classification and security clearances, certificates and notices/assessments.
The person named in section 1 is warned by the authority or the person referred to in section 2 that, for the reasons set out in section 3, that person must submit to a security check.
The details of the security check are set out in the attached explanatory notice.
1. IDENTITY OF THE PERSON CONCERNED
(national number: if known)
Surname:…………………………. Nationality:…………….
Forenames:……………………….. National number:………
Place of birth:……………………..
Date of birth:……./……../……
Position or profession:……………
Full address:………………………
2. SOURCE OF THE REQUEST FOR A SECURITY CHECK
Authority with the power to require security clearance (Art. 22a(1) or (2) of the Law): Director-General of the General Directorate Crisis Centre of the Federal Public Service for the Interior, 53 rue Ducale, 1000 Brussels
3. REASON FOR THE REQUEST FOR A SECURITY CHECK
Access restricted for reasons of public order and the safety of the premises, buildings and sites for a limited period of time or specific event (Art. 22a(2) of the Law)
The security clearance issued will be valid for meetings of the European Council until 30 June 2006.
The security checks will cover any person requiring access to the organiser's perimeter, i.e. the building of the Council of the European Union located at 175 rue de la Loi (external compound).
The General Secretariat of the Council is not bound by any decisions as to whether or not security clearance is granted, refused or withdrawn.
4. REFUSAL OF SECURITY CHECK
Any person who does not wish to be the subject of a security check may make that clear at any time by striking through this document in accordance with Article 30a of the Royal Decree of 20 March 2000 and returning it by registered mail to the source of the request for a security check (section 2). Where the security clearance or notice is required for access, authorisation, a permit, nomination or designation, explicit refusal to submit to the check debars the person from such access, authorisation, permit, nomination or designation.
5. PERIOD ALLOWED FOR APPEAL
Where the person concerned has not been notified of the grant or refusal of the security clearance by 24 March 2006 at the latest, the period allowed for appeal begins on the day following that date (see attached explanatory notice).
Name of the person concerned:
Informed on …………………
Signature:
EXPLANATORY NOTICE TO THIS ANNEX
1. LEGAL BASIS
The procedure for security checks derives from the two Laws of 11 December 1998 on classification and security clearances and on the establishment of a security clearance appeal body and from the decrees implementing them (Moniteur belge of 7 May 1999 and of 31 March 2000), as amended respectively by the Laws of 3 May and the decrees implementing them (Moniteur belge of 27 May 2005 and of 7 June 2005).
These coordinated texts may be obtained from the security officer, or, failing that, from the authority mentioned in the box marked "WARNING" or from the National Security Authority, the Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, rue des Petits Carmes 15, 1000 Brussels, tel. 02-519 05 74.
2. SECURITY CHECK
(a) Aim
The aim of the security check is to ensure that a person may either have access to specified places or events without risk to public order or for the security of classified information, equipment or matter (security clearances), or may exercise specified rights or options without prejudicing the fundamental interests of the State referred to in Article 22d(2) of the Law (security notice)
(b) Sources of information
Checking is restricted to the files of the intelligence and security services, criminal records, the national register of natural persons, the population and aliens register, the aliens' waiting list and police databases that may be accessed by police officials when carrying out identity checks and which enable them to check whether the person concerned is a suspect or wanted person, and to the judicial data forwarded by the police subject to authorisation by the competent judicial authorities.
(c) Time limits
The security clearance must be issued within a maximum of fifteen days and at the latest by the time access must be granted.
The security notice must be issued within a maximum period of one month as from the date of the application by the administrative authority; if it is negative, that authority has eight days in which to inform the person concerned. Where necessary, reference should be made to the time limits laid down in the laws and regulations specific to each issue and the competent administrative authority should be consulted.
3. PERIOD OF VALIDITY OF A SECURITY CLEARANCE OR NOTICE
This period is set out in point 3 of the warning.
4. APPEAL BODY FOR SECURITY CHECKS
Where an application for checking leads to a refusal to issue the security clearance or the security notice is negative, where the decision has not been taken or has not been notified within the time limit specified, the person for whom the check was requested may, within eight days of notification of the decision or notice or upon expiry of the time limit, lodge an appeal by registered letter sent to the appeal body at the offices of the Standing Committee for supervision of the intelligence and security services, rue de la Loi 52, 1040 Brussels, tel. 02-286 28 11.
STANDARD LETTER
REQUEST FOR COLLECTION OF A GROUP OF BADGES
Application deadline: 12.00 on Thursday 16 March 2006
Name of media organisation:
Address:
Postcode:
Town/city: Country:
Tel.:
Fax:
e-mail:
Place, day, month, year
To the Security Office at the General Secretariat of the Council
Fax: 02 285.85.41
Subject: European Council meeting on 23 and 24 March 2006
Please find below the names of the applicants for accreditation for whom Mr/Ms ............................ (name and position) is authorised to collect badges as from Tuesday 21 March 2006:
........................................ (surname, forename and job: journalist/cameraman/other – please specify) .....................................................
Signature
Chief Editor
Email Service
Accreditation
Hotel Reservation
Route Planner
Weather