The President of the Republic Mr.Nicos Christodoulides chaired a meeting of the Council of Ministers at the Presidential Palace today.
"In view of the upcoming dangerous summer season, it is necessary to intensify on the part of all government services and local authorities involved, on the one hand, to take preventive measures to avoid the possibility of fires and, on the other hand, to ensure full preparedness for their effective response."
"In view of the upcoming dangerous summer season, it is necessary to intensify on the part of all government services and local authorities involved, on the one hand, to take preventive measures to avoid the possibility of fires and, on the other hand, to ensure full preparedness for their effective response.
The Ministries of Agriculture, Justice, Interior and Defence involved have prepared specific action plans which are implemented on a case-by-case basis.
The aim is to promote holistic planning.
Interaction has been observed between the competent services and there is a multitude of action plans, whether they relate to fire prevention or fire management, and it is necessary to appoint a Coordinator in charge, who will be responsible for the immediate activation of the existing mechanisms for fire prevention and management, on the basis of the recommendations submitted by the Ministries/services involved.
The Council of Ministers appointed Mr. Andreas Gregoriou, Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, as the responsible coordinator.
The Coordinator will be given the authority to mobilise the national fire-fighting system.
In particular. [*]They will have the overall command with regard to the dispersion, movements and disposition of forces during firefighting, irrespective of the Service to which they belong. [*]It will indicate the point in time at which the European Civil Protection Mechanism or intergovernmental agreements must be activated. [*]In the event that a fire incident requires the establishment of a crisis management team, either locally or centrally, it shall have operational command. [/LIST]
Also today, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a bill, entitled "The Law on Issuing Court Orders and Registration of Representative Actions for the Protection of Collective Interests of Consumers, 2023."
The purpose of the bill is to harmonize with the European Directive of the European Parliament and the Council on Representative Actions for the Protection of Collective Interests of Consumers.
In particular, the Bill, on the one hand, modernises the existing institutional framework for the protection of consumers' collective interests, which allows national courts to order the cessation of conduct in breach of consumer protection legislation and to prohibit it in the future and, on the other hand, introduces new rules for remedies to be taken by national courts.
This second part of the provisions is mostly a novelty for Cypriot law, as it allows national courts, under certain conditions, to order specific measures to remedy adverse situations to the detriment of consumers which have arisen as a result of breaches of consumer protection legislation.
The Council of Ministers today decided to exempt from the prohibition on filling vacancies for first appointment in the public sector and the wider public sector.
This concerns posts in the public sector and the wider public sector.
