📋 Tender Overview
The government proposes several changes to the Rescue Act and the Act on Rescue College. For example it is proposed to transfer the liability for the purchase and maintenance of fire alarms in apartments from the resident to the owner of the building.The goal of the changes in the obligation to purchase and maintain smoke detectors is to clarify the regulation and fulfill the obligations better than at present. The effects of the proposed law change would be particularly aimed at apartment buildings and townhouses where the absence or non-functioning of a fire alarm also affects the fire safety of neighboring apartments. In the opinion round the change in the obligation to purchase and maintain fire alarms was widely supported.The rescue service is alerted to 3000 fires in residential buildings every year. According to the accident statistics of the rescue service in almost every second case the apartment did not have a working fire alarm. According to estimates smoke detectors are missing in about 20 percent of all apartments. Other proposed changes to the Rescue Act and the Act on Rescue College Provisions on the civil preparedness advisory board would be added to the Rescue Act. The regulation regarding the supervision task of the rescue service would be specified and a new provision would be added to the law which would regulate the conditions for the inspections of the rescue authorities during the construction project. The regulation concerning the position of contract fire brigades as providers of rescue services would be changed as required by the welfare area legislation. Provisions regarding rescue operations situational picture operations would be specified. Provisions regarding the management of rescue operations in the cooperation area of rescue operations the provision of assistance and the planning of joint operations would be added to the Rescue Act. The tasks of the rescue authority of the Ministry of the Interior in the national management of rescue operations would be supplemented and specified. In addition the regulation of the states participation in maintaining the readiness needed in rescue operations would be supplemented. The powers of the director of rescue operations would be clarified in such a way that the powers could also be used during an obvious danger of an accident. Access to information rights register regulations definitions etc. according to the Rescue Act would be specified and supplemented and the regulation regarding the compensation of the costs of the rescue operation would be specified. A new provision would be added to the Act on the Rescue College according to which the Rescue College could decide on the eligibility of a professional qualification acquired in another EU or EEA country to work in a position or task in a rescue operation as a sniffer or an emergency center operator.The proposed changes would mainly enter into force on January 1 2024. However a transition period of two years is proposed for the changes in the responsibility for purchasing and maintaining fire alarms so that building owners can plan how things would be arranged in practice in each building.
