The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) has a large civil sector. Committees composed of national representatives plan the use of civil society's resources in the organisation's work.

Topical subjects are land, sea, and air transport, telecommunications, industrial production, medical care, environmental conservation, food, and agriculture. NATO also has a scientific programme and a co-ordination centre for humanitarian aid. The Senior Civil Emergency Planning Committee (SCEPC), is a permanent planning body. Eight sub-committees working under its auspices study these subjects.

Several Nordic countries, including Finland, participate in the activities of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council
NATO's civil sector mainly operates under the auspices of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC). This means that countries participating in the Partnership for Peace Programme operate in the civil sector under almost the same conditions as NATO's Member States. Questions concerning common defence are dealt with exclusively by the representatives of the Member States, but these questions cover only a minor part of the committees' work. In recent years, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland have made considerable contributions in the civil sector.

Co-operation in the area of civil readiness suits Finland as a non-allied country
Civil operations suit Finland as an non-allied country, not applying for NATO membership. Partnership for Peace constitutes one of the few forums where security of supply matters are dealt with. Finland can draw concrete benefits from being integrated into the international structures, in case Finland is ever in need of international help.

Several ministries and special agencies participate in the operations
In addition to the National Emergency Supply Agency, several ministries and special agencies make their own important contributions to the work of NATO's civil committees. As a new form of co-operation, the Partnership for Peace countries have appointed national experts, whose know-how benefits the development of readiness planning in the same way as NBED experts function in Finland.

A civil sector expert is stationed in the Finnish NATO Representation
Since 1999, a civil sector expert has been posted to the Finnish NATO Representative. The expert's task is to co-ordinate Finland's participation in NATO's civil committees and to act as liaison officer, on the one hand to Finland and on the other hand from Finland to NATO and to the representations of other countries.