Nuclear energy: third-party liability, Protocol on the 1960 Paris Convention, ratification by Slovenia

PURPOSE: to authorise Slovenian ratification of the Protocol amending the Paris Convention on third-party liability in the field of Nuclear Energy.

PROPOSED ACT: Council Decision.

BACKGROUND: Decisions 2003/882/EC and 2004/294/EC  authorise those Member States, who are Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention on “Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy”, to sign and ratify (or accede to) the amended Protocol. Denmark, Austria, Ireland and Luxembourg are not Contracting Parties to the Protocol. Of the new Member States, only Slovenia is a Contracting Party to the Paris Convention since it signed the Protocol in February 2004. However, Council Decision 2003/882/EC and 2004/294/EC do not bind the new Member States since it was addressed to “all the present Member States” – i.e. the EU-15.

CONTENT: the sole purpose of the proposed Decision is to place Slovenia on an equal footing with the Member States to whom Decision 2004/924/EC applies. The proposal is without prejudice to:

• the position of the other Member State, which are Parties to the Vienna Convention;
• the position of the other Member States, which are not Parties to any convention on third-party liability in the nuclear field; and
• the Commission’s right of initiative.