THE COUNCIL,

HAVING REGARD to the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development of 14 December 1960 and, in particular, to Article 5 thereof;

CONSIDERING that the European Nuclear Energy Agency1 (hereinafter referred to as "ENEA"), established within the framework of the Organisation, is charged with encouraging the elaboration and harmonization of legislation relating to nuclear energy in participating countries, in particular with regard to the protection of public health;

CONSIDERING the importance of norms both for the protection of the health of workers in the atomic industry and the general public against ionizing radiations and for the development of the production and uses of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in Europe;

HAVING REGARD to the radiation protection norms adopted on 12 June 1959 [C(59)109(Final)];

CONSIDERING that the protection norms should be adjusted to the most recent scientific knowledge;

HAVING REGARD to the Report of the Steering Committee of ENEA of 29 November 1962;

I.          DECIDES:

1.         The Member countries of ENEA shall take the necessary measures to ensure that adequate protection against the hazards of ionizing radiations for persons occupationally exposed and for the population is provided and maintained wherever radioactive materials are produced, processed, handled, possessed, used, stored, transported or disposed of, or wherever any other activity involving hazards of ionizing radiations is carried on, or wherever machines capable of producing hazards of ionizing radiations are used.

2.         The Member countries of ENEA shall ensure that appropriate measures are prepared to meet emergencies or incidents involving ionizing radiations.

II.         RECOMMENDS to the Member countries of ENEA that the measures specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this Decision be based upon the radiation protection norms annexed to this Decision, which replace the norms of 12 June 1959.

III.        FURTHER DECIDES that the Steering Committee of ENEA may revise the provisions of the Annex to this Decision in the light of any new recommendations by the International Commission on Radiological Protection or other competent international bodies. Such modifications shall be notified to the competent bodies in Member countries in accordance with the procedure followed for Council Decisions.

ANNEX

 

RADIATION PROTECTION NORMS2

 



1     The European Nuclear Energy Agency (ENEA) became the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) on 20 April 1972, following the decision taken by Japan to participate in the Agency as a full member.

2    These Norms were published by the IAEA in 1983 in the Safety Series, No. 9, which is available from the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. These norms were replaced in 1981 by the "Basic Safety Standards for Radiation Protection" jointly recommended by the OECD/NEA, IAEA, ILO and WHO. They were adopted by the Steering Committee of NEA in the form of a recommendation, at its session of 14-15 October 1981.