DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE ON NUCLEAR LIABILITY TO BE HELD IN VIENNA 8-12 SEPTEMBER
Press Release
IAEA/1314
DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE ON NUCLEAR LIABILITY TO BE HELD IN VIENNA 8-12 SEPTEMBER
19970905 (Reissued as received.)VIENNA, 5 September (IAEA) -- Delegates from over 70 States are to attend a Diplomatic Conference at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna from 8 to 12 September to adopt a Protocol to amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and to adopt a Convention on Supplementary Funding.
Liability is an important component of nuclear safety. The international regime of liability for nuclear damage is now based on two instruments: the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, which was adopted in 1960 within the regional framework of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); and the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, which is an instrument of universal character concluded in 1963 under the auspices of the IAEA.
Over the last few years, the IAEA was actively engaged with strengthening the international nuclear liability regime. In 1988, a combined effort by the IAEA and OECD/NEA resulted in the adoption of the Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention. It linked the two Conventions into one system. In 1990, the IAEA Standing Committee on Liability for Nuclear Damage was established to deal with the revision of the Vienna Convention and elaboration of an instrument on supplementary compensation.
The draft Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention and the draft Convention on Supplementary Funding which resulted from this work and are to be considered by the Diplomatic Conference, consolidate recent developments in the field of nuclear liability by providing for better means of redress of damage caused by nuclear incident. In particular, it is proposed to raise the minimum limit of the operator's liability to not less than 300 million SDRs (at the moment equivalent to about 400 million dollars) with additional compensation provided through contribution by States Parties.
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