Proposal for a Council Regulation establishing a Community system for registration of carriers of radioactive materials

At European level, carriers of radioactive materials are covered by transport legislation under the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and legislation on radiation-specific aspects including the health protection of workers and the general public under the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). Council Directive 96/29/Euratom of 13 May 1996 lays down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiation.

For the sake of protecting the health of workers and the general public and to better focus their work, Member States’ authorities need to know which persons, organisations or undertakings to check on. To that end, Articles 3 and 4 of the Directive require Member States to submit certain practices involving a hazard from ionising radiation to a system of reporting (notification) and prior authorisation or to prohibit certain practices. Directive 96/29/Euratom applies to all practices which involve a risk from ionising radiation emanating from an artificial source or from a natural radiation source, including transport.

Given the frequent cross-border nature of transport operations, a carrier may have to comply with reporting and authorisation procedures in several Member States. In addition, Member States have implemented these procedures in different ways, thereby adding to the complexity of transport operations. Replacing these national reporting and authorisation procedures with a single registration system for conducting transport will therefore contribute to simplifying the procedure, reduce the administrative burden and do away with barriers to entry, while the high radiation protection levels reached will be maintained.

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)561: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:561:FIN

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