The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted the report by Béla KOVÁCS (NI, HU) on the proposal for a Council regulation establishing a Community system for registration of carriers of radioactive materials.
The committee made the following amendments to the Commission proposal :
Legal basis: Members wanted the Regulation to be based on Article 91 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, so that Parliament would not be deprived of its powers of codecision particularly since the proposal concerns important environmental and health issues.
Objective and scope: the Regulation establishes a Community system for the authorisation and registration of carriers of radioactive materials based on Directive 2008/68/EC and Directive 96/29/Euratom. The Regulation shall apply to any carrier transporting radioactive materials by road, rail and inland waterway. It shall apply without prejudice to national provisions dealing with the protection of transport of radioactive materials against theft, sabotage or other malicious acts.
Registration certificate: individual transport operations shall be accompanied by a copy of the carrier's registration certificate.
Any transport of radioactive materials shall comply with the international rules and standards set by UNECE on dangerous and polluting goods, as well as the corresponding European Agreement on the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR), the Regulations concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Rail (RID), and the European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Inland Waterways (ADN), as defined in Directive 2008/68/EC.
Registration procedure: a carrier shall apply for registration through the ESCReg to the competent authority. Online guidelines with contact data and information on how to reach the contact point or the competent authority shall be available at all times in order to assist the applicant.
In the event of rejection an error message shall be sent to the applicant giving the reasons for which the application was rejected.
A copy of the certificate of carrier registration as well as a copy of the refusal and statement of the reasons shall be provided automatically through the ESCReg to the competent authorities of all Member States.
The competent authority shall retain all historical data for all applicants in order to ensure their traceability, to facilitate better monitoring and to prevent any falsification.
Electronic System for Carrier Registration (ESCReg): the ESCReg shall be secured, robust and fully operational before the entry into force of the Regulation. In addition, an information exchange mechanism between the competent authorities and the ESCReg shall be set up in order to facilitate at least cross border transport. The ESCRg shall provide the public with access to the list of registered carriers.
The competent authorities of the Member States shall be responsible for the content of information submitted through the ESCReg, which shall be accurate, timely and transparent.
Application of common criteria: in order to ensure equal treatment for all applicants, the competent authorities shall ensure that the criteria for delivering the registration certificate are identical and consistent with IAEA definitions and that the registration process is harmonised. These common criteria shall consist of a set of safety standards based on the Modal Regulations for the Transport of Dangerous Goods (ADR, RID and ADN), Directive 96/29/Euratom and Directive 2008/68/EC with which carriers of radioactive materials must comply with in order to obtain a registration certificate;
Compliance: the enforcement measures shall be immediately notified to the Member State that issued the certificate. Within a maximum of four weeks, the notified Member State shall modify, renew or revoke the registration. The decision shall be issued through ESCReg to the competent authorities of all Member States.
Depending on the safety significance of the non-compliance and the record of compliance of the carrier, the Member State where the non-compliance was discovered may suspend the carrier's registration.
The suspension shall be immediately notified to the Member State that issued the certificate, and it may modify, renew or revoke the registration.
All cases of non-compliance must be notified to the competent authorities of all Member States and the Commission
Review: the Commission shall review the Regulation two years after its entry into force in order to assess its effectiveness and propose, if necessary, further measures to ensure safe carriage of radioactive materials within the Community and from third countries.