Vienna Convention (1963) on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, Protocol: ratification or accession by Member States

2012/0262(NLE)

PURPOSE: to permit those Member States that are contracting Parties to the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 21 May 1963 to ratify the Protocol amending that Convention in the interest of the European Union, or to accede to it.

NON-LEGISLATIVE ACT: Council Decision 2013/434/EU authorising certain Member States to ratify, or to accede to, the Protocol amending the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 21 May 1963, in the interest of the European Union, and to make a declaration on the application of the relevant internal rules of Union law.

CONTENT: this Council Decision authorises Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to ratify, or to accede to, the Protocol of 12 September 1997 amending the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 21 May 1963, in the interest of the Union. The text of the 1997 Protocol is attached to this Decision.

The 1997 Protocol was negotiated with a view to improving compensation for victims of damage caused by nuclear incidents. It is therefore desirable that the provisions of the 1997 Protocol be applied in the Member States which are Contracting Parties to the Vienna Convention.

Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia are authorised to declare that judgments on matters covered by the 1997 Protocol, when given by a court of a Member State of the European Union, which is a Contracting Party to that Protocol, shall be recognised and enforceable in [name of the Member State making the declaration] in accordance with the relevant rules of the European Union on the subject.

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 18.08.2013.