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Community. The way the Union copes with the situation is that it
authorises
the
Member States to accede to an international convention by a special decision.
66
Such
authorisation
was issued with regard to the ratification of the Protocol
to Amend the Paris Convention of 2004 by those Member States which are the
Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention of 1960. And, consequently, such
a kind of authorization is needed also with regard to the ratification of the Protocol
to Amend the Vienna Convention of 1997 by those Contracting Parties to it which
entered the European Union during the
“Eastern enlargement”
.
However, Poland ratified the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil
Liability for Nuclear Damage of 1997 on 21 September 2010, and, consequently,
the Protocol entered into force in this country on 21 December 2010. Poland did
this step
without being authorised
to do so by the European Commission. Further,
in Autumn 2012, the Commission drafted an
authorisation
on acceding or
ratifying the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention of 1997 by all the “new”
Member States which are the Contracting Party to the Vienna Convention on
Nuclear Liability of 1963 (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Estonia, Bulgaria and Romania).
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The following text aims at analysing
requirements arising from this proposed decision
68
and its potential to contribute
to the harmonisation of nuclear third party liability in the European Union.
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1.2.1 Background: “Nuclear Liability Labyrinth” in Europe
Nuclear liability conventions of the “first generation”
Most of the
“old”
Member States are the Contracting Parties to the Paris
Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 1960
(hereinafter also the “Paris Convention”)
70
and to the Brussels Convention
Supplementary to the Paris Convention of 1960 (hereinafter also the “Brussels
66
There is a similar situation in the area of liability of ship owners (maritime liability). See
RINGBOM, H. EU Regulation 44/2001 and Its Implications for the International Maritime
Liability Conventions,
Journal of Maritime Law & Commerce
, Danvers, 35, 2004, p. 1
et seqq.
67
COM (2012) 550 final.
68
This text was finished in April 2013 and, consequently, it reflects the legal situation up to this date.
Therefore, when reading this text, it is of major importance to check for the current state regarding
the draft decision.
69
For details on this problem see HANDRLICA, J. European Atomic Energy Community and the
Nuclear Third Party Liability, In ŠTURMA, P. ed.
Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International
Law
, Vol. 3, Prague : CSIL, 2012, p. 15
et seqq.
70
The Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 29 July 1960, as
amended by the Additional Protocol of 28 January 1964 and by the Protocol of 16 November
1982. The 1960 Convention and the 1964 Protocol entered into force on 1 April 1968. The 1982
Protocol entered into force on 7 October 1988.