TREATIES AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ACTS SERIES 15-1218.1

________________________________________________________________________

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION

Nuclear Physics Experiments

Protocol I Between the 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

and the EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR 

NUCLEAR RESEARCH

To Agreement of May 7, 2015

Signed at Geneva December 18, 2015

 
 NOTE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE

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 EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR 

 NUCLEAR RESEARCH

 Scientific and Technical Cooperation:

 Nuclear Physics Experiments

 Protocol I to agreement of May 7, 2015.

 Signed at Geneva December 18, 2015;

 Entered into force December 18, 2015.

 
NUCLEAR PHYSICS EXPERIMENTS PROTOCOL I 

between 

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (DOE) 

and 

THE EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION 

FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH (CERN) 

to 

THE CO-OPERATION AGREEMENT 

• concerning 

SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL CO-OPERATION 

IN NUCLEAR AND PARTICLE PHYSICS 

2015 
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The Department of Energy of the United States of America (

11DOE"), 

and 

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (

11CERN"), an 

Intergovernmental Organization having its seat at Geneva, Switzerland, 

(hereafter collectively referred to as 11 the Parties"): 

CONSIDERING: 

That the Parties collaborated to their mutual benefit under the International 

Co-Operation Agreement Concerning Scientific and Technical Co-Operation 

on Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Activities signed December 8, 1997; 

That the Parties successfully collaborated in the design, fabrication, and/or 

operation of major detector facilities at the LHC, under an Experiments 

Protocol I signed December 19, 1997; 

That the Parties renewed their collaboration under the Co-Operation 

Agreement Concerning Scientific and Technical Co-Operation in Nuclear and 

Particle Physics signed May 7, 2015 (hereinafter the "2015 Co-Operation 

Agreement"); 

That United States universities and national laboratories play an important 

role in the ongoing exploitation of heavy ion physics with the ALICE, ATLAS 

and CMS detectors; 

That at the same time the participation of U.S. scientists benefits the CERN 

program by providing intellectual and financial resources that allow 

substantial improvement in the capabilities of the detectors, and therefore a 

greatly enhanced research program in heavy ion physics and nuclear science; 

That the excellent experimental results obtained so far strongly support 

continued cooperation in heavy ion physics at the LHC; and 
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That it is in the mutual interest of the Parties to continue and extend their cooperation on the LHC experiments' research in heavy ion physics, under this 

Nuclear Physics Experiments Protocol I (hereinafter "Protocol"), 

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS: 

Article 1 

Purpose 

The purpose of this Protocol is to define the framework under which DOE, as 

the U.S. funding agency, and its national laboratories and grantees 

(hereinafter collectively referred to as the "U.S. Participants"), shall 

participate in the heavy ion physics programs in ALICE, ATLAS and CMS 

detector collaborations under the auspices of CERN (hereinafter the 

"Collaborations"). These activities will include increasing the physics reach 

of one or more of the detectors to the benefit of the LHC experiment(s) 

through construction of technologically advanced detectors in order to take 

full advantage of increases in the LHC accelerator's luminosity for heavy ions. 

The resulting increase in capabilities will facilitate and support the continued 

participation of the United States nuclear physics community in the heavy ion 

physics program at the LHC. 

Article 2 

Participation by U.S. Institutions in the Collaborations 

Each Collaboration shall maintain a process, as defined in a Memorandum of 

Understanding, for admitting participating institutions which shall apply 

equally to both CERN Member States and non-Member States. DOE national 

laboratories and grantees of DOE, including partnering universities, shall be 

entitled to participate in the Collaborations in accordance with applicable 

Memoranda of Understanding. 
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Article 3 

Organization of U.S. Participants in the Collaborations 

The U.S. Participants in each Collaboration shall form an organization 

(hereinafter "U.S. Collaboration Organization") to co-ordinate within the 

framework of the overall Collaboration of which they are an integral part. 

Each U.S. Collaboration Organization shall designate a national contact to 

represent the U.S. Collaboration Organization within its respective 

international Collaboration, and shall establish its own Project Management 

Plan, which will describe the U.S. Collaboration Organization and 

distribution of management responsibilities. The national contacts shall 

represent the U.S. Collaboration Organizations before DOE, and be 

responsible to the Collaborations for U.S. technical and budget-planning 

activities in nuclear physics. 

Article 4 

CERN LHC Resources Review Boards 

The CERN LHC Resources Review Boards for the Collaborations, composed 

of representatives of each participating funding agency, shall monitor and 

oversee resource-related matters concerning implementation of this Protocol. 

DOE shall be a full member of these LHC Resources Review Boards. 

Article 5 

Memoranda of Understanding 

The responsibilities of the U.S. Collaboration Organizations for the research 

and development (R&D), engineering design, and prototyping and 

fabrication of any detector upgrades at the LHC shall be specified in 

Memoranda of Understanding ("MOUs"), one per experiment, with the 

concurrence of the CERN LHC Resources Review Boards. Subsystem 

Technical Design Reports on the scientific and technical aspects of the 
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detectors shall be submitted by the Collaborations to CERN for approval and 

shall be the basis for the commitments specified in the MOUs. Each MOU 

shall cover the actual construction of the relevant detector and its installation 

in the underground experimental area, and shall include the distribution of 

tasks and other responsibilities for all participating institutions, including 

those from the United States, as well as the organizational, managerial, and 

financial guidelines to be followed by each Collaboration. 

Article 6 

Responsibilities of U.S. Participants in the Collaborations 

6.1 The U.S. Participants shall have responsibilities for R&D, engineering 

design, prototyping, fabrication, and normal maintenance and 

operation of any detector upgrades, including their subsystems and 

components, as agreed to and described in the MOUs developed 

pursuant to Article 5 of this Protocol and their addenda. 

6.2 The U.S. Participants shall provide specified equipment to be built by 

or under the supervision of U.S. institutions for any agreed upon 

detector upgrades. They shall also contribute, in whole or in part, to 

the provision of items of a largely industrial nature considered as part 

of common projects which are the responsibility of a Collaboration 

(hereafter "Common Projects"). Such items shall be funded directly or 

indirectly by all participants in each Collaboration, in accordance with 

the provisions of the MOUs, and their provision shall be subject to the 

approval of the CERN LHC Resources Review Boards. 

6.3 Requirements for cash contributions from U.S. Participants in the 

Collaborations~ including contributions to "Common Funds" for costs 

associated with Common Projects, shall be specified in the MOUs. 

Responsibility for such contributions shall be in accordance with 

Article 7 below, and shall be limited to the amounts stated in the 

MOUs, except by mutual agreement among CERN, the Collaborations, 

and DOE. 
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Article 7 

Funding of U.S. Participation in the Collaborations 

7.1 The U.S. Participants may contribute their expertise and resources to 

the detector research, development and construction phases of any 

detector upgrades, as related to heavy ion performance and 

capabilities. Subject to availability of appropriated funds, DOE's total 

contributions to the LHC detector upgrades shall be specified and 

incorporated under separate implementing arrangements in the form 

of Aqdenda to this Protocol, and shall also be detailed in provisions of 

the MOUs concerned. The application of any funds specified in these 

Addenda to the detector system costs will follow standard DOE 

accounting practices. 

7.2 Detector system cost estimates presented to and reviewed by CERN 

will utilize CERN accounting policies and practices. DOE will assume 

no responsibility with respect to the validity of such cost estimates for 

the U.S. Participants' contributions. 

7.3 Funds provided by U.S. Participants under this Protocol for any 

detector upgrades shall only be used for those U.S. responsibilities 

identified in Article 6 above and the associated MOUs. 

Article 8 

Responsibilities of CERN 

8.1 The general obligations of CERN as host laboratory, and of the 

participating institutions, are specified in the document "General 

Conditions Applicable to Experiments at CERN", which is hereby 

incorporated by reference and considered a part of this Protocol. The 

Financial Guidelines for LHC Collaborations (CERN/FC/3796 and 

CERN/FC/3796/Rev.; original dated September 14, 1995, revised 

September 4, 1998) is also considered a part of this Protocol. 

8.2 The Parties understand that the design, fabrication, and operation of 

the detectors shall be managed by the Collaborations, respectively, 

with CERN having oversight responsibilities and providing 
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continuous monitoring through CERN's Research Board and its LHC 

Experiments Committee. The Research Board is responsible for 

CERN's entire experimental research program and is chaired by the 

Director-General, whereas the LHC Experiments Committee reviews 

for the Research Board the scientific and technical progress of the LHC 

experiments, and reports to the Research Board. 

8.3 The Technical Co-ordinators of the Collaborations shall be CERN staff 

members, and shall have overall responsibilities for technical aspects of 

detector construction. Their responsibilities shall include integration of 

the subdetectors, safety, infrastructure at CERN, surface and 

experimental areas, services, installation, machine interface, and test 

beams. 

8.4 Similarly, the Resource Co-ordinators of the Collaborations shall be 

CERN staff members, and shall have the responsibility for monitoring 

the financial aspects of the detector projects, including budget and 

resource planning and the MOUs, as well as the responsibility for the 

financial aspects of the Common Projects and associated Common 

Funds. 

8.5 CERN shall have the responsibility to approve the appointments of the 

Technical and Resource Co-ordinators, and to ensure that they have 

the staff and engineering support required to carry out their 

responsibilities. It shall be CERN's overall responsibility to use 

reasonable efforts to ensure that there is a satisfactory match between 

the available resources (including funding and manpower) and the 

approved detector projects. CERN, through the Resource and 

Technical Co-ordinators, shall have oversight responsibility for 

Common Projects and Common Funds. 

Article 9 

CERN Support for U.S. Scientists 

CERN shall provide to U.S. scientists participating in the Collaborations on 

behalf of U.S. Participants the same level of facility support that it normally 

provides to all its visiting scientists. 
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Article 10 

Entry into Force, Duration, and Termination 

This Protocol shall enter into force upon signature by both Parties. This 

Protocol shall remain in force for an initial period of five years and shall 

thereafter be renewed automatically, each time for a new period of five years, 

unless a written notice of termination is given by one Party to the other Party, 

or the Parties have agreed on its renewal by another period, at least six 

months prior to the renewal date, so long as the 2015 Co-Operation 

Agreement remains in force. 

Article 11 

Amendment 

The Parties may amend this Protocol at any time by mutual written consent, 

so long as the 2015 Co-Operation Agreement remains in force. Implementing 

arrangements in the form of Addenda to this Protocol, which shall be subject 

to formal review by the Government of the United States and by CERN, are 

the preferred vehicles for legally-binding alterations or additions. 

Article 12 

Final Provisions 

12.1 Each Party's participation in the activities contemplated by this 

Protocol is subject to the availability of appropriated funds, personnel, 

and other resources. 
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12.2 This Protocol is subject to and governed by the terms of the 2015 CoOperation Agreement. 

DONE at Geneva, Switzerland, in duplicate in the English language, on 18 

December 2015 

FOR THE DEPARTMENT 

OF ENERGY OF THE UNITED 

STATES OF AMERICA: 

Pamela Hamamoto 

Permanent Representative of the 

United States of America to the 

United Nations and Other 

International Organizations in 

Geneva 

FOR THE EUROPEAN 

ORGANIZATION FOR NUCLEAR 

RESEARCH: 

Rolf Heuer 

Director-General