Agreement between Canada and the European Atomic Energy Community for cooperation in the area of nuclear research
Date: 1998-12-17
Institutions: Canada, European Atomic Energy Community
Subjects: Canada, cooperation agreement (EU), industrial research, intellectual property, nuclear research

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between Canada and the European Atomic Energy Community for cooperation in the
area of nuclear research

AGREEMENT

THE GOVERNMENT OF CANADA,

of the one part, hereinafter referred to as ‘Canada', and

THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY,

hereinafter referred to as ‘the Community', of the other part,

hereinafter referred to as ‘the Parties',

Considering the importance of science and technology for their economic and social development;

Recognising that Canada and the Community are pursuing research and technological programmes of
common interest in a number of areas of nuclear research and that mutual benefits may be derived if the
Parties facilitate further cooperation;

Recognising that the Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation between Canada and the
European Community entered into force on 26 February 1996;

Noting that there has been active cooperation and information exchange in a number of scientific or
technological areas under the Canada-European Communities framework Agreement for commercial and
economic cooperation signed in 1976;

Noting that there has also been active cooperation and information exchange in the area of the peaceful uses
of nuclear energy under the Agreement between the Government of Canada and Euratom for cooperation in
the peaceful uses of atomic energy signed in 1959, as amended, hereinafter referred to as the ‘Canada/Euratom
Agreement of 1959';

Reaffirming their commitment to mutual cooperation in nuclear research and development as provided for in
the Canada/Euratom Agreement of 1959;

Having regard to the Declaration on European Community-Canada relations adopted on November 22, 1990
as well as the Joint Political Declaration on Canada-EU relations and Joint Canada-EU action plan of 17
December 1996;

Recalling that Canada and the Member States of the Community are parties to the Treaty on the Non-prolif-
eration of Nuclear Weapons and members of the International Atomic Energy Agency;

Desiring to strengthen cooperation in the peaceful, non-explosive, non-military uses of nuclear research and
encourage the application of the results of such cooperation to their economic and social benefit,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

Purpose

The purpose of this Agreement is to encourage and facili-
tate cooperation,
in fields of common interest in the
peaceful, non-explosive, non-military uses of nuclear
energy where the Parties are supporting research and
development activities to advance science and/or tech-
nology relevant to those fields of interest.

Article 2

Definitions

(b)

‘information' means scientific or technical data, results
or methods of research and development stemming
from the joint research, and any other information
deemed necessary by the participants engaged in
cooperative activity, including, where necessary, the
Parties themselves;

(c)

‘intellectual property' shall have the meaning defined
in Article 2 of the Convention establishing the World
Intellectual Property organisation, done at Stockholm,
14 July 1967;

(d)

research' means research that

‘joint
is financially
supported by either or both Parties and that involves
collaboration by participants from both Canada and
the Community. All research carried out pursuant to
this Agreement shall be joint research;

For the purposes of this Agreement:

(a)

‘cooperative activity' means any activity carried on
under this Agreement, and includes joint research;

(e)

‘participant' means any person, legal entity, university,
research institute or any other body and undertaking
participating in a cooperative activity, including the
Parties themselves.

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Article 3

Principles

Cooperation shall be conducted subject to applicable laws
and regulations and on the basis of the following prin-
ciples:

(a) mutual benefit;

(b) reciprocal opportunities for access to each other’s
programmes and activities relevant to the purpose of
this Agreement;

(c) non-discrimination;

(d) timely exchange of information which may affect the
actions of participants in cooperative activities;

(e) effective protection of intellectual property and equit-

able sharing of intellectual property rights;

(f) balanced realisation of economic and social benefits
by Canada and the Community in view of the contri-
butions made to cooperative activities by the respec-
tive participants and/or Parties.

Article 4

Areas of cooperation

3.

shared use of research facilities;

4. exchange and provision of information and data;

5. exchange of reference materials, samples, fuels, equip-

ment and instrumentation;

6. visits and exchanges of scientists, engineers or other
appropriate personnel
for the purposes of partici-
pating in meetings, seminars, symposia, workshops
and other research activities relevant to cooperation
under this Agreement;

7. exchange of information on practices, laws, regula-
tions and programmes relevant to cooperation under
the Agreement;

8.

such other activities as may be mutually determined
by the Joint Science and Technology Cooperation
Committee in accordance with the applicable policies
and programmes of the Parties.

joint
Except as otherwise agreed by the Parties,
(b)
research projects shall proceed under this Agreement only
after the participants in a project have concluded a joint
technology management plan, as indicated in the Annex
to this Agreement.

Article 6

Cooperation may be pursued in the following areas of
research and development:

1. nuclear safeguards;

Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Com-
mittee (JSTCC)

2.

radioactive waste management,

including disposal;

3. decommissioning of nuclear facilities;

This Agreement shall be administered by the Joint
and Technology Cooperation Committee

(a)
Science
composed of representatives of each Party.

4.

radiation protection;

5. nuclear reactor safety;

6. controlled nuclear fusion.

(b)

The functions of the JSTCC shall be to:

1. promote and review the activities envisaged under the

Agreement;

Article 5

2. authorise activities falling under Article 5(a)(8) as
being cooperation to which this Agreement applies;

Modalities of cooperation

Cooperation may include but is not limited to the

(a)
following activities:

1. participation of persons and legal entities, including
the Parties themselves, universities, research institu-
in each
tions, and other bodies or undertakings,
other’s research projects or
in agreed multilateral
projects, in accordance with the rules governing such
projects, subject to the consent if required, of the third
parties involved;

2.

specific bilateral cooperative research projects estab-
lished by the Parties themselves, possibly on the basis
of an implementing arrangement;

3. advise the Parties on ways to enhance cooperation
consistent with the principles set out in this Agree-
ment;

4. provide a report annually to the Parties on the level,
status and effectiveness of cooperation undertaken
under this Agreement;

5.

review the efficient and effective functioning of the
Agreement, and address any disputes between the
Parties concerning the interpretation of this Agree-
ment;

6. maintain a list of contact persons for a given area of

research.

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The JSTCC shall meet approximately once a year,
(c)
meetings being held alternatively in Canada and the
Community. Other meetings may be held as mutually
agreed.

(d) Decisions of
the JSTCC shall be reached by
consensus. Minutes, comprising a record of the decisions
and principal points discussed, shall be taken at each
meeting. These minutes shall be agreed by those persons
selected from each side to jointly chair the meetings. The
JSTCC annual report shall be made available to the Joint
Cooperation Committee established under the 1976 EC-
Canada
and
economic cooperation and appropriate authorities of each
party.

framework Agreement

commercial

for

Article 7

Funding

(a)
Cooperative activities shall be subject to the avail-
ability of funds and to the applicable laws and regulations,
policies and programmes of Canada and the Community.

Costs incurred by participants in cooperative activ-
to this Agreement shall not require any

(b)
ities subject
transfer of funds from one Party to the other.

tion governing existing science and technology collabora-
tion.

This Agreement shall complement the provisions

(b)
of the Canada/Euratom Agreement of 1959.

Subject

to paragraph 10(a),

(c)
is
without prejudice to other existing Agreements or
arrangements between the Parties or any Agreement or
arrangement between the Parties and third parties.

this Agreement

The activities covered by existing sectoral coopera-
(d)
and memoranda of understanding
tion agreements
between the Parties shall continue to fall under the scope
of these agreements or memoranda.

(e) On termination of existing sectoral cooperation
agreements and memoranda of understanding between
the Parties, as provided for in these agreements and
memoranda, the Parties wil review the situation with a
view to including the activities covered by such agree-
ments and memoranda within this Agreement.

Article 11

Article 8

Territorial application

Entry of personnel and equipment

Each Party shall take all reasonable steps and use its best
efforts, within applicable laws and regulations, to facilitate
entry to and exit from its territory of personnel, material
and equipment of the participant(s) engaged in or used in
cooperative activities under this Agreement.

Article 9

Dissemination and utilisation of information

The dissemination and utilisation of information, and the
management, allocation and exercise of intellectual prop-
erty rights, resulting from joint research under this Agree-
ment, shall be subject to laws and regulations applicable
on each side and to the principles set out in the Annex,
which forms an integral part of this Agreement.

Article 10

Other Agreements and transitional provisions

(a)
This Agreement shall supersede and replace those
provisions of the Canada-European Communities frame-
work agreement for commercial and economic coopera-

This Agreement shall apply, on the one hand, to the
territory of Canada, and, on the other hand, to the terri-
tories in which the Treaty establishing the European
Atomic Energy Community is applied and under the
conditions laid down in that Treaty.

Article 12

Entry into force and termination

(a)
This Agreement shall enter into force on the date
on which the Parties have notified each other in writing
that their legal requirements for entry into force of this
Agreement have been fulfilled.

(b)
This Agreement may be amended by agreement of
the Parties. Amendments shall enter into force on the
date on which the Parties have notified each other in
writing that their legal requirements have been fulfilled.

(c)
This Agreement may be terminated at any time by
either Party on 12 months’ written notice. The expiration
or termination of the Agreement shall not affect the
validity or duration of any arrangements made under it, or
any specific rights and obligations that have accrued in
compliance with the Annex.

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Article 13

This Agreement is drawn up in duplicate in the Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French,
German, Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish languages, each of those texts
being equally authentic.

In witness whereof the undersigned have signed this Agreement.

Done at Ottawa, 17 December 1998.

For the Government of
Canada

For the European Atomic
Energy Community

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ANNEX

ANNEX ON THE DISSEMINATION AND UTILISATION OF INFORMATION AND
MANAGEMENT, ALLOCATION AND EXERCISE OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

I. Ownership, allocation and exercise of rights

1. Participants performing joint research shall develop joint technology management plans (JTMPs) which
shall contain, as a minimum, principles in respect of the ownership and use, including publication, of
information and intellectual property (IP) to be created in the course of the joint research (1). The JTMPs
may be reviewed by the Parties and shall be approved by the responsible funding agency or department of
the party involved in financing the research, before the conclusion of any specific research and develop-
ment cooperation contracts to which they refer. The JTMPs shall be developed taking into account the
aims of the joint research, the relative contributions of the participants, the advantages and disadvantages of
licensing by territory or for fields of use, requirements imposed by applicable laws, the need for dispute
settlement procedures and other factors deemed appropriate by the participants. The rights and obligations
concerning the research and information generated by visiting researchers in respect of IP shall also be
addressed in the JTMPs.

2. Information or IP created in the course of joint research and not addressed in a JTMP shall be allocated
according to the principles set out in point I.1 according to the principles set out in that JTMP. In case of
disagreement which cannot be resolved by the agreed dispute resolution procedure, such unallocated
information or IP shall be owned jointly by all the participants involved in the joint research from which
the information or IP results, and each participant to whom this provision applies shall have the right to
use such information or IP for his/her own commercial exploitation with no geographical limitation.

3. In accordance with applicable laws and regulations, each Party shall ensure that the other Party and its
participants may have the rights to IP allocated to them in accordance with the principles set out in Section
I of this Annex.

4. While maintaining the conditions of competition in areas affected by the Agreement, each Party shall
endeavour to ensure that rights acquired pursuant to the Agreement, and arrangements made under it, are
exercised in such a way as to encourage in particular:

(i) the dissemination and use of information created, disclosed, or otherwise made available, under the

Agreement;

(ii) the adoption and implementation of international standards.

II. Copyright works

Copyright belonging to the Parties or to their participants shall be accorded treatment consistent with the
Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights administered by the World Trade
Organisation.

III. Scientific literary works

Without prejudice to Section IV, unless otherwise agreed in the JTMP, any publication of results of the joint
research shall be made jointly by the participants. In addition to the foregoing general rule, the following
procedure shall apply:

1. in the case of publication by a Party or public bodies of that Party, of scientific and technical journals,
articles, reports, books, including video and software arising from joint research pursuant to the Agreement,
the other Party shall be entitled, with written permission from the publisher, to a worldwide, non-exclusive,
irrevocable, royalty-free licence to translate, reproduce, adapt and publicly distribute such works;

2. the parties shall endeavour to disseminate literary works of a scientific character arising from joint research

pursuant to the Agreement and published by independent publishers as widely as possible;

(1) The indicative features of such JTMPs are set out in the Appendix.

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3. all copies of a copyright work to be publicly distributed and prepared under this provision shall indicate
the names of the author(s) of the work unless an author or authors expressly declines or decline to be
named. Copies shall also bear a clearly visible acknowledgement of the cooperative support of the Parties.

A. Documentary undisclosed information

IV. Undisclosed information

1. Participants shall identify at the earliest possible moment, and preferably in the JTMP, the information that
it wishes to remain undisclosed in relation to this Agreement, taking into account, among other things, the
following criteria:

— secrecy of the information in the sense that the information is not, as a body or in the precise
configuration or assembly of its components, generally known among or readily accessible by lawful
means to experts in the field,

— the actual or potential commercial value of the information by virtue of its secrecy,

— previous protection of the information in the sense that it has been subject to steps that were reasonable

under the circumstances by the person lawfully in control, to maintain its secrecy.

2. Participants shall not normally be required to provide undisclosed information to the Parties. Should the
Parties become aware of such information, they shall respect the privileged nature thereof, and it shall not
be further disclosed by, within, or between the Parties, without the written consent of the participant(s) to
whom the information belongs. These limitations shall automatically terminate when such information is
disclosed by the owner, without restriction, to experts in the field.

3. Each Party shall ensure that undisclosed information, communicated between them under the Agreement,
and its ensuing privileged nature is readily recognisable as such by the other Party, for example, by means
of an appropriate marking or restrictive legend. This also applies to any reproduction of the said informa-
tion, in whole or in part.

4. Undisclosed information communicated under the Agreement, and received from the other Party, may be
disseminated by the receiving Party to persons within or employed by the receiving Party and other
concerned departments or agencies of the receiving Party authorised for the specific purposes of the joint
research under way, provided that any undisclosed information so disseminated shall be pursuant to a
written agreement of confidentiality and shall be readily recognisable as such, as set out above.

5. With the prior written consent of the Party providing undisclosed information under the Agreement, the
receiving Party may disseminate such undisclosed information more widely than otherwise permitted in
paragraph 4. The Party shall cooperate in developing procedures for requesting and obtaining prior written
consent for such wider dissemination, and each Party will grant such approval to the extent permitted by its
domestic policies, regulations and laws.

B. Non-documentary undisclosed information

Non-documentary undisclosed or other confidential or privileged information provided in seminars and other
meetings arranged under the Agreement, or information arising from the attachment of staff, use of facilities,
or joint projects, shall be treated by the Parties or their participants according to the principles specified in
Section IV.A, provided, however, that the recipient of such undisclosed or other confidential or privileged
information has been made aware in advance and in written form of the confidential character of the
information to be communicated.

C. Control

Each Party shall make its best efforts to ensure that undisclosed information received by it under the
Agreement shall be controlled as provided therein. If one of the Parties becomes aware that it will be, or may
reasonably be expected to become, unable to meet the non-dissemination provisions of paragraphs A and B, it
shall immediately inform the Party likely to be affected by the dissemination. The Parties involved shall
thereafter consult to define an appropriate course of action.

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Appendix

Indicative features of a joint technology management plan (JTMP)

The JTMP is a specific contract to be concluded between the participants in joint research defining their
respective rights and obligations. With respect to intellectual property rights, the JTMP will normally address,
inter alia: ownership, protection, user rights for research and development purposes, exploitation and
dissemination, including arrangements for joint publication, the rights and obligations of visiting researchers
and dispute settlement procedures. The JTMP may also address foreground and background information, the
rules governing disclosure of undisclosed information, licensing and deliverables.