Agreement for cooperation between the European Atomic Energy Community represented by the Commission of the European Communities and the Department of Energy of the United States of America in the field of fusion energy research and development
Date: 2001-05-14
Institutions: European Atomic Energy Community, United States
Subjects: EAEC, United States, cooperation agreement (EU), nuclear energy, nuclear fusion, nuclear research, research and development, scientific cooperation

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for cooperation between the European Atomic Energy Community represented by the Commis-
sion of the European Communities and the Department of Energy of the United States of America
in the field of fusion energy research and development

AGREEMENT

THE EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY (Euratom), represented by the Commission of
the European
Communities, and the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (DOE), (hereinafter referred
to collectively as ‘the Parties’);

WHEREAS the Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between the European Atomic Energy
Community and the United States of America, signed at Brussels on 7 November 1995 and 29 March 1996, provides for
cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy,
in particular,
contributions towards multilateral projects;

including controlled thermonuclear fusion, and,

DESIRING to continue the long history of valuable collaboration between the Parties and to enhance the tradition of close
and continuing cooperation in the field of fusion energy which has occurred under the Agreement in the Field of
Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion (DOE-Euratom Agreement) signed at Brussels 15 December 1986; and in multilateral
frameworks, especially ITER; and

DESIRING to continue to promote the development of fusion energy as a potentially environmentally acceptable,
economically competitive, and virtually limitless source of energy,

HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS:

Article I

Objective

The objective of this Agreement is to continue and intensify
cooperation between the Parties in the areas covered by their
respective fusion programs, on the basis of mutual benefit and
in order to develop the scientific under-
overall reciprocity,
standing and technological capability underlying a fusion
energy system.

(a) exchange and provision of

information and data on
scientific and technical activities, developments, practices
and results, and on program policies and plans, including
exchange of undisclosed information on the terms and
conditions in accordance with Articles VI and VII;

(b) exchange of scientists, engineers and other specialists for
agreed periods of time in order to participate in experi-
ments, analysis, design and other research and development
activities in accordance with Article VIII;

Article II

Areas of cooperation

(c) organisation of seminars and other meetings to discuss and
exchange information on agreed topics in the areas listed in
Article II, and to identify cooperative actions which may be
usefully undertaken in accordance with Article V;

The areas of cooperation under this Agreement may include
the following:

1. tokamaks, including the large projects of the present genera-
tion and activities related to those of the next generation;

2. alternative lines to tokamaks;

3. magnetic fusion energy technology;

(d) exchange and provision of samples, materials, equipment
(instruments and components) for experiments, testing and
evaluation in accordance with Articles IX and X;

(e) execution of

experiments
including their joint design, construction and operation;

studies, projects or

joint

4. plasma theory and applied plasma physics;

(f) establishment of data links; and

5. program policies and plans; and

6. other areas as mutually agreed in writing.

(g) other specific forms of cooperation as mutually agreed in

writing.

Article III

Forms of cooperation

The forms of cooperation under this Agreement may

1.
include, but are not limited to, the following:

The Parties shall coordinate the activities, as appropriate,
2.
under this Agreement, with other international fusion research
and development activities, in order to minimise duplication of
effort. Nothing in this Agreement will be construed to preju-
dice existing or future arrangements for cooperation between
the Parties.

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Article IV

Coordinating Committee and Executive Secretaries

1.
The Parties will establish a Coordinating Committee to
coordinate and supervise the conduct of activities under this
Agreement. The Coordinating Committee will consist of up to
12 members, half of whom will be appointed by each Party.
The Coordinating Committee will meet annually, alternately in
the United States and in the European Union, or at other
agreed times and places. The Head of the Delegation of the
receiving Party will chair the meeting.

2.
The Coordinating Committee will review the progress
and plans of activities under this Agreement, and propose,
coordinate and approve future cooperative activities that are
within the scope of this Agreement with regard to technical
merit and level of effort to ensure mutual benefit and overall
reciprocity within the Agreement.

All decisions of the Coordinating Committee will be by
3.
unanimity. The Coordinating Committee delegation from each
Party shall have one vote, to be cast by the Head of the
Delegation.

4.
Each Party will nominate an Executive Secretary to act on
its behalf during periods between meetings of the Coordinating
Committee in all matters concerning cooperation under this
Agreement. The Executive Secretaries will be responsible for
day-to-day management of the cooperation.

Article V

Project agreements

When the Coordinating Committee agrees to undertake a
cooperative activity, it will approve a Project Agreement to this
Agreement and subject to its terms. Each Project Agreement
shall list the participants, and include detailed provisions for
implementation of the cooperative activity, including but not
limited to technical scope, management, applicable decontami-
nation responsibility, exchange of undisclosed information,
exchange of equipment, treatment of intellectual property, total
costs, cost-sharing and schedule, as appropriate.

Article VI

Availability and dissemination of information

The Parties shall support the widest possible dissemina-
2.
tion of information which they have the right to disclose,
either in their possession or available to them, and which is
either developed jointly or
intended to be provided or
exchanged pursuant to this Agreement, subject to the need to
protect undisclosed information and the need to protect intel-
lectual property arising under this Agreement.

3.
Information transmitted by one Party to the other Party
under this Agreement shall be accurate to the best knowledge
and belief of the transmitting Party, but the transmitting Party
does not warrant the suitability of the information transmitted
for any particular use or application by the receiving Party or
by any third party. Information developed jointly by the Parties
shall be accurate to the best knowledge and belief of both
Parties. Neither Party warrants the accuracy of the jointly devel-
oped information or its suitability for any particular use or
application by either Party or by any third party.

Article VII

Intellectual property

The protection and allocation of intellectual property created
or furnished in the course of collaborative activities under this
Agreement will be governed by the provisions in Annex A,
which shall form an integral part of this Agreement and shall
apply to all activities conducted under this Agreement.

Article VIII

Exchanges and assignments of personnel

The following provisions shall apply concerning exchanges or
assignments of personnel under this Agreement:

1. each Party or participant shall ensure the selection of quali-
fied personnel with skills and competence necessary to
conduct the activities planned under this Agreement. Each
such exchange or assignment of personnel shall be mutually
agreed in advance by an Exchange of Letters between the
Parties or participants, referencing this Agreement and its
pertinent intellectual property provisions;

2. each Party or participant shall be responsible for the sala-
ries, insurance, and allowances to be paid to its exchanged
or assigned personnel;

3. the sending Party or participant shall pay for the travel and
living expenses of
its exchanged or assigned personnel
staying at the host establishment, unless otherwise agreed;

1.
Subject to applicable laws and regulations and to provi-
sions of this Agreement, each Party and its designees shall
undertake to make freely available to the other Party and its
designees any information at its disposal which is required for
the execution of this Agreement.

4. the receiving Party or participant shall arrange for adequate
accommodations
the other Party's or participant's
exchanged or assigned personnel (and their families) on a
mutually agreeable, reciprocal basis;

for

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5. the receiving Party or participant shall provide all necessary
assistance to the exchanged or assigned personnel of the
other Party or participant regarding administrative formali-
ties (e g. acquiring visas);

6. each Party or participant shall ensure that the exchanged or
assigned personnel conform to the general rules of work
and safety regulations in force at the host establishment;

7. each Party or participant may, at its own expense, observe
test activities and analytical work of the other Party or
participant in the areas of cooperation defined in Article II.
Such observation may be exercised by short-term visits or
by the assignment of personnel, subject to the prior agree-
ment of the receiving Party or participant on each occasion.

Article IX

Exchanges of equipment, samples, etc.

Both Parties agree that in the event equipment, instruments,
samples, materials or necessary spare parts (hereinafter referred
to as ‘the equipment, etc.’) are to be exchanged,
loaned or
supplied by one participant to the other, the following provi-
sions shall apply covering the shipment and use of the equip-
ment, etc.:

1. the sending participant shall supply as soon as possible a
detailed list of the equipment, etc., to be provided, with the
relevant
specifications and technical and informational
documentation;

2. the equipment, etc. supplied by the sending participant shall
remain its property and shall be returned to the sending
participant on a date to be determined by the Coordinating
Committee unless otherwise agreed in the project agreement
referred to under Article V;

3. the equipment, etc. shall be brought into operation at the
host establishment only by mutual agreement between the
participants;

4. the receiving participant shall provide the necessary prem-
ises for the equipment, etc. and shall provide for electrical
power, water, gas, etc., in accordance with technical require-
ments, which shall be mutually agreed.

Article X

General provisions

1.
Each Party shall conduct the activities provided for in this
Agreement subject to its applicable laws and regulations, and
shall provide resources subject to the availability of appro-
priated funds.

2.
Unless otherwise specifically agreed in writing by the
Parties within the framework of the Coordinating Committee,
all costs resulting from cooperation under this Agreement shall
be borne by the Party that incurs them.

3.
All questions of interpretation or implementation relating
to the Agreement arising during its term shall be resolved by
agreement of the Parties.

4.
This Agreement shall apply in so far as Euratom is
concerned, to the territories to which the Treaty establishing
Euratom applies and to the territories of the countries partici-
pating in the Euratom fusion programme as fully associated
non-member States.

Article XI

Duration, amendment and termination

1.
This Agreement shall enter into force upon the latter date
of signature and shall remain in force for five years. Unless one
of the Parties notifies the other Party in writing of its intention
to terminate this Agreement at least six months before its
expiration, this Agreement shall be extended automatically for
an additional five years.

This Agreement may be amended by written agreement

2.
of the Parties.

3.
All joint efforts and experiments not completed at the
termination or expiration of this Agreement may be continued
until their completion under the terms of this Agreement.

4.
This Agreement and any Project Agreement hereunder
may be terminated at any time at the discretion of either Party
upon six months' advance notification in writing by the Party
seeking to terminate the Agreement or Project Agreement.
Such termination shall be without prejudice to the rights that
may have accrued under this Agreement or Project Agreement
to either Party up to the date of the termination.

Done at Brussels on the fourteenth day of May in the year two thousand and one in duplicate, in the
Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek,
Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish
languages, each text being equally authentic.

For the Department of Energy for and on
behalf of the Government of the United
States of America

For the European Atomic Energy Community
represented by the Commission of the
European Communities

Spencer ABRAHAM

Philippe BUSQUIN

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ANNEX A

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS

Rights to intellectual property created or furnished under this Agreement shall be allocated as follows:

I. Application

This Annex is applicable to all cooperative activities undertaken pursuant to this Agreement, except as otherwise
specifically agreed.

II. Ownership, allocation and exercise of rights

A. For purposes of this Agreement ‘intellectual property’ shall have the meaning found in Article 2 of the
Convention establishing the World Intellectual Property Organisation, done at Stockholm, on 14 July 1967.

B. This Annex addresses the allocation of rights, interests and royalties between the Parties and participants. Each
Party shall ensure that the other Party may obtain the rights to intellectual property allocated to it in accordance
with this Annex. This Annex does not otherwise alter or prejudice the allocation between a Party and its
nationals, which shall be determined by that Party's laws and practices.

C. Termination or expiry of this Agreement shall not affect rights or obligations under this Annex.

D. 1. In the case of cooperative activities between the Parties, intellectual property arising from joint research, i.e.,
research supported by both Parties, shall be treated in a Technology Management Plan (TMP) according to the
following principles:

(a) the Parties shall notify each other within a reasonable time of any intellectual property rights arising under

this Agreement (or relevant implementing arrangements);

(b) unless otherwise agreed, rights and interests in intellectual property created during joint research shall be

exploitable by either Party without territorial restriction;

(c) each Party shall seek protection for the intellectual property to which it obtains rights and interests under

the TMP in a timely fashion;

(d) each Party shall have a non-exclusive, irrevocable, royalty-free license to use any intellectual property

arising under this Agreement for research and development purposes only;

(e) visiting researchers shall receive intellectual property rights and royalty shares earned by the host
institutions from licensing of such intellectual property rights under the policies of the host institutions.

2. In all other cases, to the extent required by its laws and regulations, each Party shall require all its participants
to enter into specific agreements concerning the implementation of joint research and the respective rights and
obligations of the participants. With respect to intellectual property, the agreements will normally address,
among other things, ownership, protection, user rights for research and development purposes, exploitation
and dissemination,
the rights and obligations of visiting
researchers and dispute settlement procedures. The agreements may also address foreground and background
information,

including arrangements for joint publication,

licensing and deliverables.

E. While maintaining the conditions of competition in areas affected by this Agreement, each Party shall endeavor to
ensure that rights acquired pursuant to this Agreement and arrangements made under it are exercised in such a
way as to encourage, in particular, (i) the use of information created, or otherwise made available, under this
Agreement and its dissemination insofar as this is in accordance both with the conditions set out in this
Agreement, the provisions of Section IV hereof and any rules which may be in force under the Parties' domestic
laws governing treatment of sensitive or confidential information in the nuclear field, and (ii) the adoption and
implementation of international standards.

III. Copyright works

Consistent with the terms of this Agreement, copyright belonging to the Parties or to participants shall be accorded
treatment consistent with the Agreement on TradeRelated Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights administered by the
World Trade Organisation.

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IV. Scientific literary works

Subject to the treatment provided for undisclosed information in Section V, the following procedures shall apply:

(A) each Party shall be entitled to a non-exclusive,

irrevocable, royalty-free license in all countries to translate,
reproduce and publicly distribute information contained in scientific and technical journals, articles, reports,
books, or other media, directly arising from joint research pursuant to this Agreement by or on behalf of the
Parties;

(B) all publicly distributed copies of a copyrighted work prepared under this provision shall indicate the names of the
authors of the work unless an author explicitly declines to be named. They shall also bear a clearly visible
acknowledgment of the cooperative support of the Parties.

V. Undisclosed information

A. Documentary undisclosed information

1. Each Party and the participants shall identify at the earliest possible moment the information that they wish to

remain undisclosed in relation to this Agreement, taking account,

inter alia, of the following criteria:

— the information is secret in the sense that it is not, as a body or in the precise configuration or assembly of

its components, generally known or readily accessible by lawful means,

— the information has actual or potential commercial value by virtue of its secrecy; and

— the information has been subject to steps that were reasonable under the circumstances by the person

lawfully in control, to maintain its secrecy.

The Parties or the participants may in certain cases agree that, unless otherwise indicated, parts or all of the
information provided, exchanged or created in the course of joint research pursuant to this Agreement may not
be disclosed.

2. Each Party or participant shall ensure that undisclosed information under this Agreement and its ensuant
privileged nature is readily recognisable as such by the other Party or participant, for example, by means of an
appropriate marking or restrictive legend. This also applies to any reproduction of the said information, in
whole or in part.

A Party or participant receiving undisclosed information pursuant to such agreement shall respect the
privileged nature thereof. These limitations shall automatically terminate when this information is disclosed by
the owner without restriction.

3. Undisclosed information communicated under this Agreement may be disseminated by the receiving Party or
participant to persons employed by the receiving Party or participant including its contractors, and other
concerned departments of the Party or participant authorised for the specific purposes of the joint research
under way, provided that any undisclosed information so disseminated shall be protected to the extent
provided by each Party's laws and regulations and shall be readily recognisable as such, as set out above.

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, will be treated by the Parties or their designees according to the principles specified for documen-
tary information in this Agreement, provided, however, that the recipient of such undisclosed or other confiden-
tial or privileged information has been made aware in writing of the confidential character of the information
communicated not later than the time such a communication is made.

C. Control

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

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VI. Dispute settlement and new types and unforeseen intellectual property

A. Disputes between the Parties concerning intellectual property shall be resolved in accordance with Article 12 of
the Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between the European Atomic Energy
Community and the United States of America.

B.

In the event either Party or a participant concludes that a new type of intellectual property not covered in a TMP
or agreement between participants may result from a cooperative activity undertaken pursuant to this Agreement,
or if other unforeseen difficulties arise, the Parties shall enter into immediate discussions with the object of
assuring that the protection, exploitation and dissemination of the intellectual property in question are adequately
provided for in their respective territories.