COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Implementation Plan Accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2009/71/EURATOM establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations
Date: 2013-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: International Atomic Energy Agency, health risk, ionising radiation, national implementing measure, nuclear accident, nuclear power station, occupational safety, radiation protection, radioactive waste, safety standard













EUR-Lex - 52013SC0424 - EN











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52013SC0424

COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Implementation Plan Accompanying the document Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2009/71/EURATOM establishing a Community framework for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations /* SWD/2013/0424 final */









Implementation Plan[1]
1.     
Title of the
document for the proposed act
Implementation Plan for Proposal for a Council
Directive amending Directive 2009/71/EURATOM establishing a Community framework
for the nuclear safety of nuclear installations
2.     
Contact point  
The responsible service is the unit ENER D.1 "Nuclear
safety architecture and multilateral & international cooperation"
within Directorate-General for Energy. Functional mailbox: ener-lux-euratom-article-33@ec.europa.eu 
3.     
Deliverables
and implementation challenges
The overall objective of the legislative revision is
to maintain and promote the continuous improvement of nuclear safety and its
regulation at EU level.
The
proposed amendments aim at enhancing the regulatory framework for nuclear
safety in the EU in several areas. Member States have to ensure that the new
provisions are properly and promptly transposed into national law within the
prescribed deadline. 
The implementation of the amended Directive should be significantly
facilitated by the fact that the draft text of the legislative proposal had
been consulted in advance with the main stakeholders and could benefit for
their input and expertise. In this regard, a special role was given to ENSREG,
which represents a unique focal point of expertise, as it reunites high-level
representatives of the national competent nuclear regulatory authorities from
all the EU Member States, nuclear and non-nuclear alike. 
3.1. 
Flexible
implementation of the Directive by Member States
When transposing and implementing the amended Directive, Member States should take advantage of the flexibility it provides, taking into consideration in particular
that:
                            
(i)           
The Directive
expressly acknowledges that it does not prevent Member States from taking more
stringent safety measures.
                          
(ii)           
The non-prescriptive,
goal-setting approach to regulate technical safety issues laid down in the
Directive allows a dynamic and flexible implementation by the Member States
reflecting the state of the art progress in nuclear safety. 
                        
(iii)           
In line with the
principle of proportionality, the applicability of the technical requirements
of the Directive depends on the type of nuclear installations on the territory
of a Member State. Therefore, when implementing these provisions in national
law, Member States should take account of the risks posed by the specific types
of nuclear installations they plan or operate. In particular, the
proportionality principle will concern those Member States that keep only a
small inventory of nuclear and radioactive materials, e.g. linked to the
operation of smaller research reactor facilities, which in case of a severe
accident would not engender consequences comparable to those generated by
nuclear power plants.
3.2. 
Effective
cooperation and coordination among all actors and in particular the Member
States to achieve full implementation of the amended Directive
A proper implementation of the Directive can only be ensured and the
envisaged improvements in nuclear safety can be achieved if all relevant actors
fulfil their new obligations requiring close cooperation and coordination among
them. Such close cooperation and coordination is essential when the Directive
provides for a joint or coordinated action of the Member States themselves and
the European Commission, such as the new provisions establishing a European
system of topical peer reviews of nuclear installations or the provisions introducing
a mechanism for developing and establishing, by the Member States, EU-wide
non-binding harmonised nuclear safety guidelines.
The implementation of these new provisions is however to a large extent
facilitated by the fact that they fully build upon the valuable experience that
was gained from the EU nuclear Stress Tests exercise. The stress tests can
therefore serve as a model for their implementation. 
Moreover, the representatives of the national nuclear regulatory
authorities reunited in ENSREG consider the European topical peer reviews to be
an important inter-regulatory
instrument to ensure high quality nuclear safety regulation across Europe. They also see it as an effective
way to ensure a consistent transposition of the newly introduced nuclear safety
objectives into concrete technical improvements in the EU installations. Consequently,
as the national nuclear regulators proposed such peer reviews, it can be
concluded that they are a viable instrument that can and will be effectively
implemented. 
Finally, the national nuclear regulators are also given a formal role by
the amended directive to support the Member States in implementing the new
provisions on peer reviews and EU-wide non-binding technical guidelines. Given
their unique expertise and experience in the field of nuclear safety, the
national nuclear regulators reunited in ENSREG seem to be best placed to be
directly involved in the implementation of those provisions of the Directive,
i.e. in carrying out the peer reviews and developing the technical guidelines.
3.3. 
Early
dissemination of information related to implementation  
National authorities should as soon as possible share information with
the licence holders on the new legislative provisions and their possible
effects in order to anticipate any potential problems with their implementation
on the ground at a later stage. For instance, the possibility of future costs
related to technical safety improvements in a nuclear installation as a result
of the application of the Directive should be taken into account by the licence
holder sufficiently in advance to allow an appropriate planning. 
4.     
Support Actions
4.1. 
Specific
workshop
In order to assist Member States to comply with their legal obligation
about a timely and correct transposition, the Commission is willing to provide
Member States with "technical assistance" in transposing legislative
texts. The organisation of a specific workshop could be used to examine with Member
States any problems that they might be encountering in transposing the amended Directive.
The workshop would aim at establishing a harmonised approach and facilitating
a timely transposition of the Directive into national legislation by providing
a forum for sharing information on transposition difficulties encountered or
expected by Member States.
It is suggested that the workshop could be held in Luxembourg around 9 months before the transposition deadline expires. Member States would
be invited to nominate experts from bodies in charge of the transposition or
implementation of the Directive (e.g. legislators, Ministries' or competent
authorities' representatives, etc.).
4.2. 
ENSREG Group –
a body specific to nuclear safety
As an expert body specific to the field of nuclear safety and
waste management, bringing together 27 Member States of the EU and
representatives of the European Commission, ENSREG will be a privileged forum to
discuss aspects related to the implementation of the amended Directive as it is
already the case for the current Directive 2009/71/Euratom. 
Actions
expressly defined in the Directive
4.3. 
Notification of
draft transposing measures (Article 33 Euratom Treaty
obligation)
This notification obligation, specific to the Euratom Treaty, provides
the Commission with the possibility to orient the transposition efforts of the
Member States in the right direction before the national legislation is
formally adopted.
Concretely, in accordance with the Commission Recommendation
91/444/Euratom on the application of the third and fourth paragraphs of Article
33 of the Euratom Treaty, the draft national transposing measures (n.b. laws,
regulations and administrative provisions) should be notified by the Member
States to the Commission "after completion of the consultation procedure
provided for in the national decision-making process and, in any event, at the
last three months before their adoption".
Subsequent to this communication, according to the fourth paragraph of
Article 33 of the Euratom Treaty, the Commission may issue recommendations
within three months of the date on which such provisions are notified to it.
Member States shall refrain from adopting the proposed provisions before the
Commission has formulated its recommendations to them or before the three
months' period has elapsed.
Ideally, the draft transposing measures for the amended Directive should
be notified sufficiently in advance of the end of its transposition deadline.
4.4. 
Regular reports
on the implementation of the Directive
Member States shall submit a report to the Commission on the
implementation of this Directive for the first time by 22 July 2014 and every
three years thereafter, taking into account the timing for reporting and
regular review meetings under the IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety. On the
basis of the Member States' reports, the Commission shall submit a report to
the Council and the European Parliament on the progress made with the
implementation of this Directive. Guidelines to facilitate and harmonise
reporting were developed in the context of ENSREG for the current directive and
with the support of the Commission services. Similar actions will be undertaken
once the amendment is adopted by the Council.
Other
connected events
4.5. 
Review meetings
on the Convention on Nuclear Safety (IAEA)
As the main innovative and dynamic element of the Convention, Parties
are obliged to submit reports on the implementation of their obligations for
"peer review" at meetings of the Parties to be held at the IAEA.
According to the Directive provisions, these reviews and reporting cycles will
be in liaison with the regular report obligation under the Directive.
Likewise, according to an attached Declaration, the Euratom Community
possesses competences, shared with Member States, in a variety of fields
covered by the Convention. A thorough coordination between Member States and the Commission should be established in the framework of those areas in the light
of the new Directive.
Annex I
Support Actions for identified implementation
challenges
 Implementation challenge || Support action || Institution Body || Timing 
 Flexible implementation by Member States ||   ||   ||   
 BEFORE  THE EXPIRY OF THE TRANSPOSITON  DEADLINE  
   || Letter to Member States (MS) - request for outlining problematic issues expected in course of the transposition that could be used as a basis for discussion during a possible workshop || Commission || 11 months before the expiry of the transposition deadline 
 Workshop on the transposition, aiming to help MS to find solutions to potential or encountered difficulties || Commission || 9 months before the expiry of the transposition deadline 
 Submissions Art. 33 ET - draft transposing measures   || Member States || 3 months before the adoption of the transposing legislation = at the latest 3 months before the expiry of the transposition deadline 
 Analysis of submissions Article 33 ET and possible issue of recommendations || Commission || In the last 3 months before the expiry of the transposition deadline 
   AFTER THE EXPIRY OF THE TRANSPOSITON DEADLINE 
   || Submission of a report on implementation of the directive || Member States || 22 July 2014 
   || First general report on the implementation to the Council and the EP || Commission || December 2014 
   || ENSREG recommendations on a unified structure for national reports on the implementation of the amended directive || ENSREG || First half of 2015 
   || Submission of a second report on the implementation of the directive || Member States || 22 July 2017 
   || Second general report on the implementation to the Council and the EP || Commission || December 2017 
 BEFORE AND AFTER THE EXPIRY OF THE TRANSPOSITON DEADLINE 
   || ENSREG - forum to discuss all aspects related to the implementation of the amended Directive || ENSREG ||   
 Implementation challenge || Support action || Institution Body || Timing 
 Effective cooperation and coordination ||   ||   ||   
 BEFORE THE EXPIRY OF THE TRANSPOSITON DEADLINE 
   || Workshop on the transposition, aiming to help MS to find solutions to potential or encountered difficulties || Commission || 9 months before the expiry of the transposition deadline 
 BEFORE AND AFTER THE EXPIRY OF THE TRANSPOSITON DEADLINE 
   || ENSREG - forum to discuss aspects related to the implementation of the amended Directive as for its provisions requiring joint or coordinated action || ENSREG ||   
 Implementation challenge || Support action || Institution Body || Timing 
 Early dissemination of information ||   ||   ||   
 BEFORE THE EXPIRY OF THE TRANSPOSITON DEADLINE 
   || Early sharing of the information on the expected impacts with the license holders and other relevant actors || Member States ||   
Annex II
Amended NSD – Tentative Implementation Timeline
 Official reminder to MS on transposition deadline and the need to submit draft under Art. 33 ET 
 Deadline for implementation 
 COM report to Council and EP on implementation of the AMENDED NSD 
 Deadline for submission Art. 33 ET of draft transposing measures 
                                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                        
 2014 
 2021 
                                                                                                                                                                                           December
                       July                                                
            July                                          January
 2017 
 2018 
 2016 
    2015                    arch 

                 July                                            March                                 October                 22
July
                    
                           
 Report by MS on implementation of the AMENDED NSD 
 Entry into force   
 Second official reminder of deadline for transposition 
[1] This Implementation Plan is
provided for information purposes only. It does not legally bind the Commission
on whether the identified actions will be pursued or on the form in which they
will be pursued.