B Explanatory Memorandum presented by M. SANTERO
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1. At its May Session the Assembly adopted Resolution 125 on the political, economic and social aspects of the Treaty instituting the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). We may now note with satisfaction that the Governments and Parliaments of the Six have ratified the Treaty or are about to do so. The present report examines the progress of the work of 0. E. E. C. in the field of nuclear energy and the relations to be established between Euratom, the OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency and the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency.
2. Generally speaking, we may say that 0. E. E. C. appears to be working well in this field and in accord with the principles laid down by the Assembly, particularly in avoiding conflicts or duplications with the work of Euratom and the International Atomic Energy Agency.
3. The International Atomic Energy Agency is in process of establishment; a few days ago it began its first General Conference at Vienna. Co-ordination between the work of 0. E. E. C. and I. A. E. A. is catered for under Article XVI of the IAEA Statute, which provides for agreements setting out the form of relations between the Agency and all other organisations with similar activities.
4. The Statute of the European Agency, which has been prepared by the drafting group, comprises eighteen articles. The purpose of the Agency is " to promote the development of the productivity and the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes by means of co-operation between the participating countries and by harmonisation of steps taken at the national level ". The Agency is to promote, where necessary, the creation of joint undertakings. The Nuclear Energy Steering Committee and the Agency secretariat will be responsible for carrying out this task under the authority of the Council of Ministers. An important political decision has been taken : the European Nuclear Energy Agency of 0. E. E. C. will not be set up until after the ratification of the Euratom Treaty. This is, of course, in order not to hinder the ratification of the Treaty.
5. Withrcgard toliaisonbetweentheEuro-pean Nuclear Energy Agency of 0. E. E. C. and Euratom, it has been decided to incorporate in the Statute an article stating (like Article 201 of the Euratom Treaty) : " The Agency will establish with the European Atomic Energy Community close collaboration, the details of which shall be determined by agreement between the two bodies". Moreover, it is proposed to invite the Euratom Commission to send a representative to the Agency's Steering Committee and to its working par-tics.
6. It has been decided to set up as a joint undertaking a " European Company for the Chemical Separation of Irradiated Fuels". The convention for the setting up of this undertaking was referred, on 12th June 1957, in Paris, to the group of legal experts and will have to be ratified by parliaments. At the present time, twelve countries propose to participate in this company, the Euratom countries participating in an individual capacity.
7. The Study Group of 0. E. E. C. also decided, in May 1957, to set up joint under-The Study Group of 0. E. E. C. also decided, in May 1957, to set up joint under-takings for constructing experimental reactors :
a a homogeneous aqueous reactor will be built in England with a power of 10 m. w., and this is expected to come into use in four to five years'time—the cost will be 32 million dollars, of which the Six will be responsible for 16 million. The undertaking will employ 320 persons : Euratom will participate as an organisation.
b other (less powerful) reactors will be built for materials testing..
8. A problem of great interest to your Committee is that of security control.
9. It has been stated that the three control systems provided for in the Statute of the International Agency, the Statute of the European Nuclear Energy Agency of 0. E. E. C. and the Euratom Treaty are analogous. Careful comparison shows that only the control systems envisaged by I. A. E. A. and the OEEC. European Agency are really identical both in their means and in their ends. The object of both is to prevent the use of fissile materials for military purposes; both provide that inspectors shall examine the books, etc., and that they shall at any time have access to any place, and so on.
10. In effect, the chief similarity between the OEEC control system and that of Euratom is in the methods used (inspectors, etc.). The security control in Euratom guarantees that fissile materials are not diverted to uses other than those which users have declared (Article 77 of the Treaty). Euratom's control is territorial; it ceases, however, as soon as the materials enter into the manufacturing cycle for specifically military purposes. From this stage onwards, therefore, the control should fall within the competence of the Armaments Control Agency of Western European Union, whose powers cover the same territories. OEEC control is limited to :
10.1 joint undertakings;
10.2 materials which the European Nuclear Energy Agency would supply;
10.3 activities which a member country would like to submit to this control.
11. The OEEC control includes " follow-up " rights, i. e., control of the use to which materials falling under one of these three heads are put, so as to ensure that the materials serve only peaceful purposes.
12. Complete agreement has not yet been reached between 0. E. E. C. and Euratom on their respective controls, because 0. E. E. C. would like to exercise, on the territory of the Six as well, follow-up rights on materials supplied by the European Nuclear Energy Agency. To avoid overlapping jurisdiction, duplication of work and confusion, it would be desirable for civilian control on the territory of the Six to be entrusted to the organs of Euratom, whether by the OEEC Agency, the I. A. E. A., or the United States, and to the OEEC Agency in the territories of the other OEEC countries.
13. Regarding health standards, the OEEC Working Party on this subject, which is composed of physicists and health experts, is in process of working out a European convention detailing the minimum obligations to which member countries would commit themselves. Secondly, the Working Party is trying to set up in Europe general machinery for consultation and for supervision of the control exercised by member countries on atomic industry. Collaboration with the Euratom Commission has been decided upon, so that the health standards inserted into the International Agreement may be the same as those adopted by the Six.
14. Having regard, therefore, to the provisions of Chapter III (Articles 30-39) of the Euratom Treaty, dealing with health protection, Euratom's Interim Committee and the OEEC Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy could be invited to arrange as soon as possible for a joint control service for the protection of the health of workers and the population generally. This control, too, should be made the responsibility of Euratom in the territory of the Six, and of the OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency in the other countries of 0. E. E. C.
15. The International Atomic Energy Agency has as its second purpose (Article III, 6) the adoption of safety standards for the protection of health and the reduction to a minimum of the risks to which persons and property are exposed —including standards for working conditions.
16. To avoid duplication of work, provision could also be made for this health control to be entrusted by the I. A. E. A. to Euratom in the territory of the Six and to the OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency in the other Member States of 0. E. E. C.
17. Regarding the question of civil responsibility, it was stated at the meeting with 0. E. E. C. that measures in this field should be taken at intergovernmental level. In the same way as an agreement has been signed laying down the conditions of responsibility for international air transport, consideration should be given to standardising legislation on the rules governing atomic risks, and on the basis for computing compensation.
18. As regards relations between the OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency and the Council of Europe, it has been envisaged that the OEEC Agency will submit to the Consultative Assembly an annual report on its work. This report would be debated, and suggestions on it would be made by the Consultative Assembly, in the same way as the report which will be submitted to the Assembly by the European Atomic Energy Community. The possibility has also been envisaged of supplementing this report by explanatory discussions in meetings of joint committees to be held at suitable moments.
19. These arrangements are entirely satisfactory pending official recognition of the Consultative Assembly as the Assembly of 0. E. E. C.
20. Relations between Euratom and the Council of Europe will be facilitated by the resolution of the Governments of the Six of 9th July 1957 arranging that half the representatives of the larger countries, and at least a third of the representatives of the Benelux countries to the Assembly of the Communities of the Six, will also be their countries' titular representatives to the Consultative Assembly. It is also provided that the Euratom Commission will make an annual report to the Consultative Assembly.
1.1 Trade in nuclear products between OEEC countries
21. It is proposed to bring about total and immediate abolition of all quantitative restrictions on trade in nuclear products between the OEEC countries. Euratom will only achieve this abolition, through the Supply Agency, at the end of the transition period, i. e. one year after the coming into force of the Treaty. The 0. E. E. C'.s arrangements are in process of being harmonised with the Treaty setting up the European Atomic Energy Community. In order to eliminate any discrepancies, a provisional compromise has been agreed upon through the proposal to continue the present stand-still up to 31st December 1957.
22. The various proposals which are to be put to the Ministerial Council of 0. E. E. C. at their meeting in October by the Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy, mark the next stage in developments at the level of the Fifteen/Seventeen. By the end of October, therefore, the steps agreed to by the OEEC Ministers will be known, and we shall be in a position to give our views on the decisions agreed. At the same time, information may be available from the Interim Committee in Brussels with regard to the start being made on the implementation of the Euratom Treaty. Obviously, however, it will be of the greatest importance to put forward suggestions on the problems of most concern to us, such as control, before the OEEC Council of Ministers takes its decisions. Hence your Political Committee has decided to submit the foregoing draft Resolution to the Assembly.
