LAW 766

(July 31)

Official Journal No. 44.889 of 5 August 2002

PUBLIC POWER-LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

By means of which the "Convention on Assistance in the Event of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency", approved in Vienna on September 26, 1986, is approved.

The Congress of the Republic

Having regard to the text of the "Convention on assistance in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency", adopted in Vienna on 26 September 1986.

(To be transcribed: photocopy of the full text of the International Instrument mentioned).

" CONVENTION ON ASSISTANCE IN THE EVENT OF A NUCLEAR ACCIDENT

OR RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY

States Parties to this Convention,

Aware that in a number of states nuclear activities are taking place.

In view of the fact that, in order to ensure a high level of safety in nuclear activities, extensive measures have been taken and are being taken to prevent nuclear accidents and to minimise the consequences of nuclear accidents. accidents, if they occur.

Wishing to further strengthen international cooperation for the safe development and use of nuclear energy.

Convinced of the need for an international reference framework to facilitate the early provision of assistance in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency, to mitigate its consequences.

Taking into account the usefulness of bilateral and multilateral mutual assistance arrangements in this sphere.

Taking into account the activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency in the development of guidelines for emergency mutual aid arrangements in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency.

Agree to the following:

ARTICLE 1o. GENERAL PROVISIONS.

1. States Parties shall cooperate with each other and with the International Atomic Energy Agency (hereinafter referred to as the "body"), in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, to facilitate prompt assistance in the event of an accident. nuclear or radiological emergency in order to minimize its consequences and to protect the life, property and environment of the effects of radioactive releases.

2. In order to facilitate such cooperation, States Parties may agree bilateral or multilateral arrangements or, where appropriate, a combination of both, to prevent or minimise injury and damage that may result in the event of a nuclear accident. or radiological emergency.

3. The States Parties request the Agency, acting within the framework of its Statute, to make its best efforts, in accordance with the provisions of this Convention, to promote, facilitate and support cooperation between States Parties provided for in the Convention. Present Convention.

ARTICLE 2o. PROVISION OF ASSISTANCE.

1. If a State Party needs assistance in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency, whether that accident or emergency originates or not within its territory, jurisdiction or control, it may request such assistance from any other State. Party, directly or through the Agency, as well as assistance from the body or, if appropriate, from other international intergovernmental organisations (hereinafter referred to as 'international organisations').

2. Any State Party requesting assistance shall specify the scope and type of assistance requested and, if possible, provide the party providing the assistance with the information that may be necessary for that party to determine the measure. in which you are in a position to attend the request. Where it is not possible for the requesting State Party to specify the extent and type of assistance required, the requesting State Party and the assisting party shall decide, in consultation, the scope and type of assistance. required.

3. Each State Party to which a request for such assistance is addressed shall decide and promptly notify the requesting State Party, directly or through the Agency, if it is in a position to provide the assistance requested, as well as the scope and the terms of the assistance that could be provided.

4. States Parties shall, within the limits of their capabilities, identify and notify the Agency of the experts, equipment and materials that could be counted for the provision of assistance to other States Parties in the event of an accident. nuclear or radiological emergency, as well as the terms, especially the financial terms, in which such assistance could be provided.

5. Any State Party may request assistance related to medical treatment or temporary resettlement in the territory of another State Party to persons affected by a nuclear accident or radiological emergency.

6. The Agency shall, in accordance with its Staff Regulations and with the provisions of this Convention, respond to the request for assistance in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency by a State Party or a Member State:

a) Facilitating appropriate resources allocated to such purposes;

b) promptly transmitting the request to other States and international organizations which, according to the information held by the Agency, may have the necessary resources; and

(c) If requested by the requesting State, coordinating at the international level the assistance that may be available in this way.

ARTICLE 3o. MANAGEMENT AND CONTROL OF ASSISTANCE.

Unless otherwise agreed:

(a) The management, control, coordination and general supervision of the assistance shall be the responsibility of the requesting State within its territory. The assisting party shall, where the assistance includes staff, designate in consultation with the requesting State the person to be in charge of the staff and equipment provided by it, and shall exercise operational supervision. immediate on such staff and equipment. The designated person shall exercise such supervision in cooperation with the appropriate authorities of the requesting State;

(b) The requesting State shall provide, to the extent possible, local facilities and services for the correct and effective administration of the assistance. It shall also ensure the protection of personnel, equipment and materials taken into their territory by the assisting party, or on behalf of it, for that purpose;

(c) The ownership of equipment and materials supplied by any one of the two parties during the periods of assistance shall not be affected, and shall be returned;

(d) The State Party providing assistance in response to a request made in accordance with paragraph 5 of Article 2o. coordinate such assistance within its territory.

ARTICLE 4. COMPETENT AUTHORITIES AND CONTACT POINTS.

1. Each State Party shall communicate to the Agency and other States Parties, directly or through the Agency, its competent authorities and the authorized contact point to formulate and receive requests for assistance and to accept offers of assistance. These contact points and a convergence point in the body must be permanently available.

2. Each State Party shall promptly inform the Agency of any changes to the information referred to in paragraph 1.

3. The Agency shall provide regularly and in an expeditious manner to the States Parties, Member States and relevant international organizations the information referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2.

ARTICLE 5o. FUNCTIONS OF THE BODY.

In accordance with paragraph 3 of Article 1o. and without prejudice to other provisions of this Convention, the States Parties request the following body:

a) To copy and disseminate information between States Parties and Member States about:

i) Experts, equipment and materials that could be provided in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency;

(ii) The methodologies, techniques and research results available in response to nuclear accidents or radiological emergencies;

(b) Provide assistance to any State Party or Member State that requests it, in respect of any of the following or any other appropriate matters:

i) Preparation of both emergency plans in case of nuclear accidents and radiological emergencies and appropriate legislation;

ii) Development of appropriate programs for the training of personnel to attend to nuclear accidents and radiological emergencies;

iii) Transmission of requests for assistance and relevant information in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency;

iv) Development of appropriate radiological surveillance programs, procedures and standards;

v) Realization of research on the feasibility of establishing appropriate radiological surveillance systems;

c) Facilitate any State Party or Member State requesting assistance in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency appropriate resources assigned for the purpose of an initial assessment of the accident or emergency;

d) Offer good offices to the States Parties and Member States in the event of a nuclear accident or radiological emergency;

e) To establish and maintain liaison with relevant international organisations in order to obtain and exchange relevant information and data, and to provide a list of such organisations to the States Parties, Member States and the above mentioned organisations.

ARTICLE 6o. CONFIDENTIALITY AND PUBLIC STATEMENTS.

1. The requesting State and the party providing assistance shall be required to protect the confidential nature of any confidential information which comes to the knowledge of either of the two in relation to assistance in the event of a nuclear accident or emergency Radiation. Such information shall be used exclusively for the purpose of agreed assistance.

2. The assisting party shall make every effort to coordinate with the requesting State before providing the public with information on the assistance provided in connection with a nuclear accident or radiological emergency.

ARTICLE 7o. REIMBURSEMENT OF EXPENSES.

1. Any party providing assistance may provide assistance without expenditure for the requesting State. When considering the possibility of providing assistance on that basis, the part you provide assistance should take into account:

(a) The nature of the nuclear accident or radiological emergency;

b) The place of origin of the nuclear accident or radiological emergency;

c) The needs of developing countries;

d) The particular needs of countries without nuclear facilities, and

e) Any other relevant factors.

2. Where assistance is provided in whole or in part on the basis of reimbursement, the requesting State shall reimburse the party providing assistance for the expenditure incurred on account of the services provided by persons or organisations acting in accordance with the name of the same, and all costs associated with the assistance to the extent that such expenditure is not directly borne by the requesting State. Unless otherwise agreed, reimbursement shall be made promptly after the party providing assistance has submitted its request for reimbursement to the requesting State, and, in respect of expenditure other than local expenditure, shall be freely transferable.

3. Irrespective of the provisions of paragraph 2, the party providing assistance may at any time waive the reimbursement or access its deferral, in whole or in part. When considering such resignations or deferrals, the parties providing assistance will take due account of the needs of developing countries.

ARTICLE 8o. PRIVILEGES, IMMUNITIES AND FACILITIES.

1. The requesting State shall grant the staff of the assisting party and the staff acting on behalf of it the privileges, immunities and facilities necessary for the performance of their assistance functions.

2. The requesting State shall grant the following privileges and immunities to the staff of the assisting party, or to staff acting on behalf of the party, whose names have been duly notified to the requesting State and accepted by this:

(a) Immunity of imprisonment, detention and prosecution, including criminal, civil and administrative jurisdiction of the requesting State, for acts or omissions in the performance of their duties; and

b) Exemption from taxes, duties or other charges, except those that are normally incorporated in the price of the goods or that are paid for services provided, in relation to the performance of their assistance functions.

3. The requesting State:

(a) Give the party providing assistance the exemption from taxes, duties or other charges relating to equipment and goods brought to the territory of the requesting State by the party providing assistance with the purpose of assistance, and

b) Grant immunity from, however, sequestration or requisition of such equipment and goods.

4. The requesting State shall ensure the return of such goods and equipment. If requested by the assisting party, the requesting State shall, as far as possible, adopt provisions for the necessary decontamination, prior to its return, of the recoverable equipment used in the assistance.

5. The requesting State shall provide the entry on its national territory, the stay in and the departure of the same, the staff whose names have been notified in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2 and of the equipment and goods used in the assistance.

6. Nothing in this Article shall require the requesting State to grant its nationals or permanent residents the privileges and immunities provided for in the preceding paragraphs.

7. Without prejudice to privileges and immunities, all persons enjoying such privileges and immunities under this Article have the duty to respect the laws and regulations of the requesting State. They shall also have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of the requesting State.

8. Nothing in this Article shall affect the rights and obligations relating to privileges and immunities granted under other international agreements or the rules of customary international law.

9. By signing, ratifying, accepting or approving this Convention, or by joining it, any State may declare that it is not considered to be obligated in whole or in part by paragraphs 2 and 3.

10. Any State Party which has made a declaration in accordance with paragraph 9 may withdraw it at any time by notifying the depositary.

ARTICLE 9o. TRANSIT OF PERSONNEL, EQUIPMENT AND GOODS.

Each State Party, at the request of the requesting State or the party providing assistance, shall endeavour to facilitate transit through its territory of the personnel, equipment and goods duly reviewed in the relevant notification. in the assistance, to enter and leave the requesting State.

ARTICLE 10. CLAIMS AND COMPENSATION.

1. States Parties shall cooperate closely in order to facilitate the settlement of lawsuits and claims under this Article.

2. Unless otherwise agreed, in respect of any death or injury to persons, or any damage or loss of property, or damage to the environment caused in the territory of a requesting State or in any other area under its jurisdiction or control during the provision of the assistance requested, the requesting State;

(a) shall not file any legal action against the party providing assistance or against persons or other legal entities acting on its behalf;

(b) Assume the responsibility of attending to claims and lawsuits filed by third parties against the party providing assistance or against persons or other legal entities acting on their behalf;

(c) You shall be exempt from liability in respect of claims and lawsuits referred to in paragraph (b), to the party providing assistance or to persons or other legal entities acting on their behalf, and

d) indemnify the party providing assistance or persons or other legal entities acting on behalf of the party, in the following cases:

i) Death or injury of personnel of the party providing assistance or persons acting on their behalf;

ii) Loss or damage of equipment or non-fungible materials related to assistance;

Except in cases of deliberate misconduct by individuals who have caused death, injury, loss or damage.

3. The provisions of this Article shall not preclude the compensation provided for under any international agreement or national law of any State, which is applicable.

4. None of the provisions of this Article shall require the requesting State to apply paragraph 2 of the article in whole or in part to its nationals or permanent residents.

5. By signing, ratifying, accepting or approving this Convention, or by joining it, any State may declare:

a) That is not considered to be obligated in whole or in part by paragraph 2;

(b) You shall not apply paragraph 2 of this Article, in whole or in part, in cases of gross negligence of individuals who have caused death, injury, loss or damage.

6. Any State Party which has made a declaration in accordance with paragraph 5 may withdraw it at any time by notifying the depositary.

ARTICLE 11. TERMINATION OF ASSISTANCE.

The requesting State, or the party providing assistance, may at any time, after appropriate consultations and in writing, request the termination of the assistance received or provided under this Convention. Once such a request is made, the interested parties will consult to arrange for the correct conclusion of the assistance.

ARTICLE 12. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

This Convention shall not affect the obligations or reciprocal rights of States Parties under existing international agreements relating to the matters covered by this Convention or under future international agreements concluded in accordance with the purpose and purpose of this Convention.

ARTICLE 13. DISPUTE RESOLUTION.

1. In the event of a dispute between States Parties, or between a State Party and the Agency, concerning the interpretation or application of this Convention, the parties to the dispute shall consult each other in order to resolve the dispute by negotiation or for any other peaceful means of dispute settlement that they consider acceptable.

2. If a dispute of this nature between States Parties cannot be resolved by the year of the request for consultation in accordance with paragraph 1, the dispute shall, at the request of any of the parties in question, the same, submit to arbitration or refer to the International Court of Justice to decide. Where a dispute is submitted to arbitration, if within six months of the date of the request, the parties to the dispute fail to agree to organise it, any of them may request the President of the International Court of Justice or the Secretary-General of the United Nations, who names one or more arbitrators. In the event of a conflict between the parties ' requests to the dispute, the request addressed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations shall be given priority.

3. By signing, ratifying, accepting or approving this Convention, or by joining it, any State may declare that it is not considered to be bound by any or any of the two procedures laid down for the settlement of disputes in Paragraph 2. Other States Parties shall not be bound by the procedure laid down for the settlement of disputes in paragraph 2, with respect to a State Party for which such a declaration is in force.

4. Any State Party which has made a declaration pursuant to paragraph 3 may withdraw it at any time by notifying the depositary.

ARTICLE 14. ENTRY INTO FORCE.

1. This Convention shall be open for signature by all States and Namibia, represented by the United Nations Council for Namibia, at the Headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and at the headquarters of the United Nations in New York, from 26 September 1986 to 6 October 1986, respectively, until its entry into force, or for 12 months, with the longest of these two periods.

2. Any State and Namibia, represented by the United Nations Council for Namibia, may express its consent to be bound by this Convention either by signature or by deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval after signature made subject to ratification, acceptance or approval, or by deposit of an instrument of accession. Instruments of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession shall be deposited with the depositary.

3. This Convention shall enter into force thirty days after three States have expressed their consent to be bound by it.

4. In the case of each State expressing consent to be bound by this Convention upon its entry into force, this Convention shall enter into force for that State thirty days from the date of the expression of consent.

5. (a) This Convention shall be open for accession, as provided for in this Article, by international organisations and regional integration organisations constituted by sovereign States, which have jurisdiction over the negotiation, consultation and implementation of international agreements in matters covered by this Convention;

(b) In matters falling within their jurisdiction, such organisations shall, on their own behalf, exercise the rights and fulfil the obligations conferred upon the States by this Convention;

(c) When depositing its instrument of accession, each such organisation shall communicate to the depositary a statement indicating the extent of its competence in respect of the matters covered by this Convention;

(d) Such organizations shall have no additional vote to those of their Member States.

ARTICLE 15. PROVISIONAL APPLICATION.

Any State may, at the time of signature or at any other later date before the Convention enters into force for that State, declare that it will apply the Convention provisionally.

ARTICLE 16. AMENDMENTS.

1. Any State Party may propose amendments to this Convention. The proposed amendments shall be submitted to the depositary, which shall immediately communicate them to all other States Parties.

2. If the majority of the States Party asks the depositary to convene a conference to examine the proposed amendments, the depositary shall invite all States Parties to attend such a conference, which shall commence no earlier than Thirty days after the invitations have been submitted. Any amendment adopted at the conference by a two-thirds majority of all States Parties shall be the subject of a protocol which shall be open for signature by all States Parties in Vienna and New York.

3. The protocol shall enter into force thirty days after three States have expressed their consent to be bound by it. For each State which, after the entry into force of the Protocol, expresses its consent to be bound by it, the Protocol shall enter into force for that State within 30 days of the date on which it has expressed such consent. consent.

ARTICLE 17. COMPLAINT.

1. Any State Party may denounce this Convention by notifying the depositary in writing.

2. The denunciation shall take effect one year from the date on which the depositary receives the notification.

ARTICLE 18. DEPOSITARY.

1. The Director-General of the Agency shall be the depositary of this Convention.

2. The Director-General of the Agency shall promptly notify the States Parties and all other States:

(a) Each signature of this Convention or an amendment protocol;

(b) Each deposit of an instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession concerning this Convention or an amendment protocol;

(c) Any declaration or withdrawal of the same that is made in accordance with Articles 8, 10 and 13;

(d) Any declaration of provisional application of this Convention which is made in accordance with Article 15;

e) The entry into force of this Convention and any amendment thereto, and

(f) Any complaint made pursuant to Article 17.

ARTICLE 19. AUTHENTIC TEXTS AND CERTIFIED COPIES.

The original of this convention, whose texts in Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, English and Russian are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who shall send copies certified from the same to the States Parties and all other States.

In testimony to which the undersigned, duly authorized, sign this Convention, open to signature as provided for in paragraph 1 of Article 14.

Approved by the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in an extraordinary meeting, in Vienna, at the twenty-sixth day of September of a thousand nine hundred and eighty-six. "

EXECUTIVE BRANCH OF PUBLIC POWER

PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC

Santa Fe de Bogota, D. C., July 11, 2000.

Approved. Submit to the consideration of the honorable National Congress for the constitutional effects.

(Fdo.) ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO

The Foreign Minister,

(Fdo.) Guillermo Fernandez de Soto.

DECRETA:

ARTICLE 1o. Approve the "Convention on Assistance in the Event of Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency", approved in Vienna on September 26, 1986.

ARTICLE 2o. In accordance with the provisions of Article 1o. of Law 7a. In 1944, the Convention on Assistance in the Event of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, approved in Vienna on 26 September 1986, which is approved by the first article of this Law, will force the country from the date on which it is perfected. the international link with respect to the same.

ARTICLE 3o. This law governs from the date of its publication.

The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

Carlos Garcia Orjuela.

The Secretary General (E.) of the honorable Senate of the Republic,

Luis Francisco Boada Gomez.

The President of the honorable House of Representatives,

Guillermo Gaviria Zapata.

The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,

Angelino Lizcano Rivera.

COLOMBIA-NATIONAL GOVERNMENT

Communicate and comply.

Execute, upon revision of the Constitutional Court, in accordance with article 241-10 of the Political Constitution.

Dada en Bogotá, D. C., at 31 July 2002.

ANDRES PASTRANA ARANGO

The Foreign Minister,

Guillermo Fernandez de Soto.

The Minister of Mines and Energy,

Luisa Fernanda Lafaurie Rivera.