Key Benefits:
President of the Republic,
On the report of the Prime Minister and the Minister of State, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs,
Considering the Constitution, in particular articles 52 to 55;
Vu le Decree No. 53-192 of 14 March 1953 amended on the ratification and publication of international commitments undertaken by France;
Vu le Decree No. 81-884 of 24 September 1981 publishing the agreement between France, the European Atomic Energy Community and the International Atomic Energy Agency on the application of safeguards in France, signed on 20 and 27 July 1978;
Vu le Decree No. 92-1019 of 21 September 1992 publishing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done in Washington, London and Moscow on 1 July 1968;
Vu le Decree No. 2004-616 of 22 June 2004 publishing the Additional Protocol to the Agreement between France, the European Atomic Energy Community and the International Atomic Energy Agency for the Application of Guarantees in France, in Vienna on 22 September 1998,
Decrete:
The cooperation agreement between the Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the development of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy (a joint annex), signed in Hanoi on 12 November 2009, will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
The Prime Minister and the Minister of State, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, are responsible, each with regard to him, for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
A C C O R D
OF COOPERATION BETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FRANÇAISE REPUBLIC AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE VIETNAM REPUBLIC FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PACIFIC USE OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
The Government of the French Republic and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, referred to as the Parties,
AFFIRMING their desire to develop good relations between the French Republic and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
REQUESTS to expand and strengthen, in the interests of both States, cooperation in the field of the use of nuclear energy for exclusively peaceful purposes,
CONSIDERING the rights and obligations of the Parties, in particular under the Treaty of 1 July 1968 on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (hereinafter referred to as the NPT) and Security Council resolution 1540,
AFFIRMING their support for the objectives and provisions of the NPT and their willingness to promote universal adherence to the NPT,
CONSIDERING the willingness of Parties to strengthen the non-proliferation regime,
CONSIDERING the participation of the French Republic in the Group of Nuclear Suppliers (NSG),
Acknowledging the importance for each Party of the security of its energy supplies and the need to develop new energy sources;
CONSIDERING the Agreement between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the International Atomic Energy Agency (hereinafter referred to as the IAEA) for the Application of Guarantees (INFCIRC 376) and the Additional Protocol to this Agreement signed on 10 August 2007,
CONSIDERING the Agreement between France, the European Atomic Energy Community and the IAEA concerning the application of safeguards in France signed on 20 and 27 July 1978 and the Additional Protocol signed between France, the European Atomic Energy Community and the IAEA on 22 September 1998,
AFFIRMING their support for the IAEA safeguards system and their willingness to work together to ensure continuous improvement and effectiveness,
CONSIDERING also the willingness of Parties to take the necessary provisions of their jurisdiction for the development of safe nuclear energy, in accordance with the principles and provisions of the Nuclear Safety Convention, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment, the Joint Convention on the Safety of Management of Used Fuel and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, the Convention on the Rapid Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Nuclear Emergency Management
CONSIDERING the Administrative Arrangement between the Ministries of the French and Vietnamese Industry signed on May 26, 2004, concerning the Franco-Vietnamian cooperation on the conditions of the establishment and the evaluation of an electronuclear strategy in Vietnam, particularly in the economic, safety and radiation protection,
CONSIDERING the Cooperation Agreement on the Peaceful Applications of Nuclear Technology between the Commission on Atomic Energy of Vietnam (VAEC) and the Office of the Commissioner for Atomic Energy of France (CEA), signed on 22 April 2002 and extended for five years on 9 July 2007,
AGAINST WHO ITS:
Article I
1. The Parties shall cooperate, on the basis of profit and mutual interest, in the field of the use of nuclear energy for peaceful and non-explosive purposes in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement, as well as the laws and regulations in force in each country and in accordance with the international obligations and commitments of each Party.
2. Cooperation referred to in paragraph 1 of this article may be undertaken in the following areas:
(a) Basic and applied research does not require, for research reactors, the use of uranium enriched to 20% or more in isotope 235;
(b) Research reactors: design and use;
(c) training human resources in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy;
(d) development of nuclear energy applications in the fields of agronomy, biology, Earth sciences, medicine and industry;
(e) Management of spent fuel and nuclear waste;
(f) nuclear safety, radiation protection and environmental protection;
(g) nuclear security;
(h) Prevention and response to emergencies related to radiological or nuclear accidents;
(i) development of nuclear legislation and regulations;
(j) providing information to the public on issues relating to the peaceful uses of nuclear energy;
(k) application of nuclear energy for the production of electrical energy;
(l) or any other area of cooperation agreed between Parties.
3. Cooperation can take the following forms:
(a) exchange and training of scientific and technical staff;
(b) exchange of scientific and technical information in accordance with the conditions set out in Article V of this Agreement;
(c) participation of scientific and technical staff from one Party in research and development activities conducted by the other Party;
(d) joint research and engineering activities, including joint research and experimentation;
(e) organization of scientific and technical conferences and seminars;
(f) provision of nuclear materials, equipment, facilities, technology and service services;
or any other form of cooperation agreed between the Parties.
Article II
In this Agreement, all terms and expressions have the meaning specified in the Annex which is an integral part of this Agreement.
Article III
The conditions for the application of the cooperation defined in Article I shall be specified, on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement:
(a) By specific agreements between the Parties or agencies concerned, designated by them, to specify, inter alia, the programmes and modalities of scientific and technical exchanges;
(b) Contracts between the organizations, companies and institutions concerned for industrial achievements and the provision of materials, nuclear materials, equipment, facilities, technologies or services;
(c) All French and Vietnamese organizations, companies and institutions have the right to participate in the programmes covered by this Agreement, in accordance with French and Vietnamese legislation, on the basis of a common agreement.
Article IV
The Parties shall take all administrative, fiscal and customs measures of their jurisdiction which are necessary for the effective implementation of this Agreement and specific agreements and contracts referred to in Article III.
Article V
The Parties shall guarantee security and preserve the confidential nature of the technical data and information designated as such by the Party which has provided them under this Agreement. The technical data and information exchanged shall not be communicated to a third party, public or private, without prior written consent by the Party providing the technical data or information.
Article VI
The Parties undertake to facilitate, to the extent of their means, the regular supply of fuels or services in the field of the fuel cycle required to supply facilities that would be developed or provided under this Agreement.
Article VII
Parties shall ensure that the highest level of safety and security in compliance with the provisions of the Convention on Nuclear Safety, the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment, the Joint Convention on the Management of Used Fuel and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, the Convection on the Rapid Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on the Safety of Radioactive Waste, and the Convention on the Safety of Radioactive Waste
Article VIII
The intellectual property rights acquired under the cooperation provided for in this Agreement shall be assigned on a case-by-case basis in the specific agreements and contracts referred to in Article III of this Agreement.
Article IX
1. The Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure that legislation is in place at the appropriate time, defining a nuclear civil liability regime in accordance with internationally recognized principles (including that of the operator's objective and exclusive liability, covered by insurance or financial guarantee, if any supplemented by the State), applicable to the operation of facilities transferred or developed within the framework of the cooperation conducted under the Agreement.
2. As appropriate, Parties address issues related to nuclear civil liability in a specific agreement.
Article X
The Parties shall ensure that the materials, nuclear materials, equipment, facilities and technologies transferred in the framework of arrangements made under this Agreement, as well as nuclear materials obtained or recovered as by-products, are used only for peaceful and non-explosive purposes.
Article IX
1. Any nuclear material held by or transferred to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under this Agreement, as well as all successive generations of nuclear material recovered or obtained as by-products, shall be subject to IAEA safeguards under the Agreement of Guarantees between the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the IAEA, applicable to all nuclear material in all nuclear activities carried out in the territory of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,
2. All nuclear material transferred to the French Republic under this Agreement and notified by the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for this purpose, as well as all successive generations of nuclear material recovered or obtained as by-products, shall be subject to the security controls of the European Atomic Energy Community and to the safeguards system applied by the IAEA under the Agreement between France, the European Atomic Energy Community and the IAEA, signed in September 1998.
Article XII
In the event that the IAEA safeguards referred to in Article XI of this Agreement may not apply in the territory of either Party, the Parties undertake to enter immediately into a report with a view to submitting, as soon as possible, the nuclear material transferred or obtained under this Agreement, as well as all successive generations of nuclear material obtained or recovered as an effective by-product, to a mutually approved system of nuclear material used in accordance with this Agreement.
Article XIII
The materials, nuclear materials, equipment, facilities and technologies referred to in Article X of this Agreement shall remain subject to the provisions of this Agreement until:
(a) that they have been transferred or transferred outside the jurisdiction of the receiving Party in accordance with the provisions of Article XV of this Agreement, or
(b) that the Parties agree to subtract them, or
(c) that it is established, with respect to nuclear materials, that they are practically no longer recoverable to be put in a form usable for any relevant nuclear activity from the standpoint of the safeguards referred to in Article XI of this Agreement.
Article XIV
1. Each Party shall ensure that the nuclear materials, nuclear materials, facilities and technologies referred to in Article X of this Agreement are solely under the responsibility of persons under its jurisdiction and have all the qualifications necessary for the particular activity to which they are responsible.
2. Each Party shall ensure that, in its territory or, outside its territory to the extent that such liability is borne by the other Party or by a third State, the appropriate measures for the physical protection of substances, nuclear materials, equipment and facilities covered by this Agreement are taken, in accordance with its national legislation and the international commitments to which it is a party, in particular the provisions of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material and its amendment.
3. Physical protection levels are at least those specified in Annex I to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material. Each Party reserves the right, where appropriate, in accordance with its national regulations, to apply stricter physical protection criteria in its territory.
4. The implementation of physical protection measures is the responsibility of each Party within its jurisdiction. In the implementation of these measures, each Party is guided by the IAEA document INFCIRC 225/Rev. 4.
Amendments to IAEA recommendations in relation to physical protection shall only take effect under this Agreement when the two Parties have mutually informed in writing of their acceptance of such an amendment.
Article XV
1. In the event that one of the Parties intends to transfer from its jurisdiction any material, nuclear material, equipment, facilities and technologies referred to in Article X, or to transfer any material, nuclear material, facilities, equipment and technology originating from equipment or facilities transferred from or obtained through equipment, facilities or technologies transferred under Article X, within the framework of this Agreement, it shall do so only after obtaining the same non-peaceful Agreements, in particular
2. In addition, the Party considering a transfer or retransfer in accordance with the provisions of paragraph l of this article shall obtain prior consent from the supplier Party:
(a) for any retransfer of facilities, equipment or technologies as defined in the Appendix and provided under this Agreement;
(b) for any transfer of facilities or equipment from the facilities or equipment referred to in paragraph (a) or designed from the technologies referred to in paragraph (a) above;
(c) For any transfer or transfer of uranium enriched to more than 20% isotopes 233 or 235 or plutonium produced or recovered from nuclear material transferred under this Agreement, or for any transfer of nuclear material transferred under this Agreement to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
3. Within the European Union, transfers and retransfers of nuclear material, equipment, facilities and technologies are governed by Chapter IX of the Euratom Treaty and by regulations establishing a community regime for control of exports of dual-use goods and technologies.
Article XVI
None of the provisions of this Agreement shall be construed as violating the rights and obligations that, at the date of its signature, result from the participation of either Party in other international agreements for the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including for the French party, of its membership in the European Communities.
Article XVII
Parties shall establish a joint committee to coordinate and monitor the operations under this Agreement. It is chaired by two co-chairs of each Party. The co-chairs decide on the composition of the joint committee on an equal basis. This joint committee decides on its internal regulations and programme of work. Working groups may be established to discuss specific issues related to the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy in Vietnam. The composition of the working groups is decided in specific agreements between the bodies designated by the Parties.
Article XVIII
Parties shall endeavour to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation or application of this Agreement by negotiation or by any other peaceful means of dispute resolution on which the Parties have agreed.
Rule XIX
This Agreement may be amended by written agreement between the Parties. This amendment will come into force on the date on which the Parties will be notified in writing of the performance of their respective internal procedures required for its entry into force.
Rule XX
1. This Agreement shall be concluded for a period of five years and may be denounced at any time by either Party. Any denunciation must be notified in writing with a notice of six months.
At the end of this five-year period, it remains in force until it has been denounced by either of the Parties in accordance with the procedure referred to in the preceding paragraph.
2. In the event of denunciation of this Agreement in accordance with the procedure referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article,
(a) The relevant provisions of this Agreement shall remain applicable to specific agreements and contracts signed in due course of Article III, which are in force;
(b) The provisions of Articles V, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV and XVI continue to apply to substances, nuclear materials, equipment, facilities and technologies referred to in Article X transferred pursuant to this Agreement, as well as to nuclear materials recovered or obtained as by-products.
Article XXI
Each Party shall notify the other Party of the completion of the required procedures for the entry into force of this Agreement. The latter comes into force on the date of receipt of the last notification.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the representatives of the two Governments duly authorized to do so have signed this Agreement.
Done in Hanoi on 12 November 2009, in two copies, in French and Vietnamese languages, both texts being equally authentic.
For the Government
of the French Republic:
Dominic Bussereau
Secretary of State
Transport
For the Government
of the Socialist Republic
Vietnam:
Dinh Tien
Vice Minister of Science
and Technologies
A N N E X E
For the purposes of this Agreement:
(a) The term "material" means non-nuclear substances intended for reactors, as specified in paragraph 2 of Annex B of the IAEA Nuclear Supplier Group Guidelines in INFCIRC/254, Rev. 9///Part. 1 (hereinafter referred to as "the Guidelines")
(b) The term "nuclear material" means any "gross material" or any "special fissile material" in accordance with the definition of those terms in Article XX of the IAEA Statute.
(c) The term "equipment" means the main components specified in paragraphs 1, 4 and 7 of Appendix B of the Guidelines;
(d) The term "installations" means the plants referred to in paragraphs 1, 4 and 7 of Appendix B of the Guidelines;
(e) The term "technology" refers to the specific information necessary for the "development", "production" or "use" of any article in Appendix B of the Guidelines, with the exception of data communicated to the public, for example through periodicals or published books, or which have been made internationally accessible without any restrictions on dissemination.
This information may take the form of "technical data" or "technical assistance".
The term "development" refers to all phases prior to "production", including studies, research relating to the design, assembly and testing of prototypes and implementation plans.
The term "production" refers to all phases of production, including construction, production engineering, manufacturing, integration, assembly, inspection, testing and quality assurance.
The term "use" refers to implementation, installation (including installation on the site itself), maintenance, repairs, revision dismantling and remediation.
"technical assistance" may take forms such as instruction, qualifications, training, practical knowledge and consultation services.
"technical data" can be made up of layers, plans, diagrams, manuals and modes of use in a written form or recorded on other media such as discs, magnetic tapes or passive memory.
(f) The term "information" means any information, documentation or data, of any kind, transmitted in a physical form, relating to materials, equipment, facilities or technologies subject to this Agreement, excluding information, documentation and data accessible to the public.
Done on 3 February 2011.
Nicolas Sarkozy
By the President of the Republic:
The Prime Minister,
François Fillon
The Minister of State,
Minister for Foreign Affairs
and European,
Michèle Alliot-Marie
