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Law No. 703 Of 3 December 2001 On Civil Liability For Nuclear Damage

Original Language Title:  LEGE nr. 703 din 3 decembrie 2001 privind răspunderea civilă pentru daune nucleare

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LEGE no. 703 703 of 3 December 2001 (* updated *) on civil liability for nuclear damage ((updated until 7 May 2007 *)
ISSUER PARLIAMENT




------------ *) The initial text was published in the OFFICIAL GAZETTE no. 818 818 of 19 December 2001. This is the updated form of S.C. "Territorial Center of Electronic Computing" S.A. Piatra Neamt until May 7, 2007, with the modifications and additions made by: RECTIFICATION no. 703 703 of 3 December 2001 ; LAW no. 470 470 of 4 November 2004 ; LAW no. 115 115 of 27 April 2007 . The Romanian Parliament adopts this law + Chapter 1 General provisions + Article 1 The object of this law is the regulation of civil liability for the repair of damages resulting from nuclear energy use activities for peaceful purposes. + Article 2 The provisions of this law apply without any discrimination based on citizenship, domicile or residence. + Article 3 For the purposes of this Law a) nuclear accident means any fact or succession of facts having the same origin, which causes a nuclear damage, and with regard to preventive measures, creates a serious and imminent threat of such damage; b) the competent national authority is the National Commission for the Control of Nuclear Activities; c) nuclear fuel means any material or mechanical assembly containing raw material or fissile material specially designed for the production of energy by a nuclear fission chain reaction in a nuclear reactor; d) nuclear damage means: 1. any death or any injury; 2. any loss or damage of the goods; 3 3. any economic loss resulting from a damage referred to in point (a). 1 1 and 2, not included in these provisions, if it is suffered by a person entitled to claim compensation in respect of such a loss; 4. the cost of measures to restore the environment damaged as a result of a nuclear accident, if such damage is significant, if such measures are taken or are to be taken and if not included in the 2 2; 5. any loss of income deriving from an economic interest from any use of the environment, due to the significant deterioration of the environment and if not included in the 2 2; -------------- Item 5 of the letter. d) a art. 3 3 has been amended by RECTIFICATION no. 703 703 of 3 December 2001 , published in MONITORUL OFFICIAL no. 115 115 of 12 February 2002. 6. the cost of preventive measures and any losses or damages caused by such measures; 7. any other economic damage, other than that caused by the degradation of the environment, if it is admitted by the legislation on civil liability of the competent court. Losses or damages referred to in point 1 1-5 and 7 shall be considered as nuclear damage to the extent that the loss or damage: --is born as a result of ionising radiation emitted by any radiation source which is in a nuclear facility or emitted by nuclear fuel, radioactive products or radioactive waste from a nuclear facility or material. nuclear originating from, coming from or sent to a nuclear facility; --is the result of the radioactive properties of such material or a combination of radioactive properties with toxic, explosive properties or other dangerous properties of such material; e) radioactive waste means those materials resulting from nuclear activities, for which no use has been provided for, containing or being contaminated with radionuclides in concentrations above the exemption limits; f) special drawing rights, hereinafter referred to as the SDR, means the accounting unit defined by the International Monetary Fund, used by it for its own transactions and operations; g) nuclear installation means: 1. any nuclear reactor, with the exception of the one with which a means of sea or air transport is equipped to be used as a source of power, whether for propulsion or for any other purpose; 2. any plant using nuclear fuel for the production of nuclear materials and any nuclear material processing plant, including any irradiated nuclear fuel retreatment plant; 3. any installation in which nuclear materials are stored, with the exception of depositaries for the transport of nuclear materials. Nuclear installations belonging to a single operator, which are located on the same site, will be considered as a single nuclear facility; h) the competent court is the tribunal in whose territorial area the head office of the nuclear facility operator is located; i) nuclear material means: 1. any nuclear fuel other than natural or impoverished uranium capable of producing energy by a nuclear fission chain reaction outside a nuclear reactor or in combination with other materials; 2. any radioactive product or waste in accordance with the limits set by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency; j) reasonable measures shall mean any measures appropriate and proportionate to the size of the damage to the consequences of nuclear accidents; k) preventive measures means any reasonable measures taken by any person after the occurrence of a nuclear accident, in order to prevent or minimise the damage referred to in lett. d) section 1-5 and 7, in accordance with the decisions of the competent national authority; l) recovery measures shall mean any reasonable measures approved by the competent national authority, designed to restore or rehabilitate the damaged or destroyed components of the environment or to introduce, where possible, the equivalents of these environmental components; m) operator means the authorization holder issued according to Law no. 111/1996 on the safe conduct of nuclear activities, republished; n) person means any natural person, any legal person under public or private law, any international organization with legal personality under the law and any state or any constituent subdivisions thereof; o) radioactive product means any radioactive material obtained during the process of producing or using a nuclear fuel or any material that has become radioactive by exposure to radiation emitted during this process, with the exception of radioisotopes which have reached the final stage of preparation and are intended to be used for peaceful purposes other than the production of electricity; p) nuclear reactor means any structure containing nuclear fuel disposed so that a nuclear fission chain reaction can be produced, without any other neutron source. + Chapter 2 Civil liability regime for nuclear damage + Article 4 ((. The operator of a nuclear installation shall be responsible and exclusively for any nuclear damage, if it has proved to be caused by a nuclear accident: a) occurred in this nuclear facility; b) involving a nuclear material originating from this nuclear facility: 1. before the liability for nuclear damage in respect of this material has been assumed, on the basis of a written contract, by another controller; 2. in the absence of express provisions of such a contract provided for in item 1, before another operator has taken over this material; 3. if the nuclear material was sent to a person on the territory of another State before it was discharged from the means of transport through which it arrived on the territory of that State; c) involving nuclear material sent to this nuclear facility: 1. after liability for nuclear damage caused by that nuclear material has been transferred to the operator by the operator of another nuclear facility under a written contract; 2. in the absence of express provisions of a written contract, after that operator has taken over this nuclear material; 3. if this nuclear material has been sent, with the written consent of that controller, by a person on the territory of another State, only after the material has been loaded on the means of transport with which it must leave territory of that state (2) If nuclear damage is caused by a nuclear accident occurring in a nuclear facility and involves nuclear materials stored for their transport, the provisions of paragraph 1. ((1) lit. a) does not apply if another controller or another person is solely liable under the provisions of par. ((1) lit. b) or c). (3) In the event of a nuclear accident occurring during the transport of nuclear materials civil liability for nuclear damage lies entirely with the carrier, which will be considered an operator for the purposes of this law, at its request and with consent of the operator (4) If a nuclear damage involves the liability of several operators, they shall be liable for joint and full damage, in so far as it is impossible to determine with certainty what is the part of the damage attributable to each of them. The liability of each operator may not be superior to the amount applicable to it in accordance with Article 8. (5) Subject to the provisions of para. ((3), when several nuclear installations belonging to the same operator are involved in a nuclear accident, this operator shall be liable for each nuclear facility involved, up to the amount of competition applicable to it, art. 8. + Article 4 ^ 1 (. The State shall be liable for nuclear damage if it: a) is the direct and direct result of an act of terrorism in the nuclear field; b) is the direct and direct result of a nuclear accident, in all situations provided in art. 4 in which the operator of a nuclear installation is unable to obtain coverage from the national and/or international market of civil liability insurance for nuclear damage or another appropriate financial guarantee. (2) The operator of a nuclear installation in the situation referred to in par. ((1) lit. b) it is obliged to prove before the competent national authority the impossibility to obtain that coverage from the insurers specialized in covering the risks of civil liability for nuclear damages. ((3) Compensation for nuclear damage provided in par. (1), established according to the legal provisions, are borne by the state, from public funds. ------------ Article 4 ^ 1 was amended by the single article of LAW no. 115 115 of 27 April 2007 , published in MONITORUL OFFICIAL no. 298 298 of 4 May 2007. + Article 5 (1) If the operator proves that the nuclear damage resulted, in whole or in part, of a gross negligence of the person who suffered it or that the person acted or failed to act, with the intention of causing a damage, the competent court may exempt the controller, in whole or in part, from the obligation to repair the damage suffered by this person. (2) The operator shall be exempt from liability if it proves that nuclear damage is the direct result of acts of armed conflict, civil war, insurrection or hostility. (3) When a nuclear damage and non-nuclear damage are caused by a nuclear accident or, conjugate, by a nuclear accident and by one or more different events, the non-nuclear damage, insofar as it cannot be separated with certainty from the one nuclear, is considered for the purposes of this law as a nuclear damage caused by the nuclear accident. (4) The operator is not liable for nuclear damage caused to the nuclear facility itself, to any other nuclear facility, including under construction, located on the site of the plant itself, nor for the goods on the location of this nuclear facility, which are either must be used in relation to it. (5) The natural person who caused a nuclear damage by an action or omission committed with the intention of causing a nuclear damage and for which the operator is not liable according to par. (1) is responsible for the nuclear damage caused. + Article 6 (1) The nature, form and size of the compensation, as well as their fair distribution, shall be determined by the competent court, including where the nuclear accident occurred in the exclusive economic zone of Romania. (2) If in the actions filed against the operator the damages to be compensated exceed the amounts provided in art. 8, in the distribution of compensation take priority the cases of death or injury caused by the nuclear accident or as a result of it. + Article 7 No one has the right to be compensated under this law if the nuclear damage has already been repaired under an international convention on civil liability for nuclear damages. + Chapter 3 The nuclear damage compensation system + Article 8 (1) The operator's liability is limited for each nuclear accident to at least the equivalent in lei of 300 million SDR. (2) With the approval of the competent national authority the liability of the operator may be limited for each nuclear accident to less than the equivalent in lei of DST 300 million, but not less than the equivalent in lei of 150 million SDR, provided that the difference up to the minimum equivalent in lei of DST 300 million to be allocated by the state from public funds in order to cover nuclear damages under the present law. (3) For a period of 10 years from the date of entry into force of this Law, with the approval of the competent national authority, the operator's liability may be limited for each nuclear accident occurred during this period to less than the equivalent in lei of DST 150 million, but not less than the equivalent in lei of DST 75 million, provided that the difference up to the equivalent in lei of DST 150 million is allocated by the state from public funds in order to cover nuclear damage under the present law. (4) In the case of research reactors and deposits of radioactive waste and nuclear fuel burned the liability of the operator according to the provisions of par. (1) and (2) will be at least the equivalent in lei of 30 million DST, and can be reduced, with the approval of the competent national authority, up to the equivalent in lei of 10 million DST, provided that the difference up to the minimum equivalent in lei of 30 million DST to be allocated by the state from public funds in order to compensate for nuclear damage under the present law. (5) In case of transport of nuclear materials the liability of the operator within the meaning 4 4 para. (3) is limited to the equivalent in lei of 5 million SDR; in the case of transport of nuclear fuel that was used in a nuclear reactor, the operator's liability, within the meaning of art. 4 4 para. (3), is limited to the equivalent in lei of 25 million SDR. (6) Provisions of para. ((1)-(5) do not include profit and costs. (7) The provisions of par. ((1)-(6) will be explicitly mentioned in the authorization of the operator Law no. 111/1996 , republished. + Article 9 The compensation related to a nuclear damage, the profit and the costs established by the competent court shall be expressed in lei, in compliance with the provisions of art. 8. + Article 10 Persons who have suffered nuclear damage will invoke their rights to compensation in a single action, without having to take separate steps related to the origin of the funds intended for compensation. + Chapter 4 Right to action in regression + Article 11 ((. The operator shall have no right to action in retrogression: a) if such a right has been expressly provided for in a written contract; b) if the nuclear accident results from an action or omission committed with the intention of causing a nuclear damage against the natural person who acted or failed to act with this intention. (2) The right to action in regression shall extend to the State in so far as it has allocated public funds, according to this Law. + Chapter 5 Extinguishing the right to damages actions + Article 12 (. The right to indemnity against the operator shall be prescribed if an action is not filed within: a) 30 years from the date of the nuclear accident, if the action is related to death or injury according to art. 3 lit. d) section 1 1; b) 10 years from the date of the nuclear accident, if the action is related to the other nuclear damage according to art. 3 lit. d) section 2 2-5 and 7; (2) The right to indemnity against the operator shall be extinguished if an action is not filed during a period of 3 years from the date on which the victim of the nuclear damage knew or should have known the damage and the identity of the operator responsible for it, without the deadlines provided in par. ((1) be exceeded. (3) Any person who has suffered a nuclear damage and has introduced a compensation action within the time limits provided in par. ((1) may modify its application, for the purpose of including any aggravation of the damage, even after the expiry of these deadlines, as long as a final and irrevocable judgment has not been delivered by the competent court. + Chapter 6 Insurance and financial guarantees + Article 13 ((. The controller shall be obliged to conclude an insurance contract or a financial guarantee covering its civil liability for nuclear damage and to prove to the competent national authority its existence, with a view to issuing the authorisation. according to Law no. 111/1996 , republished. (2) Provisions of para. ((1) shall also apply to carriers of nuclear materials. (3) The insurer or any other financial guarantor is obliged to notify the competent national authority, at least two months in advance, of any suspension or cancellation of the insurance or financial guarantee provided in par. ((1). + Chapter 7 Final provisions + Article 14 The provisions of an insurance regime of sickness, social security, social security, insurance against accidents at work or occupational diseases shall be applied simultaneously with the provisions of this law. + Article 15 This law, in so far as it does not have otherwise, is supplemented by the provisions of the Civil Code and the Code of Civil Procedure. + Article 16 (1) Within 9 months from the publication of the present law in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, the competent national authority together with the Ministry of Public Finance will issue rules on the application of this law, which will be approved by Government decision. (2) The present law shall enter into force 12 months after the date of publication in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I. This law was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies at the meeting of September 10, 2001, in compliance with the provisions of 74 74 para. (2) of the Romanian Constitution. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES PRESIDENT VALER DORNEANU This law was adopted by the Senate at the meeting of 6 November 2001, in compliance with the provisions of art. 74 74 para. (2) of the Romanian Constitution. p. SENATE PRESIDENT, DORU IOAN TARACILA --------------