Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage

Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage

It is a 1963 treaty that governs issues of liability in cases of nuclear accident. It was concluded at Vienna on 21 May 1963 and entered into force on 12 November 1977. The convention has been amended by a 1997 protocol, in force since 4 October 2003.The depository is the International Atomic Energy Agency.

As of February 2014, the convention has been ratified by 40 states. Colombia, Israel, Morocco, Spain, and the United Kingdom have signed the convention but have not ratified it. Slovenia has denounced the treaty and withdrawn from it to become a party to the Paris Convention.

The Vienna Convention on Civil Liability aims at harmonising the national law of the Contracting Parties by establishing some minimum standards to provide financial protection against damage resulting from certain peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The Convention is designed to ensure that all Contracting Parties have laws and regulations in place conforming to the legal regime for civil liability for nuclear damage provided for in the Convention. The legal regime provided for in the Convention is based on the following general principles:

• exclusive liability of the operator of the nuclear installation concerned;
• “absolute” or “strict” liability, so that the injured party is not required to prove fault or negligence on the part of the operator;
• minimum amount of liability;
• obligation for the operator to cover liability through insurance or other financial security;
• limitation of liability in time;
• equal treatment of victims, irrespective of nationality, domicile or residence, provided that damage is suffered within the geographical scope of the Convention;
• exclusive jurisdictional competence of the courts of the Contracting Party in whose territory the incident occurs or, in case of an incident outside the territories of Contracting Parties (in the course of transport of nuclear material), of the Contracting Party in whose territory the liable operator’s installation is situated);
• recognition and enforcement of final judgements rendered by the competent court in all Contracting Parties