Decreto n.º 17/2011

TEXTO :

Decreto n.º 17/2011

de 21 de Junho

O presente decreto aprova o Protocolo para Emendar a Convenção sobre a Responsabilidade Civil no Domínio da Energia Nuclear de 29 de Julho de 1960, com as Emendas introduzidas pelo Protocolo Adicional de 28 de Janeiro de 1964 e pelo Protocolo de 16 de Novembro de 1982, adoptado em Paris em 12 de Fevereiro de 2004.

Portugal é Parte da Convenção sobre a Responsabilidade Civil no Domínio da Energia Nuclear de 29 de Julho de 1960, com as Emendas introduzidas pelo Protocolo Adicional de 28 de Janeiro de 1964 e pelo Protocolo de 16 de Novembro de 1982, adoptado em Paris em 12 de Fevereiro de 2004.

O referido Protocolo introduz alterações à Convenção sobre a Responsabilidade Civil no Domínio da Energia Nuclear no sentido de alargar o tipo de danos decorrentes de incidentes nucleares e de aumentar os montantes de responsabilidade civil.

Assim, para além de indemnizações devidas por danos pessoais e patrimoniais, passam a ser devidas indemnizações por outros danos, nomeadamente a perda de rendimentos provenientes de um interesse económico directo em qualquer uso ou fruição do ambiente, decorrentes de uma forte degradação do meio ambiente causada por incidente nuclear, bem como pelos custos com as medidas preventivas destinadas a minimizar os efeitos do incidente ocorrido.

O referido Protocolo altera também as definições de incidente nuclear, abrangendo agora qualquer ocorrência que cause danos nucleares, independentemente de serem causadas em instalações de fabrico ou processamento de substâncias nucleares. Assim, passa a abranger também as ocorrências que se verifiquem, designadamente, em instalações de armazenagem de combustível nuclear ou produtos ou resíduos radioactivos, bem como em instalações para a eliminação de substâncias nucleares ou em vias de serem desmanteladas.

Com esta alteração qualquer incidente em instalações que armazenem ou contenham produtos relacionados com energia nuclear passa a ser considerado como um acidente nuclear. Esta alteração tem vantagens para os cidadãos na medida em que caso sofram danos relacionados com esses incidentes passam a beneficiar de um tratamento equivalente aos incidentes ocorridos em centrais nucleares.

Para além disso, o presente Protocolo alarga o prazo para reclamação das respectivas indemnizações, aumentando ainda os seus valores mínimos. Os valores mínimos fixados para situações excepcionais onde fique comprovada a natureza menos perigosa do tipo de instalação ou da natureza das substâncias nucleares envolvidas ou ainda prováveis consequências menos gravosas passam a situar-se a partir dos 70 milhões de euros e 80 milhões de euros, fixando-se, como regra geral, um valor nunca inferior a 700 milhões de euros.

Por fim, e reconhecendo as preocupações avançadas pelos Estados costeiros que permitem transferências marítimas de materiais nucleares através das suas águas, a presente revisão da Convenção de Paris passa a incluir disposições que garantem que, quando ocorrer um acidente nuclear na zona económica exclusiva de um Estado Parte da Convenção, a competência para dirimir as questões daí resultantes caberá exclusivamente aos tribunais desse Estado costeiro.

Assim:

Nos termos da alínea c) do n.º 1 do artigo 197.º da Constituição, o Governo aprova o Protocolo para Emendar a Convenção sobre a Responsabilidade Civil no Domínio da Energia Nuclear de 29 de Julho de 1960, com as Emendas introduzidas pelo Protocolo Adicional de 28 de Janeiro de 1964 e pelo Protocolo de 16 de Novembro de 1982, adoptado em Paris em 12 de Fevereiro de 2004, cujo texto, na versão autenticada na língua inglesa, bem como a respectiva tradução para língua portuguesa, assim como os textos consolidados da Convenção em língua portuguesa e inglesa, se publicam em anexo.

Visto e aprovado em Conselho de Ministros de 21 de Outubro de 2010. - José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa - Luís Filipe Marques Amado - Emanuel Augusto dos Santos - Manuel Pedro Cunha da Silva Pereira - Alberto de Sousa Martins - José António Fonseca Vieira da Silva - Dulce dos Prazeres Fidalgo Álvaro Pássaro - José Mariano Rebelo Pires Gago.

Assinado em 12 de Abril de 2011.

Publique-se.

O Presidente da República, Aníbal Cavaco Silva.

Referendado em 18 de Abril de 2011.

O Primeiro-Ministro, José Sócrates Carvalho Pinto de Sousa.

PROTOCOL TO AMEND THE CONVENTION ON THIRD PARTY LIABILITY IN THE FIELD OF NUCLEAR ENERGY OF 29 JULY 1960, AS AMENDED BY THE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL OF 28 JANUARY 1964 AND BY THE PROTOCOL OF 16 NOVEMBER 1982.

The Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Spain, the Republic of Finland, the French Republic, the Hellenic Republic, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Portuguese Republic, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Republic of Slovenia, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Swiss Confederation and the Republic of Turkey, considering that it is desirable to amend the Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, concluded at Paris on 29 July 1960 within the framework of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation, now the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as amended by the Additional Protocol signed at Paris on 28 January 1964 and by the Protocol signed at Paris on 16 November 1982, have agreed as follows:

I - The Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 29 July 1960, as amended by the Additional Protocol of 28 January 1964 and by the Protocol of 16 November 1982, shall be amended as follows:

A) Subparagraphs i) and ii) of paragraph a) of article 1 shall be replaced by the following text:

"i) 'A nuclear incident' means any occurrence or series of occurrences having the same origin which causes nuclear damage;

ii) 'Nuclear installation' means reactors other than those comprised in any means of transport; factories for the manufacture or processing of nuclear substances; factories for the separation of isotopes of nuclear fuel; factories for the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel; facilities for the storage of nuclear substances other than storage incidental to the carriage of such substances; installations for the disposal of nuclear substances; any such reactor, factory, facility or installation that is in the course of being decommissioned; and such other installations in which there are nuclear fuel or radioactive products or waste as the Steering Committee for Nuclear Energy of the Organisation (hereinafter referred to as the 'Steering Committee') shall from time to time determine; any Contracting Party may determine that two or more nuclear installations of one operator which are located on the same site shall, together with any other premises on that site where nuclear fuel or radioactive products or waste are held, be treated as a single nuclear installation.»

B) Four new subparagraphs vii), viii), ix) and x) shall be added to paragraph a) of article 1 as follows:

"vii) 'Nuclear damage' means:

1) Loss of life or personal injury;

2) Loss of or damage to property;

and each of the following to the extent determined by the law of the competent court,

3) Economic loss arising from loss or damage referred to in subparagraph 1) or 2) above insofar as not included in those subparagraphs, if incurred by a person entitled to claim in respect of such loss or damage;

4) The costs of measures of reinstatement of impaired environment, unless such impairment is insignificant, if such measures are actually taken or to be taken, and insofar as not included in subparagraph 2) above;

5) Loss of income deriving from a direct economic interest in any use or enjoyment of the environment, incurred as a result of a significant impairment of that environment, and insofar as not included in subparagraph 2) above;

6) The costs of preventive measures, and further loss or damage caused by such measures, in the case of subparagraphs 1) to 5) above, to the extent that the loss or damage arises out of or results from ionizing radiation emitted by any source of radiation inside a nuclear installation, or emitted from nuclear fuel or radioactive products or waste in, or of nuclear substances coming from, originating in, or sent to, a nuclear installation, whether so arising from the radioactive properties of such matter, or from a combination of radioactive properties with toxic, explosive or other hazardous properties of such matter;

viii) 'Measures of reinstatement' means any reasonable measures which have been approved by the competent authorities of the State where the measures were taken, and which aim to reinstate or restore damaged or destroyed components of the environment, or to introduce, where reasonable, the equivalent of these components into the environment. The legislation of the State where the nuclear damage is suffered shall determine who is entitled to take such measures;

ix) 'Preventive measures' means any reasonable measures taken by any person after a nuclear incident or an event creating a grave and imminent threat of nuclear damage has occurred, to prevent or minimize nuclear damage referred to in subparagraphs a), vii), 1) to 5), subject to any approval of the competent authorities required by the law of the State where the measures were taken;

1) The nature and extent of the nuclear damage incurred or, in the case of preventive measures, the nature and extent of the risk of such damage;

2) The extent to which, at the time they are taken, such measures are likely to be effective; and

3) Relevant scientific and technical expertise.»

C) Article 2 shall be replaced by the following text:

"a) This Convention shall apply to nuclear damage suffered in the territory of, or in any maritime zones established in accordance with international law of, or, except in the territory of a non-Contracting State not mentioned under ii) to iv) of this paragraph, on board a ship or aircraft registered by:

ii) A non-Contracting State which, at the time of the nuclear incident, is a Contracting Party to the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 21 May 1963 and any amendment thereto which is in force for that Party, and to the Joint Protocol relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention of 21 September 1988, provided however, that the Contracting Party to the Paris Convention in whose territory the installation of the operator liable is situated is a Contracting Party to that Joint Protocol;

iii) A non-Contracting State which, at the time of the nuclear incident, has no nuclear installation in its territory or in any maritime zones established by it in accordance with international law; or

iv) Any other non-Contracting State which, at the time of the nuclear incident, has in force nuclear liability legislation which affords equivalent reciprocal benefits, and which is based on principles identical to those of this Convention, including, inter alia, liability without fault of the operator liable, exclusive liability of the operator or a provision to the same effect, exclusive jurisdiction of the competent court, equal treatment of all victims of a nuclear incident, recognition and enforcement of judgments, free transfer of compensation, interests and costs.

D) Article 3 shall be replaced by the following text:

"a) The operator of a nuclear installation shall be liable, in accordance with this Convention, for nuclear damage other than:

ii) Damage to any property on that same site which is used or to be used in connection with any such installation, upon proof that such damage was caused by a nuclear incident in such installation or involving nuclear substances coming from such installation, except as otherwise provided for in article 4.

E) Paragraphs c) and d) of article 4 shall be renumbered as paragraphs d) and e) respectively and a new paragraph c) shall be added to read as follows:

"c) The transfer of liability to the operator of another nuclear installation pursuant to paragraphs a), i) and ii), and b), i) and ii), of this article may only take place if that operator has a direct economic interest in the nuclear substances that are in the course of carriage.»

F) Paragraphs b) and d) of article 5 shall be replaced by the following text:

"b) Where, however, nuclear damage is caused by a nuclear incident occurring in a nuclear installation and involving only nuclear substances stored therein incidentally to their carriage, the operator of the nuclear installation shall not be liable where another operator or person is liable pursuant to article 4;

G) Paragraphs c), e) and g) of article 6 shall be replaced by the following text:

"c) i) Nothing in this Convention shall affect the liability:

1) Of any individual for nuclear damage caused by a nuclear incident for which the operator, by virtue of article 3, a), or article 9, is not liable under this Convention and which results from an act or omission of that individual done with intent to cause damage;

2) Of a person duly authorized to operate a reactor comprised in a means of transport for nuclear damage caused by a nuclear incident when an operator is not liable for such damage pursuant to article 4, a), iii), or b), iii);

ii) The operator shall incur no liability outside this Convention for nuclear damage caused by a nuclear incident.

H) Article 7 shall be replaced by the following text:

"a) Each Contracting Party shall provide under its legislation that the liability of the operator in respect of nuclear damage caused by any one nuclear incident shall not be less than 700 million euro.

ii) Having regard to the nature of the nuclear substances involved and to the likely consequences of a nuclear incident originating there from, establish a lower amount of liability for the carriage of nuclear substances, provided that in no event shall any amount so established be less than 80 million euro.