Legislative assistance
Where should my State’s legislative drafters turn for co-operative assistance?
The objectives of the IAEA’s Office of Legal Affairs legislative assistance programme are to create awareness in Member States of the legally binding and non-binding international instruments in the nuclear field; enable member States to comply with their international obligations and commitments; enable Member States to establish national legal frameworks governing the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy; and transfer relevant knowledge to Member States. It covers all branches of nuclear law, in particular nuclear safety; nuclear security; safeguards; and liability for nuclear damage. Legislative assistance is provided on request and is available to all Member States, regardless of the size of their nuclear programme. It would be of particular benefit to those States which are either in the process of, or seeking to, establish new laws; update existing laws; or consolidate their existing national nuclear legal frameworks.
In co-ordination with other assistance providers, VERTIC’s National Implementation Measures (NIM) Programme offers States assistance with the implementation of certain international instruments to secure nuclear and other radioactive material. These include:
- Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM)(and amendment);
- International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT); and
- Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources (Code of Conduct) and Guidance on the Import and Export of Radioactive Sources; as well as
- Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation (Beijing Convention);
- Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation (as amended by the 2005 Protocol); and
- Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Fixed Platforms Located on the Continental Shelf (as amended by the 2005 Protocol).
The NIM Programme’s tools to assist States with implementation of the instruments above include:
- State-specific legislation surveys (available on request to government officials);
- ‘National Legislation Implementation Kit on Nuclear Security‘ in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish;
- Nuclear Security Legislation Database;
- VERTIC Fact Sheets 4, 5, 11 and 12 (NPT, CPPNM, ICSANT and Code of Conduct) in Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish; and
- VERTIC’s ‘Legislative Guide to National Implementation of UNSCR 1540’ in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
VERTIC’s NIM Programme also assists States with national implementation of the Biological Weapons Convention, Chemical Weapons Convention and related aspects of UN Security Council Resolution 1540.
For more information, please contact VERTIC’s NIM Programme.