Press release
Paris, 18 October 2001

Slovenia joins the Paris Convention on Nuclear Third Party Liability

The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency announced today that Slovenia has acceded to the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy. This accession became effective on 16 October 2001.

This is the first time that a non-member country of the OECD has acceded to the Paris Convention and Slovenia's accession brings the number of Contracting Parties to the Convention to 15.

The Paris Convention was adopted on 29 July 1960 under the auspices of the OECD, and was the first Convention to set forth the following fundamental principles which make up the special liability and compensation regime governing nuclear incidents:

The strict liability (without proof of fault) and the exclusive liability (channelling) of the operator of the nuclear installation in which the incident occurs; the same principle applies to the transportation of nuclear substances.
The limitation upon the operator's liability both in terms of amount and in terms of time (claims must be brought within 10 years from the date of the nuclear incident).
The operator must have financial security equivalent to the amount of its liability.
Only one court shall have jurisdiction to hear and rule on claims for compensation resulting from a nuclear incident – normally those of the State where the incident occurred – and final judgements are enforceable in all other Contracting Parties.
The principle of non-discrimination based on nationality, domicile or residence between victims of a nuclear incident.

Since 1981 Slovenia has operated one nuclear power plant of western design at Krsko.

Slovenia, which is already a Contracting Party to the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the 1988 Joint Protocol relating to the application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention, has also indicated its intention to seek accession to the 1963 Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention. The Brussels Convention is designed to provide additional compensation to victims of a nuclear incident, by means of public funds up to 300 million Special Drawing Rights (SDRs).

Both the Paris Convention, which entered into force on 1 April 1968 and the Brussels Supplementary Convention, which entered into force on 4 December 1974 are currently the subject of revision negotiations under the auspices of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency. The Slovenian authorities, who have already undertaken to modify their own nuclear liability legislation, have given notice of their desire to contribute positively to this revision work.

The list of Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention is as follows: