NEA Mandates and Structures

Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR)

Mandate (Document reference):

• Group created during the 60^th Session of the CRPPH, March 2002, as recorded in document [NEA/CRPPH(2003)2]
• Updated name and Terms of Reference for the EGIR [NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2010)1]
• CRPPH Annual Report: Accomplishments for 2009 and Plans for 2010 [NEA/CRPPH(2010)2/REV1]
• Agreements and Commitments from the 68^th CRPPH Meeting [NEA/CRPPH(2010)6/REV1]
• Summary Record of the CRPPH Bureau Mid-Year Meeting [NEA/CRPPH(2012)9]
• Extension of the Mandate of the Expert Group on the Implications of Recommendations (EGIR), summary of agreements and commitments of the 76^th session of the CRPPH [NEA/CRPPH(2018)1]
• Extension of the Mandate of the Expert Group on the Implications of Recommendations (EGIR) without changes, CRPPH-77 summary of agreements and commitments [NEA/CRPPH(2019)4]
• Summary Record, Agreements and Decisions of the 78^th Meeting of the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health held virtually on 9-11 September 2020 [NEA/CRPPH(2020)5]
• Mandate of the Expert Group on the International Recommendations [NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2021)1]
• Draft Summary Record, Agreements and Decisions of the 81^st Meeting of the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health, April 2023 [NEA/CRPPH(2023)6]
• Mandate of the Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR) [NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2023)3]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2023)3

Mandate

Background

The EGIR was established in 2002 by the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) to perform assessments of draft general recommendations developed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and to provide feedback to the document drafters on policy and regulatory implications, with the aim of ensuring that the final recommendations addressed the views and concerns of the CRPPH.

This approach was regarded as highly effective and in 2008, the CRPPH agreed that the EGIR assessment process should also be applied to the revision of the new International Basic Safety Standards (BSS Rev. 1.0). This was the first “non-ICRP” document assessed using this approach, and again the results were very much appreciated by both the CRPPH and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is principally responsible for the drafting of this internationally co-sponsored document.

Taking note of these positive experiences, the CRPPH agreed at its 2009 meeting that the EGIR process is an effective and useful assessment tool that could, in principle, be used to assess draft documents from many different organisations, provided that the CRPPH is interested in a particular document in development, and that the drafting organisation is willing to provide draft material for assessment.  As such, the CRPPH agreed that the EGIR should be thought of as a process “in standby”, to be implemented on an ad-hoc basis to assess specific draft documents identified by the CRPPH. During its 76th meeting, the CRPPH agreed to change the name of the expert group from “Expert Group on the Implications of Recommendations (EGIR)” to “Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR)”, to reflect the broader focus.

In 2021, ICRP initiated a project to review and revise the System of Radiological Protection with the aim of updating the fundamental recommendations set out in ICRP Publication 103. The EGIR is performing the role as advisor to CRPPH on the review. It is expected that ICRP’s review and revision of the System of Radiological Protection will last several years (to ~2030). The EGIR also extends its advisory role to the CRPPH by monitoring in an anticipated manner the publication of any documents to be issued by international organisations, with potential high impact on the radiological protection system and its application.

Scope

The aim of the Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR) is to review and assess draft documents and recommendations developed by international organisations in the field of radiological protection. In doing so, the EGIR will engage with policymakers on the applicability and regulatory implications of publishing the assessed documents by suggesting practical and supported modifications to help assure that final documents best serve the needs of national and international radiological protection policymakers, regulators and implementers.

Working Methods

The EGIR working methods shall be as follows:

• The CRPPH will identify the document(s) it wishes to assess based on forward-looking analysis of upcoming publications/recommendations or requests for NEA input from the authoring organisations. The Secretariat will liaise with the authoring organisation to obtain the draft document for CRPPH/EGIR assessment.
• The Secretariat will inform the CRPPH and other relevant NEA Standing Technical Committees, as appropriate, that an EGIR review of a specified draft document is to take place, and will invite CRPPH members to nominate experts to this assessment process. Each EGIR draft document assessment process will require a new call for nominations.
• The draft document assessment will develop both general comments on the document’s content, and specific comments on the document’s text. Proposed text changes, insertions or deletions will each be accompanied by an explanatory comment, providing the rationale for the suggested modification.
• The EGIR may convene meetings of experts to discuss the document review or conduct the review via written correspondence only. This will be determined by the Secretariat based on the scale of the review or if there is a need to discuss specific issues.
• Where applicable, the authoring organisation will be invited to nominate an invited expert to join EGIR meetings, principally to directly hear comments, but also to provide clarification of draft text as needed.
• The CRPPH may decide that experts from other relevant organisations should also be invited to the EGIR meeting. These organisations may include international organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) or the International Labour Organisation (ILO), industry groups, such as the World Nuclear Association (WNA) or the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), or other relevant stakeholder organisations.
• The EGIR assessments will be submitted to the CRPPH for approval before providing it to the authoring organisation, usually under the written procedure. Should time constraints due to consultation period limits and/or EGIR meeting organisational issues make the CRPPH review and approval of EGIR comments impractical, the CRPPH Bureau may be mandated to approve the CRPPH/EGIR comments on behalf of the CRPPH, as appropriate.
• The approved EGIR assessment will be provided to the authoring organisation, to the participants in the EGIR meeting, to the CRPPH members and to all relevant NEA Standing Technical Committees for information.

Membership

Once a document has been identified for review by CRPPH, the Secretariat will invite CRPPH members to nominate experts to this assessment process. Each EGIR draft document assessment process will require a new call for nominations.

The EGIR bureau consists of a Chair and Vice-Chair.

Interactions

The EGIR will report into and act as an advisor to the CRPPH. Based on the subject matter of the document under review, the EGIR will engage with other NEA Standing Technical Committees and international organisations. Interactions with the authoring organisation will be a key part of the EGIR’s role.

Deliverables

The EGIR Programme of Work is determined by the documents identified by CRPPH for review and the associated timeline set by the authoring organisation. For the current mandate period, the primary focus will be on the review and revision by EGIR of the ICRP fundamental recommendations.

For each document review, the deliverable of EGIR will be a report setting out the feedback from CRPPH/EGIR.