International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX)

The Director General established and announced to the Board of Governors and to the Forty-seventh Regular Session of the General Conference in September 2003, the International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX).

INLEX serves three major functions, namely to: (a) Create a forum of expertise to explore and advise on issues related to nuclear liability; (b) Enhance global adherence by nuclear and non-nuclear States to an effective nuclear liability regime, inter alia, on the basis of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage and the Annex thereto, the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, the Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention, and the amendments thereto; and (c) Assist in the development and strengthening of the national nuclear liability legal frameworks in IAEA Member States to protect the public and the environment, and to enhance nuclear safety.

Since the establishment of INLEX, the Group has held six meetings. During the course of these meetings, INLEX has explored and advised on issues regarding the existing international liability regime for nuclear damage, in particular, concerning the international liability instruments adopted under Agency auspices. In this context, INLEX finalized the discussion and review of explanatory texts on the nuclear liability instruments adopted under Agency auspices in 1997, as a comprehensive study and authoritative interpretation of the Agency’s nuclear liability regime. The explanatory texts have been published by the Agency as publication STI/PUB/1279. In addition, to the explanatory texts, this publication includes an overview of the Agency's nuclear liability regime, and brings together the texts of the Agency’s nuclear liability instruments. Finally, this publication includes a matrix of comparative provisions in the various nuclear liability instruments.

An earlier version of the explanatory texts (and the overview) are also available to Member States in all official languages: GOV/INF/2004/9-GC(48)/INF/5 [Arabic | Chinese | French | Spanish | Russian].