Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 1999, publiée 88ème session CIT (2000)

The Committee notes the information supplied by the Government in its latest report.

1. Article 8 of the Convention. The Committee notes that section 1.3.4 of the Ministerial Decision No. 14632/(FOR) 1416/1989 requiring the immediate implementation of European Directives which set up lower dose limits. In this event, the Greek Nuclear Energy Committee is obliged to adopt new dose limits being the basis for a ministerial decision to be taken in order to translate the dose limits contained in the European Directives into national law. In this regard, the Committee notes the EU Council Directive 96/92/EURATOM of 13 May 1996 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation. Article 9 of this Directive fixes dose limits for workers exposed to ionizing radiation and its article 13 sets dose limits for the general public which are both in line with the dose limits recommended by the ICRP in 1990. The Committee, however, notes that the Council Directive 96/92/EURATOM does not contain any provisions prescribing dose limits for non-radiation workers, and thus the national legislation is lacking provisions fixing the annual dose limit for workers not directly engaged in radiation work. The Committee recalls the provision of Article 8 of the Convention obliging the Government to fix appropriate levels of exposure in the light of knowledge available at the time for the group of workers not directly engaged in radiation work. In this respect, the Committee draws the Government's attention to section 5.4.5 of the ILO Code of Practice of 1986, according to which the dose limit for workers not directly engaged in radiation work should be the same as the dose limit fixed for individual members of the public. For this category of persons, the 1990 ICRP recommendation set up a dose limit of 1 mSv/year, averaged over five years. The Committee accordingly hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures in the near future in order to fulfil its obligation under this Article of the Convention.

2. The Committee is raising other points in a request addressed directly to the Government.