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Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - Norway (RATIFICATION: 1961)

1. With reference to its previous comments, where the Committee noted the Government’s indications that the regulations of 14 June 1985 on ionizing radiation were being amended to bring them into conformity with the dose limits established in the Directive 96/29 EURATOM of 13 May 1996 of the European Council, and that the amendments had been submitted to the different bodies involved in this process, the Committee requests the Government to indicate whether the amendments to the above regulations have been adopted, and, if so, to supply copies of them to the ILO.

2. Further to its previous comments, the Committee would reiterate the comments made on the following points.

Article 8 of the Convention. The Committee notes the Government’s explanation supplied in its last report that, although Norwegian legislation does not provide explicitly for dose limits on non-radiation workers, the dose limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in its 1990 Recommendations are nevertheless applied in practice through a number of technical provisions. In this respect, the Government indicates that, for example, the radiation protection requirements in well-logging, issued in 1997, the radiation protection requirements for industrial gauges, issued in 1996, and the radiation protection requirements for industrial radiography, issued in 1999, provide for dose limits of 7.5 macro Sievert per hour, equivalent to 1 mSv/year, which is the dose limit recommended by the ICRP in its 1990 Recommendations for non-radiation workers. The Committee, taking due note of this information, requests the Government to explain whether these technical provisions, which, according to the Committee’s understanding, do not have a legal character, are nevertheless binding and thus must be observed by the employer; or whether they only constitute reference values and it is thus left to the discretion of the employer to apply the dose limits fixed in technical provisions. In this relation, the Committee would recall the provision of Article 8 of the Convention which raises a particular concern for workers who, while not directly engaged in radiation and thus not necessarily benefiting from monitoring programmes, special medical examinations etc., may remain in, or pass through, areas where they may be exposed to ionizing radiations. In the case that the abovementioned technical provisions are not binding, the Committee again would invite the Government to examine the possibility to incorporate the dose limits established by technical provisions into national legislation, in order to ensure that workers who are not directly engaged in radiation work are protected effectively, since the employer has the same obligations towards workers not engaged in radiation work, as far as restricting their radiation exposure is concerned, as if they were members of the public with respect to sources or practices under the employer’s control.

Part V of the report form. The Committee again notes the Government’s indication that Norwegian legislation and codes of practices are based on recommendations and guidelines published by international organizations, like the ICRP, IAEA, EU etc., and thus applies the general principles of the Convention. The Government nevertheless considers that at present the incorporation of the abovementioned recommendations and guidelines into national legislation is arrived at an only "modest degree". The Government, however, declares that the basic act on the use of X-rays and radium, etc. of 18 June 1938, will be replaced in spring 2000 by a new radiation protection act, which will be followed by the adoption of a number of new regulations, to be issued in application of this act. At this occasion, a number of basic international standards, mainly the 1990 ICRP Recommendations and EU directives, will be incorporated into national legislation. The Government estimates that these measures would lead to a better application of the Convention at national level. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to indicate whether the new radiation protection act and its regulations have been adopted in the meantime and, if that is the case, requests the Government to supply copies of the new act and the regulations. In this context, the Committee would refer to its observation and would again encourage the Government to consider the incorporation of provisions governing the issues of alternative employment and exposure to ionizing radiations in emergency situations into national legislation.

[The Government is asked to report in detail in 2003.]