Observation (CEACR) - adopted 1997, published 86th ILC session (1998)

Radiation Protection Convention, 1960 (No. 115) - France (Ratification: 1971)

1. Review of maximum permissible doses and effective protection of workers in the light of new knowledge (Articles 3, paragraph 1, and 6, paragraph 2, of the Convention). The Committee notes that the Government indicates that by the year 2000 the maximum permissible dose of exposure of workers to ionizing radiation currently in force will be replaced by a new limit of 100 mSv over five consecutive years, in accordance with the prescriptions of Directive 96/29/Euratom, adopted in May 1996. With reference to its previous observation and its 1992 General Observation, the Committee recalls that the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), in recommendations formulated in 1990, sets a limit of 20 mSv per annum averaged over five years provided that the actual dose does not exceed 50 mSv in any one year. Moreover, in 1994 the limits established by the ICRP were incorporated in the International Basic Safety Standards. The Committee hopes that the Government will soon be in a position to report the adoption of provisions in conformity with the dose limits mentioned in its 1992 General Observation, in the light of current knowledge such as that contained in the 1990 ICRP Recommendations and the 1994 International Basic Safety Standards.

2. The Committee is raising certain questions in a request addressed directly to the Government.