Starting up the implementation of the Additional Protocol in the European Union

The EU Member States and the European Commission, EURATOM, signed the Protocols Additional to their Safeguards Agreements on 22, September 1998. It was almost six years later that the Commission was able to submit to the DG of the IAEA the declaration of preparedness of the EU Member States to implement the Protocol. During this period lengthy discussions between the European Commission’s Safeguards Department, the IAEA and the EU Member States prepared the field for implementation in a detailed way that was promising a fast and smooth start. Structural changes within the Services of the European Commission and the enlargement of the European Union provided us with significantly more challenges than originally expected. The paper summarises briefly the history of these developments and focuses on the current situation. It addresses the difficulties encountered when preparing the first declarations, the first experiences in the dialogue with the IAEA in analysing the situation, the role that the Commission is expected to play in the process of communication between the EU Member States and the IAEA and an outlook to the future. It also includes the first experiences of Complementary Access visits in EU Member States’ sites. As the implementation of the Additional Protocol is embedded in the overall Safeguards activities of the European Union, the paper also reports on the relation between the developments in the implementation of European Commission Safeguards and the Additional Protocol. It elaborates on the issues rising from the significant changes in the EURATOM Safeguards approaches and the impact on the co-operation with the operators, the Member States and the IAEA. Finally, the progress made in the integration of the new Member States of the European Union in the Community Safeguards Agreement and its Additional Protocol is addressed. In view of the political importance placed by the European Union to the world-wide implementation of Additional Protocols, the completion of the procedures for a full implementation of the Protocol in all States of the Union is an essential demonstration of our commitment to this matter.