Action 63

France has ratified the Convention on Civil Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (Paris Convention) as well as the Supplementary Convention to the Paris Convention on Civil Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (Brussels Supplementary Convention). Their provisions are incorporated into domestic law by Law No. 68-943 of 30 October 1968, on civil liability in the field of nuclear energy, as amended by Law No. 90-488 of 16 June 1990, and codified by Order No. 2012-6 of 5 January 2012, amending Books I and V of the Environmental Code.

On 30 July 2014, France ratified the joint protocol for the application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention.

On 13 and 28 August 2013, France and the United States signed a joint declaration on civil liability for nuclear damage. This declaration affirms the two countries’ commitment to contributing to the establishment of a global nuclear civil liability regime that ensures fair compensation for victims of nuclear accidents, as recommended by the IAEA. The declaration encourages states to accede to such a regime. France considers, in particular, that the revised Paris (and Brussels, Additional) and Vienna Conventions, as well as the Common Protocol on the Application of the Paris and Vienna Conventions, constitute an appropriate basis for compensation for nuclear damage.

The United States’ domestic civil nuclear liability regime is governed by the 1957 Price-Anderson Act, which accords with U.S.-specific tort law. The United States did not did not sign the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention, nor is it party to the underlying Vienna Convention or to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, because those conventions do not take into account the U.S. system of tort liability.

The United States did, however, become party to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage in 2008, noting that its national law complied with the provisions of the Annex to the Convention. The treaty entered into force in April 2015.