Background EUTERP project
Article 33 of the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (the Euratom Treaty, signed in Rome on 25 March 1957) requires that Member States shall lay down appropriate provisions to ensure compliance with the Basic Safety Standards and in particular measures shall be taken with regard to teaching, education and vocational training.
The European Union's Basic Safety Standards Directive 96/29/Euratom, laying down the basic safety standards for the health protection of the general public and workers against the dangers of ionising radiation (Official Journal L-159 of 29 June 1996), constitutes a binding set of rules on the basis of which Member States are obliged to adopt appropriate national legislation.
Amongst others, the Basic Safety Standards Directive requires that each Member State shall make the necessary arrangements to recognise, as appropriate, the capacity of Qualified Experts. According to the definition given by the BSS Directive, Qualified Experts are persons having the knowledge and training needed to carry out physical, technical or radiochemical tests enabling doses to be assessed, and give advice in order to ensure effective protection of individuals and the correct operation of protective equipment. Their capacity to act as qualified experts shall be recognised by the competent authorities.
Qualified Experts may be assigned the technical responsibility for the tasks of radiation protection of workers and members of the public. There is, however, a considerable variation in the approaches of European countries to the radiation protection education and vocational training arrangements for radiation protection. Furthermore, there exists diversity in the qualifications and diplomas necessary for the recognition of Qualified Experts in the sense of the Basic Safety Standards Directive. This diversity creates an obstruction to the mobility of radiation protection experts in the enlarged European Union.
Pursuant to Article 3(c) of the EC Treaty the abolition of obstacles to freedom of movement between Member States of persons and services constitutes one of the objectives of the European Union. This means in particular the possibility of pursuing a profession in a Member State other than the one where these persons have acquired their professional qualifications. For those professions for which the European Union has not laid down the necessary minimum levels of qualification, Member States reserve the option of fixing such levels with a view to guaranteeing the quality of services provided in their country. The Commission concluded that an efficient and highly effective instrument for the achievement of these major objectives is the inauguration of the EUTERP Platform.