This publication reproduces the explanatory texts on the nuclear liability instruments adopted under the IAEA’s auspices in 1997. Finalized by the International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX), these texts constitute a comprehensive study and authoritative interpretation of the IAEA’s nuclear liability regime. More particularly, the texts deal with the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. The publication includes an overview, and brings together the texts, of the IAEA’s nuclear liability instruments. It also includes a matrix of comparative provisions in the various nuclear liability instruments, as well as the recommendations on how to achieve a global nuclear liability regime that were adopted by INLEX in 2012 following a request by Member States reflected in the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety. The explanatory texts were first updated in 2017 in the light of these important developments, and this second revision reflects further discussions within INLEX. It is hoped that the texts and the other documents included in this publication will increase awareness of nuclear liability as an important aspect of nuclear law by becoming a useful tool for legislators, government officials, technical experts, lawyers and nuclear insurers.

This publication reproduces the explanatory texts on the nuclear liability instruments adopted under the IAEA’s auspices. Finalized by the International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX), these texts constitute a comprehensive study and authoritative interpretation of the IAEA's nuclear liability regime. More particularly, the texts deal with the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. The publication also presents an overview and brings together the texts of the IAEA's nuclear liability instruments. Finally, it includes a matrix of comparative provisions in the various nuclear liability instruments, as well as the recommendations on how to achieve a global nuclear liability regime, which were adopted by INLEX in 2012 following a request by the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety.

This publication complements IAEA International Law Series No. 3 and reproduces the explanatory text on the 1988 Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy. Finalized by the International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX), this text constitutes a comprehensive study and authoritative interpretation of that instrument.

This publication brings together the primary legally binding international instruments and the internationally accepted non-binding instruments that constitute the international legal framework for nuclear security. It sets out the legislative basis for the mandate of the IAEA in the area of nuclear security, in order to increase awareness of the IAEA’s role in facilitating national, regional and international efforts to enhance nuclear security, including measures to protect against nuclear terrorism. It is intended that the overview of the salient provisions of the relevant binding and non-binding instruments will increase the understanding of the existing legal framework governing nuclear security and counterterrorism and, thereby, assist States, intergovernmental organizations and other stakeholders in the implementation of those provisions at the national, regional and international level.

During the course of its meetings, the International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX) finalized the discussion and review of explanatory texts (including an overview of the IAEA's modernized nuclear liability regime) on the nuclear liability instruments adopted under IAEA auspices in 1997. These texts constitute a comprehensive study of the IAEA’s nuclear liability regime to aid the understanding and to serve as an authoritative interpretation of that regime. In addition to the overview and the explanatory texts, the publication also includes the following documents: a matrix of comparative provisions of the nuclear liability instruments; the text of the "Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage"; the consolidated text of the "Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage"; and the text of the "Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage" (the CSC). It is expected that this publication will increase awareness of nuclear liability as an important aspect of nuclear law by becoming a useful tool for legislators, government officials, technical experts, lawyers and nuclear insurers.

This publication brings together in a more convenient format the official records and other relevant publications relating to the negotiations on the "Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material". The Amendment makes it legally binding to protect nuclear facilities and material in peaceful domestic use, storage and transport. It also provides for expanded cooperation between and among States regarding rapid measures to locate and recover stolen or smuggled nuclear material, mitigate any radiological consequences of sabotage, and prevent and combat related offences. The Amendment constitutes an important milestone in the global efforts to combat nuclear terrorism.

This publication brings together in a more convenient format the official records and other relevant publications relating to the negotiations on the "Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management". The Convention applies to spent fuel and radioactive waste resulting from civilian nuclear reactors and applications and to spent fuel and radioactive waste from military or defence programmes if and when such material is transferred permanently to and managed within exclusively civilian programmes, or when declared as spent fuel or radioactive waste for the purpose of the Convention. The Convention also applies to planned and controlled releases into the environment of liquid or gaseous radioactive material from related nuclear facilities. The "Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management", the first legal instrument to directly address these issues on a global scale, entered into force on 18 June 2001.