WAM Vienna, 29 May 2012 (WAM) - Today at the IAEA Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) deposited instruments for joining the Protocol to Amend the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the Joint Protocol on the Application of the Vienna and Paris Conventions.

letters of accession to the conventions signed by HH Sheikh Abdulla Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE Foreign Minister, were deposited at the IAEA today by Ambassador Hamad Al Kaabi , UAE Permanent Representative to the IAEA, during a meeting with Ms. Peri Johnson, Director of the IAEA Office of Legal Affairs.

By joining these conventions, the UAE meets its policy commitments and further demonstrates its responsible approach in developing peaceful nuclear energy programme.

The international liability regime defines a framework organizing responsibly and mechanism for compensation for damage after a nuclear accident. The updated Protocol contains inter alia a better definition of nuclear damage (addressing the concept of environmental damage and preventive measures in addition to previously defined nuclear damage such as loss of life), and extends the period during which claims may be brought for loss of life and personal injury.

The Joint Protocol established a link between the Conventions combining them into one expanded liability regime. Parties to the Joint Protocol are treated as though they were Parties to both Conventions .

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