Maritime carriage of nuclear materials

A new international Convention Relating to Civil Liability in the Field of Maritime Carriage of Nuclear Material was signed on 17 December last year by France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia. The Convention had been adopted earlier in the same month by an International Diplomatic Conference in Brussels attended by some 50 countries, held under the joint auspices of the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO), the European Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD (ENEA) and the IAEA; it comes into force upon ratification by five signatories. (author)