Round table 'Indoor radon: German and Portuguese experiences': State of European radon abatement policy

Radon (Rn) and its progeny are known as carcinogenic agents. This motivated regulation of exposure. Although of natural origin (part of decay chain of ubiquitous uranium), its indoor concentration is strongly controlled by anthropogenic factors such as building type and user behaviour. This is also where protection measures take up. The essential document is the EURATOM Basic Safety Standards (EU-BSS), which is an EU Directive. This means that all Member States are obliged to transpose it into National legislation. The process gave rise to various problems, some treated in European research projects such as MetroRadon. Also, the European Atlas of Natural Radiation is partly a product of the discussion about Rn. In this contribution we present the main features of the EU-BSS, address the state of its implementation and open problems, some of which emerged only in the legal process