WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3243/97 by Alfonso NOVO BELENGUER to the Commission. Transport of plutonium by sea
8. 6. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 174/27 According to the complainant, the contracting authority had infringed the principle of non-discrimination provided for in Article 3(2) of Directive 92/50/EEC because it had rejected certain tenders, including the complainantís, on the grounds of failure to comply with the administrative formalities while, at the same time, accepting other tenders which also had presentational shortcomings. The information provided by the complainant does not reveal any infringement of Directive 92/50/EEC. The complaint concerns purely procedural aspects › compliance of tenders with internal administrative formali- ties › which applied to all applicants. The complainant does not provide any evidence of discrimination against certain consultancy firms, such as acceptance by the contracting authority of tenders with shortcomings which resulted in other applicants being excluded, a practice which could undermine Directive 92/50/EEC and the principle of non-discrimination. (98/C 174/62) WRITTEN QUESTION E-3243/97 by Alfonso Novo Belenguer (ARE) to the Commission (20 October 1997) Subject: Transport of plutonium by sea From December 1997 onwards France will increase its shipments of plutonium transported by sea from the French reprocessing plant of La Hague to Japan. In order to make the journey, the ships have to pass close to the Spanish coastline of Galicia and the Canary islands, with the danger which such hazardous waste entails. Does the Commission know what route will be taken regularly by these ships on their way to Japan? Has the Commission taken any steps to ensure that such dangerous radioactive cargo does not pass close to the coast? Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission (15 December 1997) According to Directive 93/75/EEC concerning minimum requirements for vessels bound for or leaving Community ports and carrying dangerous or polluting goods (1), all operators of vessels carrying dangerous or polluting goods, including nuclear materials, leaving a port of a Member State, or leaving a port outside the Community and bound for a port of a Member State, have to notify to the authority certain information, notably the intended route of the vessel. The objective of the law is to improve information to national authorities in case of a maritime accident involving dangerous substances carried on board a vessel. Since, in this situation, other Member States involved should also be informed, the Commission does not need to be directly involved in the notification process, which serves an operational purpose. The Commission would only intervene in the event of failure to comply with this Directive. Taking into account in particular the present level of protection for transporting packages used for the transport of plutonium shipped which conforms to the International maritime goods (IMDG) code and the code for the safe carriage of irradiated nuclear fuel, plutonium and high-level radioactive wastes in flasks on board ships (INF) of the International maritime organisation (IMO), the Commission does not currently envisage proposing further initiatives at Community level addressing routing of ships carrying plutonium or other radioactive materials. (1) OJ L 247, 5. 10. 1993. This Directive is being amended in order to incorporate the radioactive materials covered by the INF code