About 20 senior officials from Benin participated in a virtual seminar on civil liability for nuclear damage, hosted and moderated by the IAEA, 17-18 January 2022.

The seminar focused on the existing international nuclear liability regime, particularly the modernized instruments adopted under the auspices of the IAEA: the 1997 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the 1997 Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. Organized at the request of the Government of Benin, the seminar followed the country's simultaneous deposit of ten instruments in 2019 expressing its consent to be bound to treaties adopted by or under IAEA auspices.

“This virtual seminar comes at a good time,” said Amoussou Guenou Kuassi Marcellin from Benin’s National Authority for Radiological Safety and Radiation Protection. “The training and practical case studies presented and discussed were very helpful in broadening our understanding of the obligations arising from the civil liability conventions to which Benin has adhered.”

Wolfram Tonhauser, Section Head of the Nuclear and Treaty Law Section, noted that “the IAEA has provided extensive legislative support to Benin since 2005. We reviewed the country’s comprehensive nuclear law, which is now in force, and supported the drafting of a decree on the functions of the regulatory body that came into force in 2019. We remain at the Government’s disposal as the authorities continue working towards the effective implementation of the relevant international legal instruments.”

The seminar was implemented in the framework of the IAEA’s Legislative Assistance Programme to support countries in establishing and enhancing their national legal frameworks. The IAEA International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (INLEX), which serves as a forum of expertise to advise on all issues relating to civil liability for nuclear damage, supported the seminar.