Proposal for a Council Directive laying down basic safety standards for protection against the dangers arising from exposure to ionising radiation

Exposure to ionising radiation results in a health detriment. In normal situations doses are very low so that there is no clinically observable tissue effect, but there still is a possible late effect, cancer in particular. It is assumed that there is no dose threshold for this effect: any exposure, however small, can be the cause of cancer later in life. It is further assumed that the probability of occurrence of a late effect is proportional to the dose.

This calls for a specific approach in radiation protection based on the three principles of justification, optimisation and dose limitation, which are the cornerstones of the system of protection established many decades ago by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

EUR-Lex: COM(2012)242: Follow the progress of this document through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2012:242:FIN

European Commission: SWD(2012)137: Impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SWD:2012:0137:FIN:EN:PDF

European Commission: SWD(2012)138: Summary of the impact assessment http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=SWD:2012:0138:FIN:EN:PDF

Website: International Commission on Radiological Protection http://www.icrp.org/

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