French Public Health Code
In forceI.-The supplier provides the financial guarantee provided for in Article L. 1333-15. The guarantee may be provided by the final holder if the latter is himself the beneficiary of a guarantee covering the take-back costs mentioned in Article R. 1333-163.
The obligation to provide financial guarantees remains in force notwithstanding any guarantee that may be provided for sealed radioactive sources in another Member State of the European Union. However, it does not apply to the distribution of sealed radioactive sources whose activity, at the time of manufacture or, if this is not known, at the time they are first placed on the market, does not exceed the exemption limit values set out in table 1 and the second and third columns of table 2 of appendix 13-8. Nor does it apply when the State is responsible for the nuclear activity concerned.
II - For the application of I, a supplier is considered to be anyone who :
1° Distributes sealed radioactive sources, products or devices containing them to a holder or end user;
2° Imports or transfers from a member state of the European Union, for its own use, sealed radioactive sources, products or devices containing them, acquired from a person not subject to the provisions of this chapter.
III -The financial guarantee referred to in I results, at the choice of the person responsible for the nuclear activity :
1° A written undertaking from a credit institution, finance company, insurance company or mutual guarantee company ;
2° A deposit made with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations;
3° A private guarantee deposit, managed by an organisation representing the business sector;
4° Taking into account the recovery costs referred to in Article R. 1333-163 as part of the provisions established pursuant to Article L. 594-2 du code de l'environnement ;
5° A written undertaking, providing an independent guarantee within the meaning of Article 2321 of the Civil Code, from the natural person, wherever domiciled, or the legal entity, wherever its registered office is located, which owns more than half of the capital of the party responsible for the nuclear activity or which controls it in accordance with the criteria set out in Article L. 233-3 of the Commercial Code. In this case, the guarantor must be the beneficiary of a written commitment from a credit institution, finance company, insurance company, mutual guarantee company or a guarantee deposit as referred to in 3° above, or have made a deposit with the Caisse des dépôts et consignations.
If the head office of the guarantor is not located in a Member State of the European Union or in a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, the guarantor must have an agency, branch or representative office in France.
IV - The obligation to provide the financial guarantees referred to in I is maintained until the sealed radioactive source, which is the subject of these guarantees, is taken back by the original supplier, by another supplier or by the Agence nationale de gestion des déchets radioactifs, or failing this, for a period of three years following the expiry date of this source. The certificate of return referred to in the second paragraph of II of Article R. 1333-161 constitutes proof of the return of the source.
