NEA Mandates and Structures


Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR)

Chair(s): Sigurdur M. MAGNUSSON, Iceland
Secretary:  Jacqueline GARNIER-LAPLACE
(jacqueline.garnier-laplace@oecd-nea.org)
Member(s):All NEA member countries*
Russia (Suspended*)
*Russian Federation suspended pursuant to a decision of the OECD Council.
Full participant(s): European Commission
Under the NEA Statute
Observer(s)(International Organisation): International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
By agreement
Date of creation:01 March 2004
End of mandate:30 April 2021

Mandate (Document reference):

  • Group created during the 62nd Session of the CRPPH, March 2004, as recorded in document [NEA/CRPPH(2004)7/REV1]
  • Updated name and Terms of Reference for the EGIR [NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2010)1]
  • CRPPH Annual Report: Accomplishments for 2009 and Plans for 2010 [NEA/CRPPH(2010)2]
  • Agreements and Commitments from the 68th CRPPH Meeting [NEA/CRPPH(2010)6/REV1]
  • Summary Record of the CRPPH Bureau Mid-Year Meeting [NEA/CRPPH(2012)9]
  • Extension of the Mandate of the Expert Group on the Implications of Recommendations (EGIR) [, summary of agreements and commitments of the 76th session of the CRPPH [NEA/CRPPH(2017)1]
  • Change of name [NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2018)1]
  • Extension of the Mandate of the Expert Group on the Implications of Recommendations (EGIR) without changes, CRPPH-77 summary of agreements and commitments [NEA/CRPPH(2019)4]
  • Mandate of the Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR) [NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2019)3]

Mandate (Document extract):

Extract from document NEA/CRPPH/EGIR(2019)3

Mandate

The mandate of the Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR) is to review and assess draft documents and recommendations developed by international organisations in the field of radiological protection. In doing so, the EGIR has the objective to inform policymakers of the regulatory and applicational implications of publishing the assessed document by suggesting practical and supported text modifications to help assure that final documents best serve the needs of national and international radiation protection policymakers, regulators and implementers.

Background

The EGIR held its first meeting in September 2002. This Expert Group was established by the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) to perform assessments of draft general recommendations developed by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and to provide policy and implementational feedback to the document drafters, with the aim of ensuring that the final recommendations addressed the views and concerns of the CRPPH. Four separate EGIR meetings were held to assess various ICRP draft general recommendations documents, and the results of Committee’s activities with the ICRP regarding the new general recommendations (ICRP Publication No. 103) are documented in a CRPPH report titled: “The NEA Contribution to the Evolution of the International System of Radiological Protection” (NEA 2009).

This draft document assessment process is seen by the CRPPH as having been very successful in two key aspects. First, it has allowed the CRPPH to make its views and concerns clear to the ICRP on particular documents and subjects of interest. Second, it has helped the ICRP to clearly collect and address relevant views on its draft recommendations, so that final texts may be more broadly understood, accepted and used.

In 2008, the CRPPH agreed that the EGIR assessment process should also be applied to the revision of the new International Basic Safety Standards (BSS Rev. 1.0). This was the first “non-ICRP” document assessed using this approach, and again the results were very much appreciated by both the CRPPH and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is principally responsible for the drafting of this internationally co-sponsored document.

In addition, the CRPPH has arranged several “satellite” EGIR meetings, in particular in Japan, to facilitate the collection of regional views on drafts of the ICRP general recommendations, and of the BSS.

Taking note of this positive experience, the CRPPH agreed at its 2009 meeting that the EGIR process is an effective and useful assessment tool that could, in principle, be used to assess draft documents from many different organisations, provided that the CRPPH is interested in a particular document in development, and that the drafting organisation is willing to provide draft material for assessment.  As such, the CRPPH agreed that the EGIR should be thought of as a process “in standby”, to be implemented on an ad-hoc basis to assess specific draft documents identified by the CRPPH. Each such assessment will involve a new call for nominations to ensure the participation of appropriate subject-matter experts.

During its 76th meeting, the CRPPH agreed to change the name of the expert group from “Expert Group on the Implications of Recommendations (EGIR)” to “Expert Group on International Recommendations (EGIR)”, to reflect that the EGIR process may be used to assess draft documents from many different international organisations. The CRPPH also agreed that the review performed by the EGIR should be submitted to its approval prior to the submission of the reviewed document to the authoring organisation. Should time constrains due to consultation period limits and/or EGIR meeting organisational issues make CRPPH review and approval of EGIR comments impractical, the CRPPH Bureau may be mandated to approve the CRPPH/EGIR comments on behalf of the CRPPH, as appropriate.

Working methods

The EGIR working methods shall be as follows:

  • The CRPPH will identify the document it wishes to assess and will ask the authoring organisation for permission to do so. Should the authoring organisation agree, they will provide the draft document to the CRPPH for assessment.

  • The Secretariat will inform the CRPPH and other relevant NEA Standing Technical Committees, as appropriate, that an EGIR review of a specified draft document is to take place, and will invite CRPPH members to nominate experts to this assessment process. Each EGIR draft document assessment process will require a new call for nominations.

  • The draft document assessment will develop both general comments on the document’s content, and specific comments on the document’s text. Proposed text changes, insertions or deletions will each be accompanied by an explanatory comment, providing the rationale for the suggested modification.

  • The authoring organisation will be invited to nominate an invited expert in the EGIR meeting, principally to directly hear comments, but also to provide clarification of draft text as needed.

  • The CRPPH may decide that experts from other relevant organisations should also be invited to the EGIR meeting. These organisations may include intergovernmental organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) or the International Labour Organisation (ILO), industry groups, such as the World Nuclear Association (WNA) or the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), or other relevant stakeholder organisations.

  • The assessment resulting from the EGIR meeting will be submitted to the CRPPH for approval before providing it to the authoring organisation, usually under the written procedure. Should time constrains due to consultation period limits and/or EGIR meeting organisational issues make the CRPPH review and approval of EGIR comments impractical, the CRPPH Bureau may be mandated to approve the CRPPH/EGIR comments on behalf of the CRPPH, as appropriate.

  • The approved EGIR assessment will be provided to the authoring organisation, to the participants in the EGIR meeting, to the CRPPH members and to all relevant NEA Standing Technical Committees for information.