International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference (Unofficial electronic version)	GC(43)/RES/11 October 1999 GENERAL Distr. Original: ENGLISH
Forty-third regular session Agenda item 14 (GC(43)/27)

The General Conference,

1. Mindful of the fact that it is a statutory function of the Agency, inter alia, to establish standards of safety for the protection of health and minimization of danger to life and property and provide for the application of those standards at the request of States,

2. Recalling that in September 1996 the Board of Governors approved the latest revised edition of the Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Material, authorized the Director General "to promulgate the revised Regulations as part of the Agency's safety standards", and recommended to all international organizations "that they adopt the revised Regulations or use them, as far as practicable, as the basis for the formulation of regulations and in connected regulatory activities",

3. Noting the concern that the transboundary movement of radioactive materials should meet applicable international standards,

4. Considering that the transboundary movement of radioactive materials should at least conform to the requirements of the Agency's Transport Regulations,

5. Recalling maritime, river and air navigation rights and freedoms, as provided for in international law,

6. Recalling resolution GC(42)/RES/13, adopted on 25 September 1998, which - inter alia - invited States shipping radioactive materials "to provide, as appropriate, assurances to potentially affected States upon their request that their national regulations take into account the Agency's Transport Regulations and to provide them with relevant information relating to shipments of radioactive materials. The information provided should in no case be contradictory to the measures of physical security and safety",

7. Recalling that GC(42)/RES/13 also requested the Secretariat to provide a service, within existing resources, for carrying out, at the request of any State, an appraisal of the implementation of the Agency's Transport Regulations by that State, and

8. Noting with satisfaction from the report contained in document GC(43)/9 that, among other actions initiated by the Agency, the Secretariat has established a Transport Safety Appraisal Service (TranSAS) and that a TranSAS team has carried out in one Member State an appraisal of the legal framework for the transport of radioactive materials and the associated division of responsibilities among competent authorities, approval procedures, and inspection and emergency preparedness arrangements,
1. Commends the Agency and the Member State that has already made use of the Transport Safety Appraisal Service;

2. Encourages Member States to make use where appropriate of the Transport Safety Appraisal Service with a view to achieving the highest possible levels of safety during the transport of radioactive materials;

3. Requests Member States shipping radioactive materials to take into account, as appropriate, the invitation contained in preambular paragraph (f); and

4. Requests the Director General to report to it at its forty-fourth (2000) regular session on the implementation of this resolution, and especially on how the Transport Safety Appraisal Service is being used.