IRRS follow-up mission to France - October 2017

37 8. ENFORCEMENT 8.1. ENFORCEMENT POLICY AND PROCESSES 2014 MISSION RECOMMENDATIONS, SUGGESTIONS S15 Suggestion: The Government should consider revision of legal basis for ASN enforcement actions (both penal and administrative sanctions), especially to allow for more precise gradation of sanctions. Changes since the initial IRRS mission Suggestion15: The Government and the Parliament have revised the legal basis for administrative actions for ASN in 2015 and 2016. ASN has received additional powers by law (Environmental Code) for administrative sanctions. ASN can now decide on daily fines an operator has to pay as long as a violation of a requirement exists. In addition, a sanction committee, composed of ASN and other legal entities, will be put in place. The members of this committee have the power to decide on administrative fines (up to € 10m). The sanction committee has not been established yet. The IRRS team was informed that the related decree is currently at the final elaboration stage. The IRRS team recognizes that the additional power given to ASN allows ASN an effective and more precise graduation of sanctions. Regarding penal sanctions there has been no change. In the French Constitution only the judiciary has penal decision powers. Therefore, this aspect of the S15 is not applicable. Status of the finding in the initial mission Suggestion 15 (S15) is closed as the legal basis for ASN enforcement actions has been revised. ASN has received additional powers by law. 8.2. ENFORCEMENT IMPLEMENTATIONS 2014 MISSION RECOMMENDATIONS, SUGGESTIONS R9 Recommendation: ASN should revise basic documents related to enforcement (ASN/SAN/01, ASN/SAN/02 and related policy document) establishing more detailed criteria for enforcement actions. Changes since the initial IRRS mission Recommendation 9: ASN has replaced the document ASN/SAN/02 in 2015 by the documents ASN/SAN/120 and ASN/SAN/122. Both documents were presented to the IRRS team. They contain the procedure determining enforcement measures and sanctions, the handling of significant events and the monitoring process for enforcement measures. The Appendix of ASN/SAN/120 gives guidance for the evaluation of the seriousness of the deviation and the grading of the measures. Both documents give the inspectors detailed guidance and rapid access to the measures that can be taken into consideration for each deviation. In addition, SAN/122 contains a list of examples for enforcement measures taken in comparable situations. The IRRS team recognises that with these two documents ASN has established detailed and applicable criteria for enforcement actions.