THE 1995 DEADLINE

What essentially matters for the industry, and especially for the nuclear industry, is to have a clear and stable political and legal framework, into which it is able to make long term planning for developing international commerce and investments. The european industry had hoped to have such a framework, with two basic international treaties, which were the US-Euratom agreement, and the NPT. The USEuratom agreement comes to an end in 1995, and, during the same year, the duration of extension of the NPT has to be decided. Moreover, the way of implementing IAEA safeguards is under review, and the report on the 1993 + 2 program is scheduled for 1995. This means that the nuclear industry enters a period of uncertainty about the long term future of it's international legal framework, and that 1995 is a key deadline in this respect. The paper will analyse the main issues at stake, and indicate industry preference for their solution, namely in the fields of international trade restrictions, and safeguards implementation.