General Guidelines for Content of Information to the Public

DIRECTIVE 82/501/EEC ANNEX VII B. De Marchi, S. Funtowicz EUR 15946 EN Published by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION Directorate-General Xlll Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research L-2920 Luxembourg LEGAL NOTICE Neither the European Commission nor any person acting on behalf of the Commission is responsible for the use which might be made of the following information Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 1994 ISBN 92-826-9053-9 ECSC-EC-EAEC Brussels • Luxembourg, 1994 Printed in Italy Foreword An important element of the framework of controls for the major accident hazards of certain industrial activities established by Directive 82/501 EEC is the provision of information on safety measures and on the correct behaviour to adopt in the case of a major accident to persons (including the public) liable to be affected by such an accident. This communication with the public was strengthened by Directive 88/610/EEC which, inter alia, added an Annex (Annex VII) to Directive 82/501/EEC setting out the items of information that should be communicated to the public. Council Resolution of 16 October 1989 on guidelines to reduce technological and natural hazards called on the Commission to draft a practical guide to facilitate implementation of the new provisions introduced by Directive 88/610 EEC. The Commission invited the Joint Research Centre to develop these guidelines. The results are set out in this publication. In carrying out this work Ispra reviewed relevant research on the topic. This revealed that the means of communicating with the public is strongly determined by local cultural mores. The guidelines thus concentrate on the content of the information that should be communicated, providing further and better particulars about the various elements contained in Annex VII of Directive 82/501/EEC. G. Del Bino Directorate-General XI Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection