EC court rules on uranium exports

摘要

URANIUM producers based outside the European Union (EU) do not have to ask the European Commission (EC) for permission to re-export uranium enriched within the EU, a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general has concluded. Miguel Poiares Maduro was advising on a complex legal case focusing on the control of Brazilian-owned uranium transferred from Europe to the US. Export of the material was being challenged because of the bankruptcy of Nuexco, a US-Swiss company involved in exporting German-stored uranium. The court was asked whether the Brazilian company - Industrias Nucleares do Brasil SA - should have asked the EC for permission before exporting enriched uranium, even though the deal involved promises that similar quantities of uranium would ultimately be returned.