The French Nuclear Safety Authority appoints radiation protection inspectors from among its own staff and the staff mentioned in article L. 1421-1.
In addition, the Minister for Defence may appoint radiation protection inspectors to monitor facilities and activities of interest to national defence.
Radiation protection inspectors are appointed and sworn in under conditions defined by decree in the Conseil d’Etat. They are bound by professional secrecy in accordance with the provisions of articles 226-13 and 226-14 of the French Criminal Code. In carrying out their inspection duties, they have the powers provided for in Section 1 of Chapter I of Title VII of Book I of the Environment Code, as well as in Article L. 1421-2 and the first two paragraphs of Article L. 1421-3 of this Code.
When radiation protection inspectors use the powers provided for in Article L. 1421-2 and the first two paragraphs of Article L. 1421-3, they shall have access, at their request and under conditions that preserve the confidentiality of the data with regard to third parties, to information held by natural or legal persons that is strictly necessary to them, without medical or business secrecy being invoked against them.
The experts referred to in Article L. 171-5-1 of the Environmental Code, when they are doctors, may access the individual medical data of persons likely to have been exposed to ionising radiation in a medical environment which is necessary for the performance of their mission, in compliance with the provisions of Article 226-13 of the Criminal Code.