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What it regulates
These were the general health-protection regulations for ionising radiation from 2001 until repeal by Royal Decree 1029/2022. This record reconstructs their occupational provisions. Repeal did not immediately end every use of their coefficients: Annex III had an express transitional regime, and the CSN’s new occupational coefficients apply from 8 April 2025.
Who it applies to
Historical scope of practices and activities involving ionising-radiation exposure: operators, outside undertakings, exposed workers and trainees. The record covers preventive organisation, dosimetry, health surveillance and natural radiation sources at work. Public-exposure rules are mentioned only to define the coefficient transition; the record does not expand into environmental protection or patients’ medical exposure.
Key provisions
The regulations organised justification of practices, optimisation of protection and dose limitation. These are described as foundations of the historical regime; current limits and conditions must be checked in Royal Decree 1029/2022 and applicable implementing rules.
Article 4Article 16 required workplaces to be identified and delimited according to radiological risk and protective measures to be adapted accordingly. Thresholds from the 2001 text must not be carried automatically into a current assessment.
Article 16Article 20 assigned the operator or outside undertaking responsibility for classifying exposed workers as category A or B for surveillance and control. Classification depended on anticipated exposure, not merely the job title.
Article 20Article 21 governed prior information on risks, rules and procedures and initial and periodic training suited to responsibility and risk. It included pregnancy and breastfeeding information concerning the specific radiological risks.
Article 21Article 26 covered workplace measurements, recording of results and availability to the authorities. It distinguished external dose rates, airborne activity and surface contamination; these data could support individual-dose estimates in the prescribed circumstances.
Article 26Article 39 based health surveillance of exposed workers on occupational medicine and the Occupational Risk Prevention Law. Its historical implementation covered examinations, fitness and health records without replacing the other radiation-protection measures.
Article 39After the 2010 amendment, Article 62 governed declarations and studies for work involving natural sources, including radon, materials containing natural radionuclides and cosmic exposure in aircraft. It is a predecessor of the treatment of these exposures, not a statement of the current administrative regime.
Article 62History and versions
Initial publication: 26/07/2001 · Initial entry into force: 27/07/2001
BOE-A-2001-14555This record retains the text and its historical relationships. Repeal was published on 21 December 2022 and took effect on 22 December 2022. Version tables retain XML dates and provisions, including the repeal note, without treating every entry as an amendment of the articles.
Royal Decree 1029/2022, published on 21 December 2022 and effective from 22 December 2022, expressly repeals both regulations and establishes the successor framework. For Royal Decree 783/2001, its third transitional provision on internal-dose coefficients and the later CSN update must also be considered.
BOE-A-2022-21682Royal Decree 1439/2010, published on 18 November 2010 and effective from 19 November 2010, amends Articles 2(4), 62 and 63 on natural sources, declarations, studies and competent authorities. Its transitional provision allows six months for declarations and one year for studies from commencement; these are historical deadlines.
BOE-A-2010-17709Order IET/1946/2013, published on 23 October 2013, governed waste from activities using materials containing natural radionuclides. It implements the regulations rather than replacing their entire text. It was subsequently repealed by Royal Decree 1217/2024 from 5 December 2024.
BOE-A-2013-11087Instruction IS-33 of 21 December 2011, published on 26 January 2012, established radiological criteria for protection against natural radiation under Article 62. Its inclusion documents implementation of the regime; it does not certify that every original threshold applies without checking subsequent rules.
BOE-A-2012-1238Instruction IS-08 of 27 July 2005, published on 5 October 2005, set CSN criteria for requiring specialist radiation-protection advice for nuclear and radioactive installation operators. This is an implementing relationship, not an identified textual amendment of the regulations’ articles.
BOE-A-2005-16478Instruction IS-04 of 5 February 2003, published on 28 February 2003, governed transfer, archiving and custody of radiological records before nuclear-plant ownership transfers for dismantling and closure. It is not a general document-transfer rule for every corporate change.
BOE-A-2003-4233Royal Decree 229/2006, published on 28 February 2006, governed high-activity sealed radioactive sources and orphan sources. It is recorded as related legislation. Following later amendments and partial repeals, it was repealed by Royal Decree 1217/2024 from 5 December 2024; it is not presented here as the current regulations.
BOE-A-2006-3445All text versions recorded by the BOE
Transitional provisions and application notes
The first transitional provision preserved authorisations existing when the 2001 regulations commenced. That historical continuity does not establish that any particular authorisation remains valid in 2026: its terms and subsequent rules must be checked.
Transitional provision firstThe second transitional provision deferred Chapter II of Title II to 1 January 2002, retaining Royal Decree 53/1992 for that subject in the meantime. It also allowed six months from publication to adapt Title III, zone classification and signage, worker classification and official documents. These are historical deadlines, not new adjustment periods.
Transitional provision secondThe third transitional provision of 2001 governed continuity of authorised specialist medical services and applications already initiated under Royal Decree 53/1992. It must not be confused with the third transitional provision of Royal Decree 1029/2022, which concerns internal-dose coefficients.
Transitional provision thirdRoyal Decree 1029/2022 expressly repealed Royal Decree 783/2001 from 22 December 2022. Current general duties are found in the successor. The transitional reference to particular coefficients does not keep the entire 2001 regulations in force.
Official referenceThe first transitional provision of Royal Decree 1029/2022 preserved, until their expiry dates, authorisations required by the new regulations that were valid when those regulations commenced. Subsequent renewals are governed by the new regulations. This continuity of authorisations did not extend Royal Decree 783/2001 as a whole.
Official referenceThe second transitional provision of Royal Decree 1029/2022 temporarily retained the eye-lens dose limits in Royal Decree 783/2001. The new limits in Articles 11(2)(a) and 13(2)(a) apply from 22 June 2024, eighteen months after the successor commenced on 22 December 2022. The former limits applied until then; this specific transition did not extend the repealed regulations generally.
Official referenceThe third transitional provision of Royal Decree 1029/2022 retained the coefficients in the 2001 Annex III pending a CSN update. This is residual application through an express reference in the successor, even though the BOE marks the old instrument as repealed.
Official referenceThe CSN resolution, agreed on 3 April 2024 and signed and published on 8 April 2024, replaced Table C coefficients for exposed workers with the ICRP OIR series, applicable twelve months after publication. It expressly retains Tables A and B for the public; that retention must not be extended to the occupational table. It includes specific radon criteria.
Official referenceOfficial technical document CSN/PDT/CNALM/AL0/2503/362 confirms that the new coefficients were to apply from 8 April 2025. It corroborates the date set by the general resolution; it is not used to impose Almaraz-specific conditions on every employer.
Official referenceThe transitional provision of Royal Decree 1439/2010 allowed six months from commencement to declare affected activities and one year to complete and submit studies. These are deadlines of the 2010 amendment. That source’s analysis incorrectly links BOE-A-2022-21678 when citing Royal Decree 1029/2022; its verified correct identifier is BOE-A-2022-21682.
Official reference
Official BOE legal relationships
Earlier references (4)
- Repeals · BOE-A-1992-3084
- Amends · BOE-A-1999-24924
- Transposes · DOUE-L-1996-80969
- In accordance with · BOE-A-1964-7544
Subsequent references (7)
- Repeal recorded · BOE-A-2022-21682
- Amended by · BOE-A-2010-17709
- Instrument issued under this legislation · BOE-A-2013-11087
- Instrument issued under this legislation · BOE-A-2012-1238
- Instrument issued under this legislation · BOE-A-2005-16478
- Instrument issued under this legislation · BOE-A-2003-4233
- Related instrument issued · BOE-A-2006-3445
