A Member State is not required to monitor drinking water for tritium or radioactivity to establish and radon with a view to establishing the total indicative dose (TID) where it is satisfied on the basis of other monitoring that the levels of both tritium and of the calculated total indicative dose are well below the parametric value.

Verifications can refer as much to environmental radioactivity monitoring facilities in the strict sense as to facilities necessary for monitoring discharges to assess their impact on the public exposed and, depending on the case, on an area around a specific site or on the entire or a part of the territory of Member States. Verification results in a technical confirmation report which provides an overview of requirements and arrangements made to monitor the level of radioactivity and to assess the impact of discharges and also in a report summarising the main findings of the verifications.

Furthermore, the verifications are an important means to ensure the adequate implementation of the Commission Recommendation on the application of Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty and to discuss on a bilateral basis whether the networks established to monitor the levels of radioactivity are adequate (covering the national territory and providing representative data on actual levels of radioactivity).

With regard to levels of radioactivity, in addition to the requirements of the standards, the main tasks of the Commission over five decades have concerned the application of Article 36 (collection and publication of data on levels of radioactivity to which the public is exposed as transmitted by Member States on the basis of measurement facilities established by them according to Article 35, first paragraph and Article 37 (Commission Opinions given on whether plans for the disposal of radioactive waste submitted by Member States are liable to affect other Member States).

Inter-laboratory comparisons will be organised with the monitoring laboratories of the Member States to assess the comparability of the reported monitoring data and to support the harmonisation of the radioactivity measurement systems.

However, Article 35 of the Euratom Treaty stipulates that “Each Member State shall establish the facilities necessary to carry out continuous monitoring of the level of radioactivity in the air, water and soil and to ensure compliance with the basic standards” and that “The Commission shall have the right of access to such facilities; it may verify their operation and efficiency”.