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India Implements Export Controls in WMD Law
India yesterday issued guidelines for the implementation of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, DNA India reported (see GSN, May 16). India’s parliament passed the act in 2005. “This is nothing new. It is just the enforcement of the act which was passed in parliament. This is an omnibus act, involving several ministries of the government and had to be worked out in close coordination with the various agencies involved in export control,” said a senior official. India is hoping to put the export controls contained in the legislation in place before the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a group of nations that sets guidelines for exporting nuclear technology, considers whether to lift restrictions on the import and export of nuclear materials to and from the country. The law requires tight controls on exports of nuclear-related materials, which could be sent only if the receiving country has International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. India’s Atomic Energy Department would consider each export request individually, and the receiving country must agree to on-site inspections by Indian officials, according to DNA. Prohibited is the export of “prescribed” materials “when there is an unacceptable risk of their diversion to the development of a nuclear device.” Items allowed for export include nuclear reactors, fuel fabrication and reprocessing plants, uranium and plutonium conversion facilities, uranium enrichment facilities, tritium recovery plants and heavy-water production plants. India has pledged to show restraint in the transfer of any WMD-related technology, according to DNA (Seema Guha, DNA India, March 14).
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