Welcome to the Club: An Overview of India's Dual-Use and Defense Export Control Systems

Welcome to the Club: An Overview of India's Dual-Use and Defense Export Control Systems

 Including Recent Reforms Related to the Wassenaar Arrangement

Over the past year, the Indian government has undertaken a series of reforms to its dual-use and defense-related export controls. These changes helped to pave the way for India’s formal admission into the Wassenaar Arrangement in December 2017 and the Australia Group in January 2018. India’s entry into these regimes will facilitate increased access to advanced technology products (ATP) and enhance trade between Indian companies and global suppliers of these types of commodities. As such, it is important for companies doing business in or with India to recognize how regime membership has impacted the export control landscape there.

Most notably, India has made substantial revisions to its dual-use and defense-related control list, known as the Special Chemicals, Organism, Materials, Electronics, and Technology, or SCOMET List. The amendments served to revise numerous chemical, biological, nuclear, and missile-related entries, establish a comprehensive “Munitions List” (SCOMET Category 6), and create an entirely new SCOMET Category 8 that lists all the conventional dual-use goods and technologies designated by the Wassenaar Arrangement. The modifications enact export controls on a broad swath of goods and technologies that were not previously subject to regulatory controls in India. Additionally, the Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD) has amended its standard operating procedures and the way in which defense-related items are now licensed in India. Finally, the Indian government has recently instituted a military “catch-all” control and has begun to more actively promote the adoption of internal compliance programs (ICPs) by Indian industry. These changes present a range of new business opportunities, but they can also potentially complicate your company’s efforts to fully comply with India’s dual-use and defense-related export controls.

Outline of the webinar:

• Overview of India’s Export Control System
  • Scope of controlled items, transactions, and activities
  • End-use, end-user, and destination controls
  • Technology transfer controls
  • Licensing bureaucracy
• Summary of Recent Changes to India’s Export Control System
  • Control list revisions
  • Nuclear, chemical, biological, and missile-related: Revisions to SCOMET Categories 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5
  • Conventional Dual-Use: Category SCOMET 7 eliminated and “Reserved” and the creation of SCOMET Category 8
  • Defense-related: Creation of the SCOMET “Munitions List” and rescinding the List of Military Stores
  • Expanded sanctions against North Korea
  • Expanded end-use controls (“military use”)
  • Revisions to defense licensing procedures
  • Recordkeeping and other administrative reforms
• Effectively Navigating the SCOMET List and Proper Item Classification in India
  • Review of the SCOMET List with comparisons to the EU and U.S. dual-use control lists
  • India’s use of alternative classification nomenclature
  • Overlapping SCOMET list entries and variations in technical specifications
  • Resources and tips for proper export control classification in India
• Summary of India’s Dual-Use and Defense License Requirements and Review Process
  • Registration requirements
  • Application submission process, license types, and documentation
  • License review, decision-making criteria, and timeline
  • License Terms & Conditions, validity, and recordkeeping requirements
  • SCOMET licensing statistics (2016 and 2018)
• Review of Trade Compliance and Enforcement Efforts in India
  • Administrative and criminal sanctions (penalties and agencies responsible for enforcement)
  • Absence of Voluntary Self-Disclosure provisions
  • Recent promotion of internal compliance programs (ICP) and expanded GOI outreach efforts
• Resources to Assist with Industry Compliance
  • Review of relevant and applicable portions of the Handbook of Procedures and India’s Foreign Trade Policy
  • Navigating the DGFT and DDP websites and SCOMET-related links
  • Recommendations for industry compliance
  • The implications of export control reform and future directions in India
• Summary of Key Points and Takeaways

This webinar is intended to help companies that have operations, affiliates, subsidiaries, customers, suppliers, or facilities in India to better understand and navigate India’s unique, complex, and ever-evolving export control system. If you are currently (or hoping to be) doing business in any potentially controlled commodity sector in or with India, you need to be aware of, and prepared for, the recent changes to India’s export controls, and this webinar can help!

This webinar will be especially valuable to enterprises that seek to:

• Determine the potential compliance costs and risks to business operations involving dual-use and defense goods and technologies in India;
• “Localize” existing trade compliance programs to adhere to Indian legal/regulatory requirements and procedures (particularly with respect to defense-related trade with Indian subsidiaries);
• Fully understand the impact of recent legal-regulatory changes to India’s control list and the defense export licensing process;
• Appropriately classify commodities in accordance with the Indian classification nomenclature system;
• Shift operations and export dual-use or defense equipment and materials out of India to a new location;
• Conduct (or plan to initiate) R&D activities in India or transfer controlled technology out of the country;
• Source components or export spare parts and/or components from India;
• Develop collaborative projects or relationships with Indian firms dealing in dual-use or defense products;
• Initiate or develop defense/military cooperation agreements with Indian defense firms or the Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD); and
• Recognize how India’s export control system and control list compares to and differs from those of the United States (U.S.) and European Union (EU).

This webinar is designed to provide the following:

• A thorough review of recent changes to the Indian export control system, with an emphasis on the changes to the SCOMET List, the defense export licensing process, military “catch-all” controls, and other administrative requirements;
• An analysis of recent SCOMET List additions/revisions/deletions and the potential implications of these changes for your enterprise;
• Practical tips for determining whether your products are subject to Indian export controls and for maintaining the proper classifications of your products against the SCOMET List;
• A review of how the SCOMET List compares to U.S. and EU control list item coding and how to classify a product with an established ECCN according to the SCOMET List;
• Insight into duplicative or overlapping entries on the SCOMET List that can serve to confuse or complicate commodity classification efforts in India;
• A summary of technology transfer controls and “deemed” export controls in India;
• A review of recent sanctions efforts and end-use, end-user, and destination controls present in India;
• An outline of the dual-use and defense export license application processes (license submission process, documentation, review, processing and decision-making, timeline, terms and conditions, appeals, and record-keeping);
• A review of Indian end-use/user certification (EUC) requirements for dual-use and defense-related exports;
• A summary of potential penalties for non-compliance with Indian dual-use and defense-related export controls;
• A review of Indian industry outreach and compliance efforts; and
• Practical tips, contact information, resources, and support tools (Frequently Asked Questions, Handbooks, online tools, guidelines, etc.) to assist company efforts to apply for a license or classify commodities in India, including URLs and links to the updated SCOMET List and other regulations and resources discussed over the course of the webinar.

This webinar will provide PowerPoint slides and include live video and commentary from Ryan Cathie who has worked with industry, nongovernmental organizations, and foreign governments on a variety of trade control matters throughout the world. Webinar participants will be invited to submit questions during the webinar; the final 30 minutes of the webinar will be allotted to answering attendees questions. Each registrant will receive a copy of the presentation, certificate of completion, and access to the webinar recording.

Webinar Details:

Date: June 13, 2018

Time: 1:00 PM EDT

Length: 1 hour 30 minutes (Comprised of 1 hour of commentary and 30 minute Q&A session)

Cost: $195 per person (additional employees from the same company $50 each up to 2 employees)

Can’t make the live broadcast of this webinar? Don’t worry; you will receive access to the webinar, via recording and PowerPoint presentation.