India is a member of the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), an international treaty which regulates the export of dual-use items (items which can be used for both military and civilian purposes) in member countries. As a member of the WA, India is required to align its national export control laws with India’s obligations under the WA. The WA contains a list of dual-use goods and technologies, with several categories, for instance, ‘Information Security’ (Category 5 Part 2) etc. Among others, certain items with “cryptographic functionality” are controlled under the WA list. India has adopted the WA list in its foreign trade policy; India’s national export control list of dual-use items is called SCOMET. An item which is covered under SCOMET requires an export licence from DGFT before it may be exported from India.
The WA members meet annually to discuss the issues related to the controlled items and formulation of international regulations and guidelines on dual use items. The next meeting of the Experts Group (EG) is scheduled to be held on 21 April 2021.
In this context, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has requested NASSCOM to provide inputs on the revision of the WA list in the attached format. This is an opportunity for the industry to comment on whether a particular item/technology should be included in the WA list (requiring an export licence from the government), or whether an item on the WA list should be decontrolled (i.e. excluded from export control regime).
We believe that this issue is relevant to your company if you are exporting dual-use items and technology. Please write to garima@nasscom.in to provide any proposals involving addition/deletion/amendment of items in the WA control list, changes in WA control list text like specifications, notes etc. with respect to category 5 Part 2 of WA list in the standard format attached herewith by 15 February 2021,
The WA list is available here.
Please find attached the prescribed format for sending the inputs.
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