Vienna, October 27: In line with its assurance to the United States, India will sign the international agreement on nuclear damages on Wednesday at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna.
The Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) on nuclear damages is an international agreement, signed by 13 countries so far, which mandates that the operator will be fully responsible for all liability in case of a nuclear incident unless, of course, the damage is caused by war, military conflict or natural disasters.
Joining the convention is a multiple step process. First is the signing; then comes ratification, followed by the final entry into force.
India’s case it at stage one as it is only going to sign into the convention through the depository, which is the IAEA in this case – at this stage the treaty does not mandate that any specific documents including a copy of the civil nuclear liability legislation be made available.
Only four countries, including the US, have ratified the CSC till date. However, it will be many years before the treaty comes into force – for the CSC to come into force, at least five countries with 4 giga watts of minimum combined installed nuclear power capacity should ratify it, and that is a long way to go.
As per reports, India decided to approach the IAEA today to sign the CSC after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave the green signal to move ahead from Tokyo.
Following which, formal instructions were issued to the Indian mission in Vienna yesterday itself. But as the IAEA was shut on account of Austrian National Day, it was decided to approach the nuclear watchdog today.
Importantly, the accession to the CSC is being seen as the last Indian commitment for the India-US nuke deal to be ready for commercial agreements.
However, there is a sense of urgency from the Indian side to sign on the CSC as the US is, as per reports, insisting that India become a signatory prior to President Barack Obama’s visit to India.
The US’ anxiety stems from the apprehensions cast by their companies, involved in nuke trade, with regards to the India’s Nuclear Liability Law.
US companies are said to be deeply unsatisfied, particularly with the clause that provides the right to recourse to operator against the supplier for providing compensation.
By getting India to sign the CSC, the US, in a way, wants to assure its suppliers that any legal action will be in line with norms set out in the CSC.
In contrast to the CSC, the Indian Nuke Liability Law states that the operator can exercise this right if “the nuclear incident has resulted as a consequence of latent or patent defect, supply of sub-standard material, defective equipment or services or from the gross negligence on the part of the supplier of the material, equipment or services”.
Although there are clear chances of incongruity between the CSC and the Indian Law, New Delhi is taking it easy at this juncture as signing in does not bound it by the agreement just yet, reports said.
-Agencies