US removes certain licence controls for nuclear-linked exports to India

The United States said Wednesday it had removed certain licence controls for exports and re-exports of American nuclear-related items to India under a bilateral pact, US officials said Wednesday.
Revisions have been made to the so-called Export Administration Regulations to ease the restrictions, the Commerce Department said in a rule-change published in the Federal Register.
Six Indian nuclear and space entities had been removed from a special list that had prevented them from purchasing sensitive US-made items without special licences, it said.
"This rule implements two steps the United States has agreed to take as part of the final phase of NSSP, namely, the removal of licence requirements for exports and reexports of items controlled unilaterally by the United States for nuclear non-proliferation reasons to India and the removal of six Indian entities from the Entity List," according to the Federal Register.
Under the Next Steps in Strategic Partnership (NSSP), the United States and India agreed in January last year to create an "appropriate environment" to boost high-technology commerce.
Washington effectively agreed to ease sanctions imposed after India became an undeclared nuclear power.
President George W. Bush had asked Congress and allied nations to lift sanctions preventing Indian access to civil nuclear technology as part of a new bilateral partnership forged with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his visit to Washington in July.
The United States had placed sanctions on India after its second round of nuclear tests in May 1998, but agreed after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to waive those and other sanctions in return for support in the war on terrorism.
India is not a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). US law bars export of technology that could aid a nuclear program of any country that has not signed the treaty.
According to the Federal Register, "other" licence requirements imposed by the Export Administration Regulations remained despite the changes.
Among others, "the licence requirements for the nuclear end uses" and "missile end use licence requirements" specified under the rules continue to apply, it said.