• House Bill Section 4(d)(3): Triggers automatic sanction by cutting off all nuclear cooperation in case India violates guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group or the Missile Technology Control Regime.

Rice: “This would harm US-India relations and the cooperative NSG and MTCR regimes. The regimes set policy guidelines rather than legal prohibitions and operate by consensus, making it difficult to determine and agree on violations...we request the House to defer to the Senate, which does not include a similar provision”.

She gives an alternative that the provision could also be moved to the “Sense of Congress” section or turned into a reporting requirement as neither of these sections directly impact the implementation of the n-deal.

• House Bill Section 4(d) (2): Requires US to make political commitments in the NSG that it will not allow fuel supplies to India if it violates NSG guidelines.

Rice: “We would recommend that the House defer to the Senate, which does not contain a similar requirement.”

• Senate Bill Section 105 (8): India (should) back all efforts to dissuade, sanction and contain Iran for its nuclear programme in line with UNSC resolutions.

Rice: “Although we appreciate India’s past support and expect continued cooperation in this area, this certification would be viewed by India as adding additional conditions...and could reopen the terms of the initiative to renegotiation. Therefore, we recommend the conferees defer to the House Bill which contains similar language under ‘statement of policy’.

• Senate Bill Sections 105(3) and (4): Proposed law will apply only when the India-IAEA safeguards agreement has “entered into force” and substantial progress has been made towards “implementing” the Additional Protocol.

... contd.