Civil Nuclear Liability Regime In India: A Supplier Liability Perspective

Background

The Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage ("CSC") was adopted on September 12, 1997. For any country to be a party to the CSC, it has to either be a party to the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 1963 ("Vienna Convention") or the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 1960 ("Paris Convention"). If a country is not a party to the aforesaid conventions, it could be a party to the CSC only if it declares that it has a national legislation on nuclear liability which is in compliance with the provisions of the Annex to the CSC.

India enacted the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 ("CLNDA") on September 21, 2010 and thereafter, signed the CSC on October 29, 2010. India delivered the instrument of ratification to International Atomic Energy Agency on February 5, 2016 and the CSC entered into force for India on May 4, 2016.