India’s accession to Hague Code of Conduct

India has joined the Hague Code of Conduct {HCoC} against Ballistic Missile Proliferation, also known as the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation on 1 June 2016.

Important Facts about HCoC

• HCOC is a voluntary and legally non-binding regime to prevent the proliferation of ballistic missiles which are capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
• It was established on 25 November 2002. The HCoC does not ban ballistic missiles but works to restrict their production, testing, and export. It is only multilateral transparency and confidence building instrument related to the spread of ballistic missiles.
• As of now 138 nations are signatories to the HCoC. India is the latest signatory to the HCoC.
• Austria serves as the Immediate Central Contact (Executive Secretariat) and coordinates the information exchange within the HCOC framework. Since 2002, annual Regular Meetings (annual conferences) are in which the subscribing states to the HCOC participates.
• In June 2016, the 15th Regular Meeting took place under the chairmanship of Kazakhstan and the 16th Regular Meeting is scheduled to be held under the chairmanship of Poland.

Questions & Answers

• What are Ballistic Missiles?
• Why HCOC wants to regulate ballistic missiles?
• Now since India has acceded to the Hague Code of Conduct, what will be its obligations?
• Will there be any implications on India’s National security policies?

What are Ballistic Missiles?

Ballistic Missile are unmanned weapon delivery platform having a high, arching trajectory which is initially powered and guided, but falls under gravity on to its target. Most of its trajectory is unpowered and governed by gravity and air resistance if it is in the atmosphere. Ballistic missiles can be launched from fixed sites, mobile launchers, aircrafts, and ships. Ballistic missiles are categorized according to their range.  The United States classifies the missiles in to the following ranges:

• Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) – over 5500 kilometers
• Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM)- 3000 to 5500 kilometers
• Medium-Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM)-1000 to 3000 kilometers
• Short-Range Ballistic missile (SRBM)-up to 1000 kilometers

Why HCOC wants to regulate ballistic missiles?

• Ballistic missiles are capable of attacking long range targets in very short duration. For instance, India’s SRBM Prithvi-I is capable of attacking a target located 150km away in just five minutes.
• Once in flight it is difficult to destroy ballistic missiles especially the ICBMs. The existing counter measures against ballistic missiles have attained only limited success.
• Although ballistic missiles can carry any type of warhead (nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional), they are primarily treated as nuclear weapon delivery system.

Now since India has acceded to the Hague Code of Conduct, what will be its obligations?

As India has joined HCOC, it has to voluntarily provide pre-launch notifications (PLNs) on ballistic missiles, space launch vehicles (SLVs) and test flights. It will also need to submit an annual declaration of the policies pertaining to ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles. In addition, India also needs to make a political commitment to exercise maximum restraint in developing, testing and deploying ballistic missiles capable of delivering WMDs.

Will there be any implications on India’s National security policies?

India has clearly stated that accession to the code will not have any impact on its national security and missile programmes like Agni missile programme. At the same time, accession to the HCoC was a precursor to India’s accession to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). HCoC is seen as a supplement to the MTCR and that is the reason that India’s efforts fructified to join MTCR. Further, accession to the code highlights India’s readiness to further strengthen global non-proliferation objectives. Here it is to be noted that China, Pakistan, Israel and Iran have not yet joined the HCOC. The European Union and the U.S. have welcomed India’s decision to join the HCOC.