Adopting security measures will ease chemical exports: experts

There are economic incentives for Indian chemical industry to improve security measures of their facilities as per requirements of US authorities, chemical security experts from the USA, said here today.
Compliance to certain security programmes will help speed up exports to the USA, they said.
"Indian chemical industry is definitely ascending in terms of security. There are economic incentives to comply with security programmes. There are also economic incentives in ensuring you have safe and secure facilities," said Allan Milojevich, a non-proliferation specialist with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a unit of US Department of Energy.
USA accounts for Rs 10,000 crore of Rs 26,600 crore chemical exports from India annually. Gujarat accounts for around 18 per cent of total chemical exports from India.

James Snyder, a US-based risk management advisor, said that compliance to security guidelines will reduce costs by expediting the process of export.
He urged industry units to also obtain Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT), a voluntary supply chain security programme led by the USA.

"Compliance to security requirements reduce cost. By thinking about global best practice and security measure, we can secure our world. There are no hard and fast requirements but there are incentives. The C-TPAT applies to US companies as well. This helps reduce customs inspection," he said.
Snyder said that other countries are also adopting the same criteria in order to create a world-wide security regime so that chemical products are not diverted for their use to make chemical weapons and explosives.

The experts were talking to the media ahead of their participation in a five-day workshop on chemical security assessment organised by the Gujarat Chemical Association (GCA), an industry association with around 700 members.
Jaimin Vasa, president of GCA, said that chemical security assessment of the industry will help decide necessary actions to assure that risks inherent with the use and application of chemicals by adversaries are minimised to protect the environment, infrastructure, and life.
He said nearly 80 per cent of the industry in the state, which contributes to 18 per cent of India's chemical exports, still need to comply with security standards.