The Tawazun Economic Council has delivered penalty notices to several obligors. The Council has called in the bank guarantees on contractors that have missed the first performance milestone. A number of contractors believe the policy impossible to comply with and there is talk of a boycott of future defence procurements.
Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska has informed the European Parliament that the commission cannot determine whether Denmark has breached European Union law regarding offsets. The dispute concerns the purchase of new fighter aircraft. Ms Bieńkowska says that the European Commission lacks sufficient information.
The British government published a thirteen-page guidance note for defence and security contracts just ahead of the Brexit referendum. The document considers the government’s legal position regarding Article 346 TFEU, explaining in excruciating legal jargon what the article is about and when it can be used. A fourteen-page “overview” on regulations for defence and security contracts was published the same day.
India’s MoD has published the annexures and appendices to DPP 2016, including the defence offset guidelines. The inclusions inflate the policy document to 459 pages. DPP 2013 was a mere 361 pages. A chapter on strategic partnerships will be added by the end of the year.
The aim will be to identify and select one Strategic Partner for each segment, with segments referring to specific types of equipment. For each segment the MoD will identify a private player to partner the OEM.