UK - US - Canada - Australia Quadrilateral Conference

Description

The National Defense Industrial Association, along with our Quad partners ADS, CADSI, and AIDN, invite you to attend the Fall 2019 Quadrilateral Conference. Join us in London before the DSEI Conference as companies from the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia collaborate on the best policies and practices that address issues common to all stakeholders. Experts from these nations will speak directly to past protocols and give recommendations for enhanced and safer trade policy. Topics for discussion will include panels as detailed below.

 *Please note: This event is open to the press but Chatham House rules will be in place.  All press must be pre-registered to attend.

Developments with the National Technology & Industrial Base (NTIB) Initiatives

This Initiative was officially launched with the inclusion of Section 881 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, which expanded the legal definition of the National Technology and Industrial Base (NTIB) to include “persons and organizations that are engaged in research, development, production, integration, services, or information technology activities conducted within the United States, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Australia, and Canada.” The expansion of the NTIB is based on the understanding that defense trade between the United States and its three closest allies enables a host of benefits, including: increased access to innovation, greater economies of scale, and enhanced interoperability. This session will cover the latest developments with the NTIB, which, if fully implemented, offers very significant potential benefits in the area of greater integration between the four national industries, and opportunities for policy reforms and greater cooperation between the four nations.

Developments on Export Control Policy

Since the launch of a root and branch review in 2010, the US has been executed significant reform of its national export control policies and procedures. The United Kingdom, Canada and Australia have also been seeking to identify and implement changes to their national export control systems to reduce nugatory impact on legitimate defense export business without undermining and constraining effectiveness. Export Controls can serve as potential barriers to cooperation and collaborative development programs. This panel will seek to brief the delegates on these changes, as the four national governments seek to respond to the increasing importance of facilitating multinational, joint development programs.

Update on Foreign Investment, Related Regulatory Policy, and Developments in Business Ethics

Unregulated foreign access to national markets and the defense industries can have devastating effects on national security, especially if it involves parties (directly or indirectly) from antagonistic nations who could then seek to undermine the effectiveness of national defense and security policies. Meanwhile, the issue of Business Ethics has expanded tremendously beyond the traditional purview of bribery and corruption to include topics of rising interest, such as: conflict minerals, human slavery, human rights, sustainable development, data protection, tax evasion, counterfeit parts, and more. This subject is of increasing importance to all four nations as each seeks to conduct business in an honest and ethical manner, as well as address the notion of corporate responsibility in relation to regulatory policy, compliance, and the workplace.

Securing the Supply Chain and Cybersecurity

There is increasing awareness of the vital need to secure and protect national supply chains, especially as they relate to the defense sector and more broadly to national security. As nations become increasingly connected through commerce, both physically and in the realm of cyber, the imperative to match inherent threats becomes evident. The potential effects that compromised cyber systems and counterfeit parts may impose on a supply chain are great. Effective and efficient collaboration on joint programs may only occur when effective countermeasure systems are instituted to ensure the security and integrity of national supply chains, preventing the loss of vital IPR and safeguarding national secrets. This panel will address manners in which each nation deals with these parallel threats and seeks to ensure that programs are ‘delivered uncompromised.’ 

Conference Co Hosts:

The NDIA has a policy of strict compliance with federal and state antitrust laws. The antitrust laws prohibit competitors from engaging in actions that could result in an unreasonable restraint of trade. Consequently, NDIA members must avoid discussing certain topics when they are together – both at formal association membership, board, committee, and other meetings and in informal contacts with other industry members: prices, fees, rates, profit margins, or other terms or conditions of sale (including allowances, credit terms, and warranties); allocation of markets or customers or division of territories; or refusals to deal with or boycotts of suppliers, customers or other third parties, or topics that may lead participants not to deal with a particular supplier, customer or third party.