Location in the JCL

An INCLUDE statement:

Can appear anywhere in the job after the JOB statement, with one exception: if there is a JCLLIB statement, the INCLUDE statement must follow the JCLLIB statement.
Must follow a complete JCL statement.
Can appear within an INCLUDE group. INCLUDE groups can contain INCLUDE statements and can be nested up to a maximum of 15 levels of nesting.
Cannot appear in a CNTL/ENDCNTL group, which contains program control statements delimited by the CNTL and ENDCNTL statements.