Australia Group
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Australia Group is an informal group of countries established in 1985 (after the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1984) to help reduce the spread of chemical and biological weapons by monitoring and controlling the spread of technologies required to produce them. The group, initially consisting of 15 countries, has increased to 40, including the European Commission and all 25 EU member states, the candidate members Bulgaria and Romania, all OECD members except Mexico, and Argentina.
The group maintains a common list of technologies that could be used in chemical and biological weapons programs which have export restrictions placed upon them. Delegations representing member nations meet annually in Paris.
[edit] Member countries
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, European Commission, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.
