Wassenaar Arrangement
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The Wassenaar Arrangement (full name: "The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies") is an arms control convention with 40 participating states.
It is the successor to the Cold war-era Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), and was established on May 12, 1996, in the Dutch town of Wassenaar, near The Hague. A Secretariat for administrating the agreement is located in Vienna, Austria.
The outline of the arrangement is set out in a document entitled "Guidelines & Procedures, including the Initial Elements." [1] The list of restricted technologies does not include software that is "generally available to the public" or "in the public domain."
The 40 participating states are: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.
Israel, which announced its intention to abide by the arrangement in December 2006, is the most recent state to do so.[2]
[edit] See also
- International Traffic in Arms Regulations
- Arms Export Control Act
- Defense Security Cooperation Agency
- Export Control Classification Number
