Wassenaar Arrangement

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Not to be confused with the Wassenaar Agreement.

Participating states of the Wassenaar Arrangement.

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods
and Technologies, commonly known as the Wassenaar Arrangement, is a multilateral export
control regime (MECR) with 41 participating states including many former COMECON(Warsaw Pact)
countries.
The Wassenaar Arrangement was established to contribute to regional and international security
and stability by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms
and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilizing accumulations. Participating
States seek, through their national policies, to ensure that transfers of these items do not contribute
to the development or enhancement of military capabilities which undermine these goals, and are
not diverted to support such capabilities.
It is the successor to the Cold War-era Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls
(COCOM), and was established on 12 July 1996, in Wassenaar, the Netherlands, which is near The
Hague. The Wassenaar Arrangement is considerably less strict than COCOM, focusing primarily on
the transparency of national export control regimes and not granting veto power to individual
members over organizational decisions. A Secretariat for administering the agreement is located
in Vienna, Austria. Like COCOM, however, it is not a treaty, and therefore is not legally binding.
Every six months member countries exchange information on deliveries of conventional arms to non-
Wassenaar members that fall under eight broad weapons categories: battle tanks, armored combat
vehicles (ACVs), large-caliber artillery, military aircraft, military helicopters, warships, missiles or
missile systems, and small arms and light weapons.

Contents
[hide]

 1Control lists
 2Membership
o 2.1Admission Requirements
o 2.2Future memberships
 32013 Amendments
 4See also
 5References
 6External links
Control lists[edit]
The outline of the arrangement is set out in a document entitled "Guidelines & Procedures, including
the Initial Elements". The list of restricted technologies is broken into two parts, the "List of Dual-Use
[1]

Goods and Technologies" (also known as the Basic List) and the "Munitions List". The Basic List is
composed of ten categories based on increasing levels of sophistication:

 Category 1 – Special Materials and Related Equipment

 Category 2 – Materials Processing
 Category 3 – Electronics
 Category 4 – Computers
 Category 5 – Part 1 – Telecommunications
 Category 5 – Part 2 – "Information Security"
 Category 6 – Sensors and "Lasers"
 Category 7 – Navigation and Avionics
 Category 8 – Marine
 Category 9 – Aerospace and Propulsion
Basic List has two nested subsections—Sensitive and Very Sensitive. Items of the Very Sensitive
List include materials forstealth technology—i.e., equipment that could be used for submarine
detection, advanced radar, and jet enginetechnologies.
The Munitions List has 22 categories, which are not labeled.
In order for an item to be placed on the lists, Member States must take into account the
following criteria:

 Foreign availability outside Participating States

 Ability to effectively control the export of the goods
 Ability to make a clear and objective specification of the item.
 Controlled by another regime, such as the Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group, or Missile
Technology Control Regime

Membership[edit]
As of January 2012, the 41 participating states are: [2]

 Argentina
 Australia
 Austria
 Belgium
 Bulgaria
 Canada
 Croatia
 Czech Republic
 Denmark
 Estonia
 Finland
 France
 Germany
 Greece
 Hungary
 Ireland
 Italy
 Japan
 Latvia
 Lithuania
 Luxembourg
 Malta
 Mexico
 Netherlands
 New Zealand
 Norway
 Poland
 Portugal
 Republic of Korea
 Romania
 Russian Federation
 Slovakia
 Slovenia
 South Africa
 Spain
 Sweden
 Switzerland
 Turkey
 Ukraine
 United Kingdom
 United States of America
Admission Requirements[edit]
Admission requires states to:

 Be a producer or exporter of arms or sensitive industrial equipment

 Maintain non-proliferation policies and appropriate national policies, including adherence to:
 Non-proliferation policies, such as (where applicable) the Nuclear Suppliers Group,
the Missile Technology Control Regime, and the Australia Group
 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the Biological Weapons Convention, the Chemical
Weapons Convention and, where applicable, START I (including the Lisbon Protocol)
 Maintain fully effective export controls
China and Israel are not members, but they have aligned their export controls with Wassenaar lists,
and are significant arms exporters. The Arrangement is open on a global and non-discriminatory
basis to prospective adherents that comply with the agreed criteria. Admission of new members
requires the consensus of all members.
Future memberships[edit]
During a state visit to India in November 2010, U.S. president Barack Obama announced U.S.
support for India's bid for permanent membership to UN Security Council as well as India's entry
[3]

to Nuclear Suppliers Group, Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group. [4][5]

 2013 Amendments[edit]
In December 2013, the list of export restricted technologies was amended to include internet-based
surveillance systems. New technologies placed under the export control regime include "intrusion
software"—software designed to defeat a computer or network's protective measures so as to
extract data or information—as well as IP network surveillance systems.
The purpose of the amendments was to prevent Western technology companies from selling
surveillance technology to governments known to abuse human rights. However, some technology
companies have expressed concerns that the scope of the controls may be too broad, limiting
security researchers' ability to identify and correct security
vulnerabilities.Google and Facebook criticized the agreement for the restrictions it will place on
activities like penetration testing, sharing information about threats, and bug bounty
programs. They argue that the restrictions will weaken the security of participating nations and do
[6][7]

little to curb threats from non-participant nations. [8][9]

See also[edit]
 Arms Export Control Act
 Defense Security Cooperation Agency
 Export Control Classification Number
 International Traffic in Arms Regulations

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ Guidelines & Procedures, including the Initial Elements The Wassenaar Arrangement
2. Jump up^ Participating States The Wassenaar Arrangement
3. Jump up^ "Obama endorses India's bid for permanent seat in UNSC". The Times of India. 8 November 2010.
4. Jump up^ "Obama seeks expanded India-US trade". Al Jazeera English. 6 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
5. Jump up^ "Obama in Mumbai Calls India Market of the Future". Voice of America. 6 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
6. Jump up^ "Google says controversial export proposal would make the world 'less secure'". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-07-30.
7. Jump up^ "Wassenaar rules are not the right direction - Facebook U.S. Public Policy | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved2015-07-
30.
8. Jump up^ "Cyber industry assails anti-hacking regulations". Retrieved 2015-07-30.
9. Jump up^ "The international rules that have the security world on alert". The Verge. Retrieved 2015-07-30.

External links[edit]
 Wassenaar Arrangement
Categories:
 Arms control treaties
 Treaties establishing intergovernmental organizations
 Export and import control
 Treaties concluded in 1995
 Treaties entered into force in 1996
 Treaties of Argentina
 Treaties of Australia
 Treaties of Belgium
 Treaties of Canada
 Treaties of the Czech Republic
 Treaties of Denmark
 Treaties of Estonia
 Treaties of Finland
 Treaties of Ireland
 Treaties of Japan
 Treaties of Latvia
 Treaties of Lithuania
 Treaties of Luxembourg
 Treaties of Malta
 Treaties of Mexico
 Treaties of New Zealand
 Treaties of Norway
 Treaties of South Korea
 Treaties of Romania
 Treaties of Slovakia
 Treaties of Slovenia
 Treaties of Sweden
 Treaties of Turkey
 Treaties of Ukraine
 Treaties of the United Kingdom
 Treaties of the United States
 Treaties of France
 Treaties of Germany
 Treaties of Poland
 Treaties of Italy
 Treaties of Russia
 Treaties of Portugal
 Treaties of Spain
 Treaties of the Netherlands
 Treaties of Hungary
 Treaties of Bulgaria
 Treaties of Greece
 Treaties of Croatia
 Treaties of South Africa
 Treaties of Austria
 Treaties of Switzerland
 Wassenaar