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6 December 1999
Source:
http://www.usia.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=99120605.clt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
US Department of State
International Information Programs
Washington File
_________________________________
06 December 1999
(Russia, Ukraine blocked reforms, Reinsch says) (750) By Bruce Odessey Washington File Staff Writer Washington -- U.S. Commerce Department officials say the United States achieved none of its main objectives at the December annual meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement export-control regime. According to William Reinsch, U.S. under secretary of commerce, Russia and Ukraine blocked two of the reforms that the United States was pressing. Reinsch made the remarks December 6 at an annual Practising Law Institute program called "Coping With U.S. Export Controls." He attended the Wassenaar meeting in Vienna the previous week. Established in 1996, the Wassenaar Arrangement attempts to coordinate controls among its 33 members on exports of conventional arms and advanced technology to pariah countries and unstable regions. By all accounts, it lacks the force of the predecessor Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM) from the Cold War, in which any member could veto a proposed sale by another member. One Wassenaar member can even undercut a denial of an export announced by another country by making the sale itself. The United States proposed strengthening Wassenaar rules against undercutting, but Russia and Ukraine blocked such a change, Reinsch said. He said they also blocked another U.S. proposal aimed at requiring more reporting by members on approved exports shipments that are subject to Wassenaar disciplines. According to Tanya Mottley, director of the Strategic Trade Division in Reinsch's Commerce Department bureau, the U.S. delegation also failed to advance a proposal for Wassenaar controls on shoulder-held weapons aimed at military jets called man-portable air defense system (MPADS). Reinsch said Wassenaar and other multilateral regimes aimed at controlling exports of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and missiles have had some success slowing down delivery of critical materials to terrorists and pariah states such as Iraq, Libya, Iran and North Korea. "If we can continue to develop greater information sharing and cooperation among Wassenaar Arrangement members," Reinsch said, "we will be able to improve the regime's grade from C+ to B+." He said the multilateral regimes must work harder to bring non-members India, Pakistan and China in line with their nonproliferation goals. "This will not be easy," Reinsch said, "and clearly we must work harder to show these countries why the regimes are not a club of the military 'haves' trying to make sure the 'have-nots' stay that way." On another topic, Reinsch said the Clinton administration expects to announce in January another round of increases in capacity thresholds for controls on exports of high-performance computers, at about the same time that the increases announced July 1 go into effect. Patricia Sefcik, director of Commerce's computer controls division, predicted the threshold would rise from 20,000 to about 30,000 million theoretical operations per second (MTOPs) for Tier 2 countries (most of Latin America, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Slovenia and South Africa). She predicted the thresholds for Tier 3 countries (India, Pakistan, Israel, China, Russia and 44 other countries) would rise from 12,300 to 18-20,000 MTOPs for civilian users and from 6,500 to 10-12,000 for military users. After such announcements by the president, Congress has six months in which to object before the increases take effect. Commerce Department officials say they expect other policy changes in the weeks ahead: -- December publication in the Federal Register of regulations on U.S. compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention. -- publication of a final regulation on relaxing export controls on encryption software. -- consideration by President Clinton over whether the Commerce Department or the stricter State Department has jurisdiction over exports of night-vision equipment. -- removal of some Indian entities from a Commerce Department list prohibiting all U.S. exports to such entities. An announcement could come December 23, when a Commerce report is due to Congress, or at the time of a proposed Clinton visit to India in January or February. -- announcement of relaxation of controls on exports of some commercial goods to North Korea, possibly in January or February. Reinsch said he did not expect any reconsideration soon of the U.S. comprehensive trade embargo with Libya. He also said he expected no action soon in Congress to reform the licensing procedure for what are called "deemed exports" -- licenses for foreigners hired temporarily in the United States to work on advanced technology who could transfer expertise they gain in such work to their home country.
06 December 1999
(Wassenaar Arrangement creates four part program) (400) The Wassenaar Arrangement, a 33-country group that promotes restraint in transfers of conventional arms and sophisticated technologies, has affirmed an agreement on export control enforcement in halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. Commerce Department says. The members of the 3-year-old arrangement agreed that export control enforcement must include a preventive program, an investigatory process, penalties for violations, and international cooperation, Commerce's Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) said December 3. The group also affirmed that enforcement must be "strong, effective, transparent and national law-based," BXA said. "This demonstrates that other countries share the U.S. view that enforcement is a key element of an effective export control system," Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement Amanda DeBusk said. Following is the text of the BXA announcement: (begin text) Bureau of Export Administration U. S. Department of Commerce December 3, 1999 Commerce Dept. Welcomes International Initiative on Enforcement of Export Controls Washington -- The Wassenaar Arrangement, a 33-country group which promotes transparency, responsibility, and restraint in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use technology, today affirmed the importance of export control enforcement in halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced. Today's agreement results from work initiated by the Export Enforcement arm of the U.S. Department of Commerce and was agreed-to unanimously by all 33 member countries. The participating states affirmed that the elements of export control enforcement include a preventive program; an investigatory process; penalties for violations; and international cooperation. They also affirmed that enforcement be strong, effective, transparent and national law-based. "The United States continues to work with all of its trading partners to ensure that U.S. strategic commodities are not used in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. I applaud today's action on enforcement by Wassenaar which the Clinton Administration worked hard for," said Commerce Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement F. Amanda DeBusk. "This demonstrates that other countries share the U.S. view that enforcement is a key element of an effective export control system," she added. The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies was established in July 1996. Meetings are held in Vienna, Austria, where the Arrangement is based. (Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)