FACT SHEET: WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT ON ARMS EXPORT CONTROLS
(ACDA says goal of new regime is to enhance security) (530)

(The following fact sheet describing the Wassenaar Arrangement on
export controls for conventional arms and dual-use goods and
technologies was issued by the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament
Agency on July 17.)

Representatives of 33 States met in Vienna, Austria on July 11 and 12,
1996 and established the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for
Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies.

The purpose of the Arrangement, reflected in the Initial Elements
agreed to at the meeting, is to contribute to regional and
international security by:

-- promoting transparency and greater responsibility with regard to    
transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies,
thus preventing destabilizing accumulations;

-- seeking through 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;

-- complementing and reinforcing, without duplication, the existing    
control regimes for weapons of mass destruction and their delivery    
systems, as well as other internationally recognized measures designed
to promote transparency and greater responsibility, by focusing on the 
   threats to international and regional peace and security which may
arise from transfers of armaments and sensitive dual-use goods and
technologies where risks are judged greatest; and,

-- enhancing cooperation to prevent the acquisition of armaments and   
 sensitive dual-use items for military end-uses, if the situation in a 
   region or the behavior of a state is, or becomes, a cause for
serious     concern to the Participating States.

This Arrangement will not be directed against any state or group of
states and will not impede bona fide civil transactions.  Nor will it
interfere with the rights of states to acquire legitimate means with
which to defend themselves pursuant to Article 51 of the Charter of
the United Nations.

Participating States will control all items set forth in the List of
Dual-Use Goods and Technologies and the Munitions List with the
objective of preventing unauthorized transfers or re-transfers of
these items.

Participating States have agreed (to) November 1, 1996 as a
target-date for implementation of the Lists.  Some Participating
States indicated that they might be unable to meet this target-date
but would make every effort to implement the Lists before the December
1996 Plenary.  The decision to transfer or to deny a transfer of any
item will be the sole responsibility of each Participating State.

The participants established a Secretariat in Vienna to facilitate the
future work of the Arrangement and agreed to a work program that will
expand and enhance the Arrangement in ways that will further its
central purposes.

Bulgaria and Ukraine were welcomed as new participants and co-founders
by Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy,
Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland,
Portugal, the Republic of Korea, Romania, the Russian Federation, the
Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United
Kingdom and the United States.

The next Plenary of the Arrangement is scheduled for December 1996 in
Vienna.