Wassenaar Abkommen – Meeting 2010 in Vienna

Das Wassenaar-Abkommen ist laut Wikipedia ein  Abkommen über Exportkontrollen von

• konventionellen Waffen und
• doppelverwendungsfähigen Gütern und Technologien

Es ist Nachfolger des COCOM das 1949 zu Beginn des Kalten Krieges von den USA eingerichtet wurde. Es wurde am 19. Dezember 1995 in Wassenaar (Niederlande) ausgearbeitet und am 12. Mai 1996 in Wien (Österreich) von 33 Gründungsmitgliedern unterzeichnet. Ähnlich wie bei CoCom werden Listen über rüstungsrelevante Güter gepflegt. Nun gab es wieder ein Meeting in Wien.

Die Staaten entscheiden eigenständig über die Bewilligung oder Ablehnung von Lieferanfragen aus Drittstaaten, informieren aber über das Büro in Wien die anderen Mitgliedstaaten. Dadurch soll verhindert werden, dass abgelehnte Anfragen von anderen Mitgliedsstaaten positiv beschieden werden.

Die 40 Mitgliedsstaaten sind: Argentinien, Australien, Belgien, Bulgarien, Dänemark, Deutschland, Estland, Finnland, Frankreich, Griechenland, Großbritannien und Nordirland, Irland, Italien, Japan, Kanada, Kroatien, Lettland, Litauen, Luxemburg, Malta, Neuseeland, Niederlande, Norwegen, Österreich, Polen, Portugal, Rumänien, Russland, Schweden, Schweiz, Slowakei, Slowenien, Spanien, Südafrika, Südkorea, Tschechische Republik, Türkei, Ukraine, Ungarn, USA.

„PUBLIC STATEMENT 2010 PLENARY MEETING OF THE WASSENAAR ARRANGEMENT ON EXPORT CONTROLS FOR CONVENTIONAL ARMS AND DUAL-USE GOODS AND TECHNOLOGIES

The sixteenth Plenary meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement , chaired by Ambassador Thomas Greminger of Switzerland, was held in Vienna on 9 and 10 December 2010.
In 2010, the Arrangement continued its work in supporting international and regional security and stability. Further discussion took place during 2010 on the issue of destabilising accumulations of conventional arms. The Plenary confirmed that 2011 will be an Assessment year, a wide-ranging exercise undertaken by the Arrangement every four years to review and evaluate its overall functioning.
The Arrangement continues to keep pace with advances in technology, market trends and international security developments. The Plenary agreed to a substantial number of amendments to the control lists addressing technically complex and challenging issues. Attention was also given to new commercial developments related to counter-terrorism. Participating States also worked to make the existing control text more easily understood and “user-friendly” for exporters and licensing authorities.

The Wassenaar Arrangement continues to undertake outreach in support of its aims and objectives, in particular through post-Plenary briefings, interaction with industry and bilateral dialogue with non-Participating States. The Plenary decided to offer another technical briefing on recent changes to the Wassenaar Arrangement control lists for a number of non-Participating States in 2011.
The Plenary reiterated that the Wassenaar Arrangement is open to membership to all states who comply with the agreed criteria.
The Plenary thanked the Chair, Ambassador Thomas Greminger (Switzerland), and his predecessor, Ambassador Bernhard Marfurt, for their valuable contribution to the work of the Arrangement. The Plenary also thanked Ambassador Jan Petersen (Norway) for his Chairmanship of the General Working Group, Mr Diego Martini (Italy) for his leadership of the Experts Group list-review process over the last two years and Mr Juergen Boehler (Switzerland) for his leadership of the Licensing and Enforcement Officers’ Meeting (LEOM) over the last two years. The Plenary also expressed its appreciation and gratitude to Ambassador Sune Danielsson (Sweden) as Head of the Wassenaar Arrangement Secretariat and his staff for their ongoing support.
The next regular Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary meeting will take place in Vienna in December 2011. The Czech Republic will assume the Chair of the Plenary from 1 January 2011, and has designated Ambassador Veronika Kuchynova Smigolova, its Permanent Representative to the International Organisations in Vienna, as the Plenary Chair. In addition, from 1 January 2011, New Zealand will assume the Chairmanship of the General Working Group, Japan will assume the Chairmanship of the Experts’ Group and the Netherlands will assume the Chairmanship of the LEOM.

Vienna, 10 December 2010