Canadian Government Launches Consultations On Encryption Controls

Yesterday, Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada's Export Controls Division (ECD) launched its "Consultation on the International Interpretations of the Wassenaar Arrangement Cryptography Note by Wassenaar Arrangement Participating States." These consultations will be of particular significance for companies engaged in the export or transfer from Canada of encryption goods, software or technology or items that have been designed or modified to use or work with encryption.

Encryption controls have been a challenge for many Canadian software and hardware vendors. Category 5 — Part 2 of Canada's Export Control List identifies information security items that require a permit in order to be exported from Canada to destinations other than the United States. Because the threshold for control is very low — key lengths in excess of 64 bits (in the case of symmetric algorithms) — many vendors have been surprised to learn that the export or transfer of their encryption