Revisiting Wassenaar

by
Stewart Baker
[email protected]

December 1997

There has been an effort recently by the Clinton Administration to revisit certain terms of the Wassenaar Arrangement that it perceives as discouraging other member countries from imposing meaningful export controls on encryption products.

As you may recall, the Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is an international regime designed to promote communication and cooperation in controlling the transfer of arms and dual-use goods (including cryptography). The arrangement requires participating countries to control cryptography on a statutory or regulatory basis, which may include "forms of licensing" or "the ability to monitor transfers of these items." Still, exports can occur according to the policies and discretion of the participating country.