More about the Wassenaar Arrangement/Agreement

[ARMARIN]

More about the Wassenaar Arrangement/Agreement



The Wassenaar Arrangement is an organization of countries for export items, munitions & weapons. Seems that both European countries and America are participants. The official language of the organization is English.
Wassenaar Arrangement (What it is)
Wassenaar Arrangement (How it works)
So it would seem that WASR might mean:
W= Wassenaar
A = Arrangement
S = Semiautomatic
R = Rifle
The Wassenaar Arrangement An Overview
From the US Dept of Commerce/Security Website
The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is one of four multilateral export control regimes in which the United States participates. The Arrangement's purpose is to contribute to regional and international security and stability by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use (i.e. those having civil and military uses) goods and technologies to prevent destabilizing accumulations of those items. The Wassenaar Arrangement establishes lists of items for which member countries are to apply export controls. Member governments implement these controls to ensure that transfers of the controlled items do not contribute to the development or enhancement of military capabilities that undermine the goals of the Arrangement, and are not diverted to support such capabilities. In addition, the Wassenaar Arrangement imposes some reporting requirements on its member governments.
The U.S. Government controls all items for export that are controlled multilaterally by the Wassenaar Arrangement. In general, export controls for dual-use goods and technologies controlled in the Wassenaar Arrangement are administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce and controlled for national security reasons on the Commerce Control List and the U.S. Department of State administers export controls on conventional arms.
The agreement establishing the Wassenaar Arrangement, called the initial elements, was approved by its 33 founding countries in July 1996. The Arrangement began operations in September of that year. Its headquarters are in Vienna, Austria although it is named after a suburb of The Hague, Netherlands where the agreement was reached. The Wassenaar Arrangement operates through a permanent secretariat in Vienna. In addition, its member countries send delegations to Austria for working groups and other meetings to develop organizational policy. A Plenary meeting is held annually to approve or reject the policies recommended by the working groups.
The Participating States of the Wassenaar Arrangement are:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom and United States.



The Wassenaar Arrangement has been established in order to contribute to regional and international security and stability, by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilizing accumulations. Participating States seek, through their 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.
The decision to transfer or deny transfer of any item is the sole responsibility of each Participating State. All measures with respect to the Arrangement are taken in accordance with national legislation and policies and are implemented on the basis of national discretion. Therefore, for specifics on Export Controls in the Participating States contact the National Authorities in that country. Representatives of Participating States meet regularly in Vienna where the Wassenaar Arrangement's Secretariat is located.
The Wassenaar Arrangement Control Lists
Munitions List---Contains 22 main entries on items designed for military use, including certain items within the categories such as (but not limited to):
• * Small Arms & Light Weapons (and related ammunition);
• * Tanks and other Military Armed Vehicles;
• * Combat Vessels (surface or underwater);
• * Armoured/Protective Equipment,
• * Aircraft & Unmanned Airborne Vehicles, Aero Engines & related equipment

(Source PRESS RELEASE and the ‘Munitions List’ on the Wassenaar Arrangement Website).

Regards
ARMARIN