Where Industry and Security Intersect
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BXA established the Nonproliferation and Export Control (NEC) International Cooperation team in early 1994 to coordinate BXA's activities in support of U.S. export control cooperative programs with Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus, and the Central Asian, Caucasian, Baltic, and Central European states.
During FY 2000, the NEC team, in conjunction with BXA organizations and other representatives from the U.S. government, hosted, coordinated, sponsored or participated in 47 technical exchange workshops, multilateral events, and related activities. These activities included cooperative bilateral workshops with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The NEC team conducted two major multilateral regional conferences, one for the nations of Central Asia and the Caucasus region, and the other for the nations of Europe and North America, participated in a third, for South Central Europe, and presented a forum on legal and enforcement transshipment issues for Cyprus, and Malta.
The technical exchange workshops sought to familiarize the countries with the elements that constitute an effective export control system and to assist them in developing and enhancing their own national systems. Legal authorities were described and analyzed, licensing procedures and processes were shared, preventive enforcement techniques were explained, the need for government and industry cooperation on export control matters was emphasized and demonstrated, and automation program techniques to simplify a country's national export control system and make it more reliable and accessible were presented.
In FY 2000, the BXA's Nonproliferation and Export Control International Cooperation program saw major strides in development of national export control systems by some of the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union, and by some countries in Central Europe. The result has been to reduce the proliferation threat from goods and technologies originating in or transiting through the participating countries.
BXA plays a major role in the U.S. interagency program of cooperative export control exchange workshops and conferences. The NEC team coordinates the participation of export control experts from all areas of BXA and the Office of Chief Counsel for Export Administration (OCC). Because BXA and OCC hold responsibility in all technical areas of export controls, they take the lead in a wide range of technical exchange workshops.
These include workshops to address:
In these workshops, experts focus on the legal basis and framework necessary for an effective and comprehensive export control system, including statutory authorities, executive orders, implementing regulations, and interagency agreements.
These workshops address licensing procedures and practices, which are the mechanisms by which individual export license decisions are made. They focus on dual-use license application processing, including the method of recording decisions electronically and tracking the status of license applications. Participants also review the purpose and guiding philosophy of the U.S. control list, its international development, the legal basis for controlling U.S. exports, the techniques and procedures for obtaining commodity classifications, and the procedure for resolving interagency disputes among U.S. Government agencies that have various export control responsibilities and authorities.
To demonstrate the need for a national control list and the interagency licensing process the United States uses, several fictitious case studies are presented to illustrate U.S. Government procedures. Participating foreign officials are also given the opportunity to explain their export licensing systems to BXA officials.
The emphasis of these workshops, presented by Export Enforcement officials with NEC staff support, is on export enforcement techniques. Participants discuss such mechanisms as pre-license checks, post-shipment verifications, "Safeguard" programs, preparation of materials for evidentiary purposes, and the use of criminal and administrative sanctions to deter illegal exports. Enforcement techniques are presented in the context of the global problem of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, including, nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and missile delivery systems.
In these workshops, the interlocking roles of industry and government in achieving export control cooperation are emphasized and addressed. BXA officials and industry representatives explain how government and business can together achieve common goals and objectives and how each can simplify the task of the other.
These technical exchanges provide a business perspective on export controls, explaining the importance of voluntary industry compliance with export controls, and why and how industry provides technical expertise via Technical Advisory Committees to U.S. Government agencies. Workshop sessions address why export controls are necessary; why industry support is essential; the role of industry-government cooperation in the formulation of laws and implementing regulations; the mechanisms that promote industry participation; voluntary compliance; and internal control programs instituted by industry and other organizations.
In FY 2000, the NEC team assessed the potential of selected countries to receive automation support for their export licensing systems. Electronic processing of licensing applications not only reduces transaction delays but also enhances business confidentiality and works against internal corruption. BXA automation experts participate in system automation assessments and advise officials of the countries on automating their export control licensing functions. In cooperation with their senior export control officials, BXA representatives appraised the training requirements for countries receiving automation software in cooperation with a country's senior export control officials.
Armenia
BXA hosted a delegation of three Armenian parliamentarians and two officials from the Armenian Foreign Ministry's Department of Arms Control and Security. In order to assist the Armenian government undertaking to of draft an export control law, the forum addressed the legal basis necessary for a comprehensive and effective export control system and the essential authorities needed. An overview of the U.S. system provided a basis of discussion.
Azerbaijan
BXA arranged the Export Control Legal Assistance Follow-Up Workshop in response to a request by Azerbaijan officials during the Tbilisi Regional Export Control Forum in November, 1999. The officials sought specific comments and additional consultations on Azerbaijan's draft export control law prior to its submission to the Parliament for consideration. The U.S. delegation, made up of State and Commerce Department/BXA senior export control specialists and attorneys form the Office of Chief Counsel for Export Administration, provided comments on the draft law to officials from the Azerbaijan Foreign Economic Relations Department and the Defense Industry Department of the Cabinet of Ministers, the State Customs Committee, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The U.S. delegation also briefed and answered specific questions from members of Parliament from key committees during a consultation session at the Parliament. The Parliament is expected to consider the draft export control law during its 2001 schedule.
Estonia
A BXA team led a small U.S. delegation, including U.S. industry representatives, to Estonia for a conference that addressed licensing procedures and requirements, penalties that can be imposed on private industry for violating export control laws, and the importance of industry-government cooperation in preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
Georgia
The BXA team coordinated presentations by officials from BXA's Export Enforcement, OCC and the Defense Department to a U.S.-Georgia Export Enforcement Workshop in Tbilisi, Georgia. Participants from other U.S. agencies include the Department of Justice and the U.S. Customs Service. Funded by the DOD/FBI Counter-Proliferation Program, the workshop focused on enforcement of controls on exports and transit of arms, sensitive dual-use goods, and technology. Designed to provide the Georgian government participants with an understanding of the structures and functions needed for effective enforcement of export controls, the workshop was the next step in the interagency coordinated nonproliferation and export control program in Georgia. During the workshop, the Georgian delegation gave a short presentation on the current status of Georgia's export control system, with particular emphasis on the structure and operation of its export enforcement program.
Hungary
A BXA nonproliferation and export control delegation met on the Hungary Internal Control Program (ICP) Project with Hungarian government experts in the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) in Budapest. The discussions addressed four issues: the establishment of a project plan timetable for the development and deployment of a Hungarian ICP to Hungarian industry with the cooperation of the Government of Hungary, drafting a memorandum of understanding outlining the ICP project, obtaining clarification of the role of non-government organizations in the project, and the exchange of views on a proposed industry-government export control ICP forum late in 2001. The head of the MEA Office of Export Control Licensing and Administration, the Department Director General, and senior officials of the Budapest Chamber of Commerce expressed strong interest in the ICP project.
Kazakhstan
A U.S. Department of Commerce delegation traveled to Astana, Kazakhstan, to provide comments to the Kazakhstan government on its proposed amendments to the export control law and on the proposed implementing regulations to that law. The consultations were held under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Defense/Federal Bureau of Investigation (DOD/FBI) Counterproliferation Program, and included export control specialists from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration and the Office of Chief Counsel.
BXA/NEC led a small interagency team of U.S. export control technical specialists to Eschborn, Germany, to conduct a workshop on the European Union (EU) Unified Control List for Kazakhstan export control experts. Jointly hosted with BXA by the German Ministry of Economics and Technology and held at the German Federal Export Control Agency (BAFA), the workshop also included experts from the United Kingdom's Department of Trade and Industry, the Netherlands' Ministry of Economics, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The European Union (EU) Unified Control List Technical Workshop assisted Kazakhstan export control organizations to use the EU Control List as a model for a National Control List for dual-use items controlled by the four major international control regimes. This joint workshop is an example of expanded participation by EU member countries, particularly technical experts, in export control cooperation programs.
Central Asia Security Initiative U.S. Interagency Experts Team Visit, Kazakhstan, August 14-22, 2000
A BXA/NEC export control analyst participated in the visit to Kazakhstan by a U.S. interagency experts team from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce, and the U.S. Customs Service. The U.S. team joined with Kazakhstan working groups to assess and identify Kazakhstan border security needs and to establish consensus concerning the framework and priorities for the assistance programs proposed under the U.S. Central Asia Security Initiative (CASI). The objective of the CASI is to help the nations in the region combat terrorism and illicit trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms, and narcotics. The assistance is to be provided through six U.S. export control, border security, law enforcement and other security programs in the form of equipment, training and services. During the visit, the U.S. experts split into four groups, each of which then became part of joint U.S.-Kazakhstan teams that undertook site visits to the China border at Druzbha, the Kyrgyz and Uzbek borders, the maritime border on the Caspian Sea at Aktau, the Turkmenistan border, and the Russian border region of Ust Kamenegorsk/Maikapchagay. U.S. and Kazakhstan experts reached preliminary consensus on the most pressing Kazakhstani border security and export control cooperation needs. The programs will be implemented through the U.S. Embassy in Almaty as part of the U.S. Expanded Threat Reduction Initiative.
Kyrgyzstan
During a Parliamentary Forum on Export Controls hosted by BXA, four visiting members of the Kyrgyz Parliament and the Chief, International Organizations and Security, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, met with U.S. export control experts from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, and the U.S. Customs Service (USCS) to explore the basic authorities needed in an export control law. The U.S. export control officials provided an overview of U.S. export control system laws and procedures, the responsibilities of ministries, and interagency coordination mechanisms. Attorneys from the Offices of Chief Counsel of both the Commerce Department and the USCS addressed legal elements affecting licensing practices, export enforcement concerns, and industry-government relations. The understanding gained by the Kyrgyz delegation proved of use to the delegation during the consideration of export control legislation by the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic in January, 2000, when the bill on export controls was passed and sent to the president of the Kyrgyz Republic for signature.
Central Asia Security Initiative U.S. Interagency Experts Team Visit, Kyrgyzstan, May 22-25, 2000
A BXA/NEC export control analyst participated in the visit to Kyrgyzstan by a U.S. interagency experts team from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce, and the U.S. Customs Service. The U.S. team joined with Kyrgyzstan working groups in country to assess and identify Kyrgyzstan border security needs, and to establish consensus concerning the framework and priorities for the assistance programs proposed under the U.S. Central Asia Security Initiative (CASI). The objective of the CASI is to help Kyrgyzstan combat terrorism and illicit trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms and narcotics. The assistance is to be provided through about six U.S. export control, border security, law enforcement and other security programs in the form of equipment, training and services. During the visit, the U.S. experts split into two groups, each of which then became part of joint U.S.-Kyrgyzstan teams that undertook site visits to the Osh and Batken regions. U.S. and Kyrgyzstan experts reached preliminary consensus on the most pressing border security and export control cooperation needs by agency. The programs will be implemented through the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek as part of the U.S. Expanded Threat Reduction Initiative.
Lithuania
A BXA team led a small U.S. delegation, which included U.S. industry representatives, to Lithuania for a conference that addressed licensing procedures and requirements, penalties that can be imposed on private industry for violating export control laws, and the importance of industry-government partnership for effective export controls in preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The conference sought to foster national support for the concept of export control in both public and private sectors in Lithuania.
Moldova
A U.S. delegation from the Departments of State and Commerce provided comments to Moldovan officials on their draft export control law before its transmittal to the Parliament. The workshop was held under the U.S. Department of Defense/Federal Bureau of Investigation (DOD/FBI) Counter-Proliferation Program. Moldova subsequently enacted an export control law that adhered to the U.S. comments.
Poland
A delegation of Commerce Department nonproliferation and export control experts met with Polish government export control officials in the Ministry of Economy (MOE) to discuss next steps for the Internal Control Project (ICP) for Polish industrial firms. The Polish government is revising its export control law to require ICP programs in all Polish companies exporting sensitive materials. The acting director of the MOE's Export Control Department noted that the Polish government's ICP project generated a number of new export control provisions in the law, including the creation of a denied parties list. The discussions with the Commerce Department delegation resulted in a plan for completing Polish ICP software development, a draft time-table for workshops to deploy the software to Polish industry during the upcoming year, customization of Polish ICP instructor training materials, and a plan for their deployment and use of these training materials in Polish industry.
Russia
As part of the U.S.-Russia Export Control Technical Exchange program, BXA led an interagency delegation to Moscow to participate in a Licensing Procedures and Practices Workshop. The workshop discussed bilateral cooperation on export certificate processing, commodity classification, publication of denials, and the structure of an automated licensing system. While in Moscow, the NEC delegates also took part in a Dual-Use Licensing Sub-Working Group meeting.
Small teams of BXA personnel and U.S. corporate representatives participated in a series of 15 Internal Control Program Workshops in selected Russian cities as part of the U.S.-Russian export control cooperation conducted initially under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and more recently under the Nonproliferation, Antiterrorism; Demining, and Related Activities (NADR) Program. The workshops helped the Russians deploy Internal Control Programs (ICPs) at 404 Russian industrial enterprises and institutes in 14 areas. Locations included Moscow, the Kaluga region, Dzerzhinsk, Ulyanovsk, Novouralsk-Ekaterinburg, Saratov, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Barnaul, St. Petersburg, Samara, Krasnoyarsk, and Vladivostok. The ICP is a software-based learning/document development/reference tool. Its deployment is part of a Russian government initiative to improve industry compliance with national export control rules. The Regional Administrations (regional governments) hosted the deployment workshops. Among Russian government participants at various workshops in the series were representatives of the Russian Nongovernmental Organization (NGO) Center for Export Controls (CEC), the State Customs Committee, the Security Council of the Russian Federation, the Federal Service for Currency and Export Controls, and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Trade, and the Economy.
A BXA delegation visited Moscow to prepare instructors from the government of Russia and the Center on Export Controls (CEC), a Russian non-government organization, to train others in the full curriculum of courses and tools developed for use within the government of Russia to train export control officials and licensing officers. Among the topics addressed were technical classification training and follow-up Internal Control Program (ICP) work with Russian industrial enterprises; CEC training material, software tools, and other material used in ICP training; and use of the European Union control list.
Slovakia
The BXA/NEC team hosted a legal technical forum for Slovak export control officials which assisted them to determine whether revisions to the Slovak Republic's export control laws and decrees would be useful. The forum addressed the Slovak Republic authorities for dual-use and munitions controls; nuclear equipment, material and technology controls; embargoes; arms imports, defense authority and perspectives; and customs authority. Slovak participants included officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Ministry of Economy's Departments of Export Controls, Licensing, and Legislation. On the U.S. side participants included representatives from the Office of Chief Counsel for Export Administration, the Departments of Energy and Defense, the Treasury Department's Office of Chief Counsel for the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and the U.S. Customs Service.
Slovenia
A BXA team hosted a U.S.-Slovenia Technical Workshop on Control Lists. Led by Slovenia's State Under Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Relations and Development, the delegation sought to understand the legal framework for export licensing and national control lists for dual-use goods and technologies, as well as control list implementation and application to enforcement and transit issues. To assist Slovenia in its effort to develop and strengthen its export control system, the BXA workshop provided an overview of the control list process from an international and national perspective. It incorporated visits to and briefings by key U.S. export control agencies, including the Defense Department and the U.S. Customs Service, and a round-table discussion addressing nuclear and missile technology controls. Industry interaction with the U.S. government export control system was explored during a visit to a U.S. high-tech firm.
Tajikistan
The workshop provided comment on Tajikistan's draft export control regulations and examined the elements needed for the promulgation of a national control list that meets international standards. It presented information concerning national control lists, discussed the European Union (EU) Control List, and then demonstrated the application of a national control list to export licensing and commodity classification. The interaction between licensing and enforcement was analyzed. The workshop afforded to the Tajikistan delegation the opportunity for discussion with legal, licensing and enforcement experts. The Tajikistan delegation consisted of officials from the Administration of the President of Tajikistan, the Customs Committee, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Statistics and Analysis, and the Department of Counter-Smuggling. Their agencies are responsible for implementing Tajikistan's export control law and refining its export control regulations. Participating U.S. agencies included the Departments of State, Defense, Energy, and Commerce, and the U.S. Customs Service.
Ukraine
BXA's Export Enforcement unit led an interagency enforcement delegation to Ukraine that included representatives from the Defense Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ukrainian participants worked with U.S. export control enforcement officials on issues including the role and responsibilities of Ukrainian agencies involved in enforcing export controls, enforcement mechanisms, the export license screening process, cooperation with industry, the role of brokers and freight forwarders, and domestic and international law enforcement cooperation.
BXA led a small delegation to Ukraine to review the current Ukrainian version of the Internal Control Program (ICP) software tool and to develop an implementation plan for its installation in several Ukrainian enterprises as the first phase of ICP deployment in Ukraine. The delegation met with officials from the Ukrainian State Service on Export Controls and from the Scientific and Technical Center.
BXA's NEC team hosted an ICP and Automation Workshop focused on the prototyping and deployment of internal control programs for Ukrainian industrial enterprises and other entities that produce controlled technology and equipment. The workshop developed a project plan for completing and deploying the ICP in Ukraine.
BXA staff supported the Ukrainian customization and testing of ICP development software at three large Ukrainian aeronautics and electronics companies during the three-month period March 1 through June 1, 2000. The ICP software was later deployed in Ukrainian industrial enterprises.
BXA hosted a delegation from Ukraine for ICP Deployment Training and Instructor Training which prepared the Ukraine officials for the initiation of ICP deployment workshops in Ukraine. The Nonproliferation Export Control program contractor provided the workshop materials, led the discussions and presentations, and provided facilitation for the training and instruction exercises. In addition, the contractor conducted a facilitated hand-off to the Ukraine officials of all training materials developed for use by the State Export Control Service of Ukraine.
BXA led a team of U.S. export control specialists assisted by the Scientific and Technical Center (STC), a Ukrainian non-governmental organization, in the deployment of an Internal Control Program (ICP) in Lviv for 18 high-tech electronics industrial enterprises in the western Ukraine region. The workshop is part of a Ukraine government (State Export Control Service) initiative to improve industry compliance with national export control laws and regulations, and the first of seven such deployments to be conducted in Ukraine during 2000-2001. The ICP workshop is part of the planned U.S.-Ukraine bilateral cooperation on export controls conducted initially under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, and more recently under the Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining, and Related Activities (NADR) Program. The workshop facilitated deployment of the ICP at Ukrainian industrial enterprises.
Uzbekistan
A BXA/NEC export control analyst participated in the visit to Uzbekistan by a U.S. interagency experts team from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce, and the U.S. Customs Service. The U.S. team joined with Uzbekistan working groups in country to assess and identify Uzbekistan border security needs, and to establish consensus concerning the framework and priorities for the assistance programs proposed under the U.S. Central Asia Security Initiative (CASI). The objective of the CASI is to help the nations of that region combat terrorism and illicit trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, conventional arms and narcotics. The assistance is to be provided through about six U.S. export control, border security, law enforcement and other security programs in the form of equipment, training and services. During the visit, the U.S. experts split into three groups, each of which then became part of joint U.S.-Uzbekistan teams that undertook site visits to the Fergana Valley/Kokand area, southwest Uzbekistan, and Tashkent. U.S. and Uzbekistan experts reached preliminary consensus on the most pressing Uzbekistan border security and export control cooperation needs. The programs will be implemented through the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent as part of the U.S. Expanded Threat Reduction Initiative.
BXA and the U.S. Defense Department presented an export control workshop that focused on the enforcement of controls on exports and transit of arms, sensitive dual-use goods and technology. Funded by the U.S. Department of Defense/Federal Bureau of Investigation (DOD/FBI) Counterproliferation Program, and designed to provide Uzbekistan government participants with an understanding of the structures and functions needed for effective enforcement of export controls, the workshop constituted the next step in the interagency coordinated counterproliferation and export control program in Uzbekistan. The Uzbek delegation briefly described the current status of Uzbekistan's export control system, with particular emphasis on the structure and operation of its export enforcement program. The Department of Justice and the U.S. Customs Service also participated.
The Bureau of Export Administration arranged the Export Control Legal Assistance Follow-Up Workshop in response to a request by Uzbekistan government officials made during the Export Enforcement Workshop held in Tashkent in June. The officials sought additional consultations on Uzbekistan's draft export control law prior to its submission to the Parliament for consideration. The U.S. delegation, made up of export control specialists from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration and the Office of Chief Counsel for Export Administration, provided comments on the draft law to officials from the Uzbekistan Ministries of Foreign Economic Relations, Foreign Affairs, Defense and Emergency Situations, and from the National Security Service, the Institute of Nuclear Physics/Academy of Sciences, and the Customs Administration. The Parliament is scheduled to consider the draft export control law during its 2001-2002 schedule. The U.S. delegation then briefed the attendees on the principles for a regional transit agreement agreed to by the representatives of the Central Asian and Caucasus states who had attended the Regional Nonproliferation and Export Control Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, in November 1999 (see below). Uzbekistan officials expressed interest in participating in a regional working group when one is established to address the subject.
Caucasus, Central Asia, and Turkey
The United States and the Republic of Georgia co-hosted the forum. Attending countries were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Moldova and Ukraine attended as observers. (Pakistan and Turkmenistan were also invited to observe but did not attend.) Senior officials from the participating countries discussed export control issues, particularly the problems of transshipment, and suggested numerous steps for future regional cooperation. The format was a mixture of plenary sessions and smaller expert group sessions, one of which produced an Agreement on the Principles of Regional Transshipment. The Tbilisi Forum had approximately 100 attendees, including over 40 from Georgian government agencies, 31 from other regional governments, and 16 in the U.S. delegation headed by the Commerce Department's Deputy Under Secretary for Export Administration. Participants described the forum as productive. There were calls to continue regional cooperation on export control and nonproliferation. In this light, representatives from the Kyrgyz Republic offered to host a similar forum in Bishkek.
Cyprus, Malta, and Hong Kong
A U.S. interagency team led by the Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration participated in the first in a proposed series of workshops in regions with significant transshipments of sensitive cargo and of proliferation concern. Cypriot and Maltese officials improved their understanding of the international standards for a national export control system, particularly the legal, regulatory, and enforcement elements of transshipment transactions. They also used workshop information to evaluate their own practices and consider areas for strengthening their export control regimes. Representatives from the Hong Kong Trade Department also took part in the workshop. The U.S. delegation included State Department and U.S. Customs Service officials in addition to BXA/NEC, Office of Chief Counsel for Export Administration, and BXA/Export Enforcement participants.
South Central Europe
Under the auspices of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, the United States and Bulgarian governments co-hosted the regional nonproliferation conference. Led on the U.S. side by the Department of State, the conference sought to increase cooperation and coordination among countries in the region in order to prevent illegal arms flows, as well as to develop effective arms and dual-use export control systems. Policy and export control officials from the countries of Central and Southeast Europe (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Turkey), as well as Canada, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Wassenaar Arrangement, and the Stability Pact attended the conference. At the conclusion of the conference, the participants adopted a joint declaration on arms transfers and a statement on harmonized end-user/end-use certificates.
Oxford Conference
The Bureau of Export Administration organized and hosted the conference. T. Scott Bunton, Deputy Under Secretary for Export Administration, and John Barker, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation Controls, U.S. Department of State, led the U.S. interagency delegation to the conference for export control officials from nations of Europe and North America and from Japan and Hong Kong. The conference provided a forum in which leading experts on export controls could examine issues requiring refinements to both national export control systems and multilateral regimes, and recommend new forms of coordination among national systems, among multilateral regimes, and between national systems and multilateral regimes. Three specific topics explored at the conference were open source information, controlling intangible transfers of technology and software, and the "catch all" form of export regulation. In addition, each country assessed the progress it had made since the 1999 Oxford Conference in addressing the seven elements for referral to governments of conference participants: intangible transfers of technology and software, communication between/among national export control systems, control lists, relations of multilater regimes with non-members, lack of secure information sharing among regime members, handling issues that cut across the purviews of the regimes, and coordination of export control cooperative exchanges.
Participating in the conference were export control officials from 32 countries in Central and Western Europe, the Baltics and the Balkans, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and Turkey, as well as representatives from the four multilateral export control regimes (Australia Group, Missile Technology Control Regime, Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the Wassenaar Arrangement), two multilateral organizations (the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency), four private sector companies, and several academic and research institutions.
The following BXA/NEC technical exchanges (most of them bilateral) took place in FY 2000. The programs centered on the major elements that constitute an effective national export control system.
[Download a Section 508 accessible WordPerfect version of this table]
| Country | Legal Foundation | Licensing Procedures and Practices | Export Control Administration | Export Enforcement Activities | Systems Automation | Govt. Industry Relations |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armenia | Feb. 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Azerbaijan | November 1999 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Cyprus and Malta | December 1999 | .. | .. | December 1999 | .. | .. |
| Estonia | .. | March 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Georgia | .. | .. | .. | June 2000 | .. | .. |
| Hungary | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | September 2000 |
| Kazakhstan | December 1999 | March 2000 | August 2000 | .. | .. | .. |
| Kyrgyzstan | December 1999 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Lithuania | .. | March 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Moldova | February 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Poland | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. | September 2000 |
| Russia | .. | October 1999 September 2000 |
.. | .. | .. | October 11, 1999 thru August 2, 2000 |
| Slovakia | January 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Slovenia | .. | June 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Tajikistan | April 24-28, 2000 | April 24-28, 2000 | .. | .. | .. | .. |
| Ukraine | .. | .. | .. | October 1999 | .. | October 1999; January, 2000; June, 2000; September, 2000 |
| Uzbekistan | August 2000 | .. | .. | June, 2000 | .. | .. |
In April of 2002 the Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) changed its name to the Bureau of Industry and Security(BIS). For historical purposes we have not changed the references to BXA in the legacy documents found in the Archived Press and Public Information.