View source for Organization:Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls


The '''Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls''' ('''CoCom''') was established by Western bloc powers in the first five years<ref>{{ cite journal|url=http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jaas/periodicals/JJAS/PDF/1991/No.04-127.pdf |author=Yasuhara, Y. |title=The Myth of Free Trade: The Origins of COCOM 1945–1950 |journal=The Japanese Journal of American Studies |year=1991 |volume=4 |pages=127–148 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040730220532/http://wwwsoc.nii.ac.jp/jaas/periodicals/JJAS/PDF/1991/No.04-127.pdf |archivedate=2004-07-30 |df= }}</ref>  after the end of [[Social:World War II|World War II]], during the [[History:Cold War|Cold War]], to put an arms embargo on Comecon countries. CoCom ceased to function on March 31, 1994, and the then-current control list of embargoed goods was retained by the member nations until the successor, the Wassenaar Arrangement, was established.

== Membership ==
CoCom had 17 member states:
{{Columns
|col1=
*{{AUS}}
*{{BEL}}
*{{CAN}}
*{{DEN}}
*{{FRA}}
*{{FRG}}
*{{GRE}}
*{{ITA}}
*{{JPN}}
|col2=
*{{LUX}}
*{{NED}}
*{{NOR}}
*{{POR}}
*{{ESP}}
*{{TUR}}
*{{GBR}}
*{{USA}}
}}
=== Laws and regulations ===
In the United States, CoCom compliance was implemented in the 1960s via the [[Arms Export Control Act]] (AECA) and the State Department's regulatory supervision on AECA via [[International Traffic in Arms Regulations]] (ITAR), which are still in effect.

==Violations==
[[Company:Toshiba|Toshiba Machine Company]] of {{wipe|Japan}} and Kongsberg Group of {{wipe|Norway}} supplied eight computer-guided propeller milling machines to the [[Place:Soviet Union|Soviet Union]] between 1982 and 1984, an action that violated the CoCom regulations.  The {{wipe|United States}}' position is that this greatly improved the ability of Soviet submarines to evade detection. Congress moved to sanction Toshiba, and ban imports of its products into the United States.<ref>{{cite news|first=Roderick|last=Seeman|title=Toshiba Case—CoCom - Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Revision|date=April 1987|publisher=The Japan Lawletter|url=http://japanlaw.info/lawletter/april87/fdf.htm|accessdate=18 September 2007|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927102631/http://japanlaw.info/lawletter/april87/fdf.htm|archivedate=27 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
In GPS technology, the term "COCOM Limits"  also refers to a limit placed on GPS tracking devices that disables tracking when the device calculates that it is moving faster than {{convert|1000|kn}} at an altitude higher than {{convert|18000|m|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://ravtrack.com/GPStracking/cocom-gps-tracking-limits/469/ | title=COCOM GPS Tracking Limits |publisher=RAVTrack.com| date=October 6, 2010| author=js |accessdate=July 26, 2011}}</ref>  This was intended to prevent the use of GPS in [[Engineering:Intercontinental ballistic missile|intercontinental ballistic missile]]-like applications.

Some manufacturers apply this limit only when both speed and altitude limits are reached, while other manufacturers disable tracking when either limit is reached. In the latter case, this causes some devices to refuse to operate in very high altitude balloons.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://blog.jgc.org/2010/11/gaga-1-cocom-limit-for-gps.html | title=GAGA-1: CoCom limit for GPS | publisher=jgc.org |first=John |last= Graham-Cumming |accessdate=July 26, 2011}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[International Traffic in Arms Regulations]]
* [[Arms Export Control Act]]
* Defense Security Cooperation Agency
* [[Export Administration Regulations]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}
;Notes
{{refbegin}}
* Mastanduno, M. (1992). ''Economic containment: CoCom and the politics of East-West trade''. Cornell paperbacks. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y. {{ISBN|978-0801499968}}
* Noehrenberg, E. H. (1995). ''Multilateral export controls and international regime theory: the effectiveness of COCOM''. Pro Universitate.
* Yasuhara, Y. (1991). ''The myth of free trade: the origins of COCOM 1945-1950''. The Japanese Journal of American Studies, 4.
{{refend}}

==External links==
* [http://evansresearch.org/cocom-lists/ CoCom control lists, as published by the British Government]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050207085635/http://www.admfincs.forces.gc.ca/admfincs/subjects/cfao/036-56_e.asp CFAO 36-56 -- Export Controls Over Strategic and Military Goods]
* [https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1994-04-04/html/94-7936.htm Establishment of New General License for Shipments to Country Groups QWY and the People's Republic of China]
* [http://cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/lipson62.pdf The reincarnation of CoCom: Explaining post-war export controls]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050813180847/http://www.exportcontrolblog.com/ Export Control Blog]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140113232052/http://www.auilr.org/pdf/4/4-1-8.pdf THE TOSHIBA-KONGSBERG INCIDENT: SHORTCOMINGS OF COCOM, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR INCREASED EFFECTIVENESS OF EXPORT CONTROLS TO THE EAST BLOC, Wende A. Wrubel]


{{Sourceattribution|Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls|1}}