Wassenaar Isn't 'Paralyzed,' Secretariat Chief Says
A senior Wassenaar Arrangement official pushed back on criticism against the multilateral export control body, saying it continues to function and serve as an important forum for members despite Russia’s inclusion.
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“It cannot be denied that making decisions in the Wassenaar Arrangement has recently been challenging,” said Gyorgy Molnar, the head of the Wassenaar secretariat, during the EU's Export Control Forum in Brussels last week. “But at the same time, I wouldn't say that the work is paralyzed.”
Molnar’s comments came minutes after Maros Sefcovic, the EU commissioner for trade and economic security, said during the forum that Russia’s membership in the body is “effectively paralyzing” Wassenaar (see 2511170013). Government and industry officials for several years have been calling for a different approach to coordinating multilateral export controls over dual-use items, especially because Moscow can veto all new proposals at the body.
But Molnar said one-third of all new Wassenaar proposals were approved last year, which isn’t as “high” as previous years but is still a “meaningful outcome, given the complexity of the topics, the different technical approaches and the geopolitical situation.” He also said Wassenaar saw a record 121 export control proposals this past year.
“Despite their differences, participating states continue to cooperate to prevent diversion without hampering legitimate international trade and cooperation,” Molnar said. He added that even though members have had some “heated discussions” in recent months, they’re still making progress.
“When the Wassenaar Arrangement was created, it was not foreseen that one participating state would commit an aggression against another one,” he said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
“At the end of the day, there is a consensus on the proposals,” Molnar said. “The number of agreements is not as high as it used to be, but under the current circumstances, to agree on one-third of the new proposals is not that bad.”
The annual plenary, where proposals and updates from the last year are finalized, is scheduled for early December.
In an effort to sidestep Russia’s power to veto new proposals, some Wassenaar states have been working to coordinate dual-use controls outside the body, including the U.S., Canada, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, the EU and others (see 2410030050, 2504040028, 2407030048 and 2511140006). A U.K. export control official, speaking from the audience during Molnar’s panel at the EU forum, said the country plans to update its dual-use controls next month.
Molnar said that although it has “always been possible” for Wassenaar member states to implement their own export control measures, “I still believe that it is important to achieve multilateral controls, even if this requires time and patience.”
More frequent unilateral controls “could become a significant burden for both governmental licensing authorities and industry,” he said, adding that “exporters prefer the predictability and level playing field which only controls agreed in multilateral export control regimes can provide.”