Zangger Committee

The Zangger Committee, also known as the Committee for nuclear export, was established on the basis of Article III.2 of the NPT, which entered into force on 5 May 1970. Because of the provisions of Article III.2 must be applied to nuclear exports safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Between 1971 and 1974 held a group of 15 countries that were suppliers of nuclear material, under the chairmanship of Professor Claude Zangger Swiss a series of informal meetings in Vienna from. Their goal was to find an understanding with respect to ( a) the definition of " equipment and materials that are designed or prepared for the processing, use or production of special fissionable material, " and ( b ) the conditions and procedures the export would determine such equipment and materials to meet the requirements of Article III.2 on the basis of fair economic competition. The group, which became known as the Zangger Committee, decided that their meeting informally and their decisions for their members would not be legally binding.

The committee maintains and updates a list of equipment which may only be exported if safeguards are applied to the receiver device. It also allows the committee to coordinate its members in matters of nuclear export with each other. The relative informality of the group allowed her the lead role in certain points of dispute are relative to take over the non-proliferation of nuclear technology, the solution of which would be difficult in the context of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Moreover, the People's Republic of China is a member of the Zangger Committee.

The Committee has 37 member states (as of 25 January 2011):

Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Germany, Finland, France, Greece, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Croatia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Czech Republic, Turkey, Ukraine, United States

The European Commission acts as a permanent observer.

After the death of Chairman Dr. Fritz W. Schmidt, the diplomatic mission of Great Britain in Vienna acts as the secretariat of the committee and deputy seat. The Czech Pavel Klucký is the current chairman of the committee.