From: pgut001@cs.auckland.ac.nz
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 1996 06:36:07 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: New Australian export regulations
Message-ID: <85117896422931@cs26.cs.auckland.ac.nz>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Australia's new export control regulations have just been posted to the net, 
you can get them from http://www.adfa.oz.au/DOD/al/iic/excontrl/excohome.htm 
(they're all Word 6.0 documents, I've been reading them with a binary file 
browser - blech).  What makes them interesting is that most of the text is 
word for word identical to the Canadian regulations (which is sensible, since 
the Canadian ones are clear and easy to follow, unlike the US "We'll let you 
know when you've broken the law" FUD regulations).  The only thing which is 
different is the section numbering, the mapping from Canadian to Australian 
section numbers appears to be:
 
  10xy.y.z -> xY00?.Y.Z 
 
where y -> Y == 1 -> A, 2 -> B, etc and z -> Z == A -> 1, 2 -> B, etc, so that 
Canadian 1151.1.c becomes Australian 5A002.a.3 (this doesn't work in all 
cases, if there's no .n suffix on the Australian number then the .n part from 
the Canadian number becomes part of the main Australian number, eg 1071.5 -> 
7A005.
 
The text may not be taken straight from the Canadian one because some of the 
spelling mistakes in the Canadian one aren't present in the Austrlian one, or 
maybe it was prepared from a later version which had been spelling checked.
 
For crypto software, you want cat_5.doc, equivalent to section 1150 of the 
Canadian regulations.
 
Anyway, here's the good bit, in sou.doc, "GENERAL TECHNOLOGY NOTE (PART 1 - 
MUNITIONS LIST)"
 
>3. Controls do not apply to "technology" "in the public domain", to "basic 
>   scientific research" or to the minimum necessary information for patent 
>   applications.
    
Again, this is identical to the Canadian regulations.  Since the Canadian 
government has already ruled that a whole variety of crypto software is 
exportable under this exception, it means that the same stuff (and equivalent 
software from Australia) should also be exportable, or at least that you've 
got a very good case for arguing with the Australian government if they decide 
it's not exportable.
 
Then in definits.doc we again have the Canadian text:
 
>"In the public domain" (GTN NTN GSN), as it applies herein, means 
>"technology" or "software" which has been made available without restrictions 
>upon its further dissemination (copyright restrictions do not remove 
>"technology" or "software" from being "in the public domain").
 
It's nice to have this stuff laid out at last, because it finally takes the 
Australian crypto controls out of a gray area and defines them so that stuff 
like SSLeay and my own cryptlib aren't restricted.
 
Incidentally, there's also the cute:
 
>1. The export of "technology" which is "required" for the "development", 
>   "production" or "use" of items controlled in the Munitions List is 
>   controlled according to the provisions in the Munitions List entries.  
>   This "technology" remains under control even when applicable to any 
>   uncontrolled item.
 
This covers virtually any software development tool, and any kind of computer 
hardware, as well as natural neural networks and personal digital extensions 
(of the kind designed for keyboard data entry).
 
I wonder if we'll see the regulations retroactively changed when someone in 
Canberra realizes what they've copied from the Canadian regs :-).
 
Peter.