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VDMA laser export control proposal ratified: Lasys announcement

German manufacturers operating in the field of laser macro processing will find it easier to export products if proposals submitted by a VDMA consortium come into force later this year, it was announced at the Lasys trade fair in Stuttgart on 24 June.

An associative consortium of the German VDMA working committee, ‘Laser and Laser Systems for Material Processing’, comprised of German manufacturers of lasers and laser systems, has had its proposal for establishing more consistent regulations for the treatment of laser technology in the Wassenaar List of Dual-Use Goods ratified in the 2013 Wassenaar closing sessions.

According to Gerhard Hein, managing director of the VDMA working committee who was speaking at Lasys, the new regulations could be implemented into European law and become the basis for export activities by the end of 2014.

The Wassenaar List of Dual-Use Goods controls the export of technology that could potentially be used for military purposes. This technology falls under various categories, including electronics, materials processing, and sensors and lasers, among others. The aim of the consortium’s proposal, which focused on the treatment of disk, fibre, and diode lasers, was to achieve a clear demarcation of non-civil applications. The hope is that with a better defined boundary between civil and non-civil applications, fewer laser companies would be subject to the export controls.

It was also announced that in 2015, the consortium will focus its efforts on a new initiative for pulsed lasers. Basic proposals were distributed to the delegation leaders and experts of five national delegations as preliminary information in April 2014.

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