Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties

Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties (DTCTs) with the UK and Australia were signed in 2007. The Treaties were ratified by the Senate on September 29, 2010. The Treaty Implementing Legislation and the Resolution of Ratification (RoR) were acted on by the Senate and House in late September, 2010. The UK Treaty entered into force in April 2012. The Australia Treaty entered into force on May 16, 2013.

The Treaties were drafted to meet specific operational and cooperative requirements of the U.S. and two key partners. The scope is specific to the types of collaboration between our Nations. The Treaties are specific to two of our closest allies, Australia and the UK, and would, presumably, afford greater cooperation and access than would be permissible under export control reform (ECR), which is a broad-based USG legal, regulatory, and policy reform that would affect the full range of USG export control activities. The Treaties - and their proposed implementation - embody many of the key concepts of ECR, especially treatment of medium and low-risk defense articles and services as license-free exports to meet mutual defense requirements. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls is the overall U.S. Government DTCT lead. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics/IC/PPA is the DoD lead.