Australia Group
Australia Group is an informal group of countries established in
1985 (after the use of chemical weapons by
Iraq in
1984) to help reduce the spread of
chemical and
biological weapons by monitoring and controlling the spread of technologies required to produce them. The group, initially of 15 countries, has increased to 33, including most of the major Western democracies, several
eastern European nations,
Argentina,
Japan,
South Korea, and
Turkey.
The group maintains a common list of technologies that could be used in chemical and biological weapons programs which have export restrictions placed upon them. Delegations representing member nations meet annually in Paris.
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