CoCom export rules are still causing delays and difficulties to IBM and other companies exporting technology to the former Eastern bloc countries, the general manager of IBM Eastern Europe told the Prague conference. Under the CoCom rules, designed to control the flow of high technology from the West to the East during the Cold War, suppliers must seek approval from a 14nation committee in Paris, where its existence was never officially acknowledged, before they can export sensitive items. Dilip Chandra, who heads IBM $300mayear Eastern European company in Vienna, said that although CoCom rules had been liberalised, the situation had not improved as fast as politicians were suggesting. He said that IBM and other computer manufacturers who have to live with the reality still face daily difficulties trading under the CoCom rules. Chandra said that it was ridiculous and a crying shame that 14 governments have to meet in order to approve the export of pathetically simple applications. He cited an example where the French government vetoed a computerised banking application in Hungary which was already working at the bank’s branches in Germany. Although the CoCom committee rarely refuses an export application, it can take many months before approval is giv-en. It would be myopic to say that CoCom rules are stopping development, but they are causing delays. Logistics is already difficult enough in this part of the world without unilateral delays, without reason, from Western governments. Several of IBM’s computer and software products are still restricted, including its its topend PS/2 personal computers, RS/6000 Unix line and its high end mainframes. Dr Michael Chytil, Secretary of the Council for Automation in Czechoslovakia, an advisory body on computers and telecommunications, agreed that CoCom restrictions are making things difficult for Czechoslovakian industry. However, the relief of operating in the new market economy is so big that most companies are not over-concerned by the CoCom delays, he said. Chandra is also concerned about the newly imposed United Nations sanctions covering Serbia. IBM, which has substantially red-uced its exposure to the former Jugoslavian countries, would like to carry on supporting its long-standing customers in the region. We have had customers there since 1936. We have to find ways that are legal and within the spirit of the law to do all we can to support them. – Andrew Lawrence