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establishing an agreement in fusion energy, and have exchanged further 

 notes establishing committees and providing for cooperation in the 

 Doublet III project. In addition, the EC and the United States are 

 currently discussing a bilateral agreement. 



The United States, the EC, and Japan could establish a multilateral 

 arrangement that would involve all three groups. This form has the 

 advantage of involving the principal participants in the West 

 concerned with fusion, but it has the disadvantage of being more 

 complex than a bilateral arrangment because of the number of 

 participants. 



Degree of Formality 



In almost all countries a treaty between nations is the most formal 

 and binding agreement that can be established. Under U.S. law a 

 treaty has the equivalent status of the laws enacted by the federal 

 government. A treaty must be signed by the President and ratified by 

 a two-thirds majority of the Senate. Nations consider treaties as 

 important national commitments. Although a nation can abrogate its 

 obligations under a treaty either by terms of the treaty itself or by 

 unilateral action, the step is not taken lightly or often, affecting, 

 as it does, the basic credibility of a nation. Because of the binding 

 commitment contained in it, a treaty involves a greater degree of 

 review than other forms of agreement and, therefore, normally takes 

 substantially longer for its development and approval. On the other 

 hand, once established, a treaty constitutes a mechanism for 

 maintaining a high degree of certainty about the agreed position of 

 the countries. 



Heads-of-State Agreements 



The Heads of State of seven major western countries and the EC, 

 starting with the Versailles meeting of the Summit of Industrialized 

 Nations and continuing through successive conferences, have endorsed 

 in principle the idea of international arrangements on fusion. These 

 commitments could be further implemented through heads-of-state 

 agreements. However, the seven countries in the Summit include 

 Canada, which has only a minor fusion program. The Summit tends to 

 emphasize separate countries in Europe as opposed to the EC. 



Although it is not out of the question that the Heads of State in 

 the Summit could enter into an agreement, an alternative 

 heads-of-state arrangement could be among Japan, the United States, 

 and the EC or between any two of the three. Such an agreement carries 

 the full weight of the government in power, although in the EC it 

 would be necessary to ascertain its exact status. In the United 

 States the agreement would normally be sent to the Congress for its 

 information. 



