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Historically, a number of countries have attempted to restrict the import of [[cryptography]] tools. This article aims to keep a record of {{about|current restrictions on the import of cryptographic into countries. This should not be confused with [[Export of cryptography tools| restrictions on exporting cryptographic tools out|Export of countries that produce them]], which has a different set of motivations and implications for those accused of breaking regulations.cryptography}}
{{Update|date=December 2015}}
 
A number of countries have attempted to restrict the import of [[cryptography]] tools.
 
==Rationale==
Countries may wish to restrict import of cryptography technologies for a number of reasons:
* Imported cryptography may have [[Backdoor (computing)|backdoors]] or [[Security Holes|security holes]] (e.g. the [[FREAK|FREAK vulnerability]]), intentional or not, which allows the country or group who created the backdoor technology, for example the [[National Security Agency|National Security Agency (NSA)]], to spy on persons using the imported cryptography; therefore the use of cryptography is restricted to that which the government thinks is safe, or which it develops itself.
* Cryptography may increase levels of privacy within the country beyond what the government wishes.▼
* DissidentsCitizens can anonymously communicate with each other, preventing governmentany external party from monitoring them.▼
* Use of cryptography can enable citizens to hide data from the government.
* Encrypted transactions may hamperimpede attemptsexternal entities to monitorcontrol the activitiesconducting of business within the country.▼
* Criminals can hide information on their operations.
▲* Cryptography may sometimes increase levels of privacy within the country beyond what the government wishes.
▲* Dissidents can anonymously communicate with each other, preventing government from monitoring them.
▲* Encrypted transactions may hamper attempts to monitor the activities of business within the country.
* Terrorists within the country may use encrypted transmissions to communicate with other members both in and out of the country.
 
==Status by country==
The following[[Electronic statesPrivacy are from theInformation GLICCenter]] and EPICGlobal reports on Cryptography andInternet Liberty fromCampaign 1998reports and 2000. These useduse a Green/Yellow/Redcolor system, plus "unknown"code to indicate the level of restriction, with green meaning no restriction. For further details see the report for the appropriate year (indicated in the updatedfollowing column).meanings:
* '''Green''': No restriction
 
* '''Yellow''': License required for importation
Countries where there are no current restrictions on importing cryptographic tools are not listed for the sake of brevity. There may be restrictions on the ''use'' of cryptography in countries not listed here, but regulations were not reported in the reference material.
* '''Red''': Total ban
 
This list is incomplete; notable omissions are [[Ethiopia]] and [[Eritrea]], both of which may have restrictions on the import and use of cryptography.
 
{| class="wikitable sortable"
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5"
! Country
! Status
Line 27:
|-
| [[Armenia]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927279 Green/Yellow]
| 2000
|-
| [[Bahrain]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#bh Yellow]
| [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927283 Unknown]
| 20002008
|-
| [[Belarus]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#by Red]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Brunei Darussalam]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927291 Yellow/Red]
| 2000
|-
| [[Cambodia]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927294 UnknownYellow]
| 20002008
|-
| [[Czech RepublicCanada]]
| style="background-color:#cef2e0;" | [https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ecic-ceac.nsf/eng/gv00366.html Green]
| [http://rechten.uvt.nl/koops/cryptolaw/cls2.htm#ab Green/Yellow]
| 20072015
|-
| [[China]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvt.nl/koops/cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#prc RedYellow]
| 20072008
|-▼
| [[Czech Republic]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#cr Green/Yellow]
| 2008
|-
| [[Egypt]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#eg Yellow]
| 2007
|-
| [[Ghana]]
| style="background-color:#cef2e0;" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#gh Green]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Hong Kong]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#hk Green/Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Hungary]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#hu Green/Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[India]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#in Green/Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Iran]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvt.nl/koops/cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#iran RedYellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Iraq]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927325 Red]
| 2000
|-
| [[Israel]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#is Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[KhazakstanKazakhstan]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvt.nl/koops/cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#ka RedYellow]
| 20072008
|-▼
| [[Latvia]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#la Yellow]
| 2008
|-
| [[Lithuania]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#li Yellow]
| 2008
|-
| [[Malta]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927347 Yellow]
| 2000
|-
| [[Moldova]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#mol Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Mongolia]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927353 Red]
| 2000
|-
| [[Morocco]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#mor Yellow]
| 2008
|-
| [[Myanmar]] (Burma)
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#bi Red]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Nepal]]
Line 113 ⟶ 129:
| [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927362 Unknown]
| 2000
|-
| [[North Korea]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#nk Unknown/Red]
| 2008
|-
| [[Pakistan]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#pa Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Poland]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#po Green/Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Romania]]
| style="background-color:#cef2e0" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#ro Green]
| 1996 (Wassenaar)
|-
| [[Russia]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#ru Red]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Rwanda]]
| [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#hu UnclearUnknown]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Saudi Arabia]]
| style="background-color:#cef2e0;" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#sau Green]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Singapore]]
| style="background-color:#cef2e0;" | [http://www.cryptolaw.org/cls2.htm#si Green]
| 2008
|-
| [[South Africa]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#sa Green/Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
| [[South Korea]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#sk Yellow]
| 20072008
▲|-
| [[Tatarstan]]
| [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927393 Unknown]
| 2000
|-
| [[Tunisia]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#tun Yellow/Red]
| 20072008
|-
| [[Turkmenistan]]
| style="background-color:#ffc9c9" | [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927398 Red]
| 2000
|-
| [[Ukraine]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#ukr Yellow]
| 2007
▲|-
| [[Uzbekistan]]
| [http://www2.epic.org/reports/crypto2000/countries.html#_Toc477927407 Red]
| 2000
|-
| [[Vietnam]]
| style="background-color:#faf3a2" | [http://rechtenwww.uvtcryptolaw.nl/koops/cryptolaworg/cls2.htm#vi Yellow]
| 20072008
|-
|}
Line 170 ⟶ 190:
==See also==
 
* [[Code as speech]]
{{Portal|Cryptography|Crypto_key.svg}}
 
* [[Export of cryptography]]
 
==External links==
* ''[http://www.gilc.org/crypto/crypto-survey.html Cryptography and Liberty 1998, GILC Report]''
* ''[http://rechtenwww.uvt.nl/koops/cryptolaw/.org Crypto-Law survey 20082013]''
<!-- Link broken * ''[http://www.citrix.com/lang/English/lp/lp_1319021.asp Citrix list of restricted countries] - has no explanation of sources of the information or distinction over whether or not the restrictions are on export from certain locations (e.g. USA), or local importation restrictions. -->
 
[[Category:CryptographyExport lawand import control of cryptography]]
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