The US has retained restrictions on export of high-speed computers to India and Pakistan as it relaxed controls on the export of computers to certain countries. Export of computers above the speed of 28,000 MOPS (million operations per second) without licence remain barred to India, Pakistan, all of the Middle East, the erstwhile USSR, China, Vietnam and Central Europe. All these are categorised as 'Tier III' countries. The White House has, however, added Argentina to the category 'Tier I' wherein countries can import all kinds of American computers without prior approval of the US government. The other 'Tier I' countries are Western Europe, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, Poland, The Czech Republic and Brazil. Computers capable of performing up to 45,000 MOPS can now be exported to 'Tier II' countries without a licence, a White House fact-sheet has said. President Bill Clinton has removed the distinction, for imposing restrictions, between civilian and military end-users.
Report : Zeenext Bureau