The Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington on 4th April, 1949;
Reaffirming that effective political consultation, cooperation and planning for defence in achieving the objectives of the Treaty entail the exchange of classified information among the Parties;
Considering that provisions between the Governments of the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty for the mutual protection and safeguarding of the classified information they may interchange are necessary;
Realising that a general framework for security standards and procedures is required;
Acting on their own behalf and on behalf of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
have agreed as follows:
The Parties shall:
protect and safeguard:
classified information (see Annex I), marked as such, which is originated by NATO (see Annex II) or which is submitted to NATO by a member state;
classified information, marked as such, of the member states submitted to another member state in support of a NATO programme, project, or contract,
maintain the security classification of information as defined under (i) above and make every effort to safeguard it accordingly;
not use classified information as defined under (i) above for purposes other than those laid down in the North Atlantic Treaty and the decisions and resolutions pertaining to that Treaty;
not disclose such information as defined under (i) above to non-NATO Parties without the consent of the originator.