ImageSize = width:280 height:270 PlotArea = left:50 right:0 bottom:10 top:10 DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1993 till:2005 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:1 start:1993 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:5 start:1993 PlotData= Color:yellow mark: align:left fontsize:M shift: # shift text to right side of bar # there is no automaticcollision detection, fontsize:XS # so shift texts up or down manually to avoid overlap shift: at:2005 shift:15,-6 text: Accession of Spain at:2004 shift:15,-6 text: Re-organisation of Central Office at:2003 shift:15,-6 text: Accession of Belgium at:2001 shift:15,-6 text: OCCAR Legal Status at:1998 shift:15,-6 text: Signature of the Convention at:1997 shift:15,-6 text: Early staffing of Central Office at:1996 shift:15,-6 text: Franco-German precursor team at:1995 shift:15,-6 text: Principles of Baden-Baden at:1993 shift:15,-6 text: Franco-German Declaration
OCCAR was established on 12 November 1996 by the Defence Ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Legal status was not achieved, however, until January 2001 when the parliaments of the four founding nations ratified the OCCAR Convention. Other European nations may join OCCAR, subject to their actual involvement in a substantive collaborative equipment programme involving at least one OCCAR partner and ratification of the OCCAR Convention. Belgium and Spain joined the organisation in respectively 2003 and 2005. Other States can participate to OCCAR programmes without becoming a Member State. Currently the EU and/or NATO membersTurkey, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Finland, Sweden, Lithuania and Poland participate in one or more OCCAR programmes without being a formal member.
Structure
The highest decision-making body within OCCAR as corporate organisation is the Board of Supervisors. Each OCCAR programmes is supervised by a Programme Board and a Programme Committee. The programmes are executed by the OCCAR Executive Administration in accordance with the decisions of the supervisory bodies. OCCAR-EA is headed by the OCCAR Director and consists of a Central Office and the Programme Divisions. OCCAR-EA employs over 300 staff members.
Current programmes
The 14 programmes currently managed by OCCAR are the following: