Karl´s Rebreather Page

Some thoughts about travelling with a rebreather

I'm not a lawyer but I have made some thoughts about travelling with a rebreather.

Some people still think that rebreathers are some sort of secret military equipment, so you should make sure (get it black on white from all bodies who might be concerned) that you are allowed to take your engine with you.

For hints on the paperwork you surely get support by the manufacturer of your rebreather.

But now why I think that Rebreathers are just normal SCUBA-gear and really no military secret at all:

Rebreathers are in the public domain since 1876, electronic controlled rebreathers since 1968, so they can't contain a secret any more, too much time has gone over that technologies and as you can prove by the homebrewing groups ("the minimum necessary information for patent applications" was all they needed to develop their own units), the knowhow has spread out over the whole globe, anyone who likes can build an ECCR from parts bought in the local oc-scuba-store, the local pet shop (ppO2-Sensors and Electronic), the local medical wholesaler (breathing lime etc., because rebreathers are really public domain for narcosis applications) plus the local garage (solenoid).
Civil rebreather do not even try to have a low magnetic signature, they use steel bottles.
Civil rebreathers are used as tools for "basic scientific research" in marine biology because they are by principle more silent than OC-Air but no efforts are done to silence the CMF-Nozzle or the Solenoid.

Nice links concerned to that thread are :

"The Wassenaar Arrangement - List of Dual Use-Goods and Technologies and Munitions List" (Caution: HUGE file)
http://www.osce.usia.co.at/waie.htm (All I got from the German Export Authority ("Bundesausfuhramt") when I asked the for a copy of the Wassenaar-List (I did not mention rebreather-diving) was that URL...)
http://jya.com/wa/walists.zip "The Wassenaar Arrangement - List of Dual Use-Goods and Technologies and Munitions List" in one (huge) ZIP-File.
Miltärische Kreislauftauchgeräte und das Kriegswaffen-Kontrollgesetz: an official Statement that says it is legal to use even former military rebreathers for sport-diving within German borders (87kB, 2544x3508Pixel, German Language) (it does not speak about travelling).
History of Rebreather-Diving (shows how old and "public domain" rebreather-SCUBA-diving is)
ARRG (a page that shows that the knowhow has spread over the whole globe)

Rebreather-Index