The Zangger Committee of the Nonproliferation Treaty Exporters examines controls enacted pursuant to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty by refining the list of items requiring nuclear safeguards. The Zangger Committee consists of 23 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) nuclear supplier nations which includes all nuclear weapons states except France and China. Through a series of consultations in the early 1970's, the countries of the Zangger Committee compiled a "trigger list" of nuclear materials and equipment. The shipment of any item on the list to a non-nuclear weapons state "triggers" the requirement of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. Since the Zangger Committee is associated with the NPT, its members are obligated to treat all non-nuclear weapons parties to the treaty alike. For fear of discrediting the NPT, the Zangger countries cannot target strict nuclear controls toward certain nations with questionable proliferation credentials; the NPT binds them to assist non-nuclear weapons states with peaceful atomic energy projects.