On 30 November, representatives from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, the Slovak Republic, Sweden and Switzerland signed the “Convention concerning the Construction and Operation of a European X-ray Free-Electron Laser Facility”. Six language versions each of the Convention and the Final Act now carry the signatures of 11 government representatives, including two from the Federal Republic of Germany. These two documents lay the foundations of the European XFEL project, define the financial contributions of the current partner countries, and confer the responsibility for the construction and operation of the X-ray free-electron laser facility on the nonprofit company European XFEL GmbH.
For internal reasons France and Spain will sign the Convention later and China plans to join within the next six months.
