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A memorandum of understanding (MOU) is a legal document describing a bilateral agreement between parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action, rather than a legal commitment. It is a more formal alternative to a gentlemen's agreement, but generally lacks the binding power of a contract.

In private U.S. law, MOU is a common synonym for a letter of intent (LOI). One example is the MOU between Bush and Kerry for the 2004 debates.

Many companies and government agencies use MOUs to define a relationship between departments, agencies or closely held companies. These branches of the organization fall under similar control structures but need to ensure smooth operations where there are shared resources or workflows. These could include areas such as Service Level Agreements (SLAs), intra-organization connectivity, intra-organization communications and intra-organization escalations and response patterns. Like the MOU in law, it creates a platform for a clear understanding of each party's commitments/purpose and sets out expectations for a series of pre-determined responses should certain criteria be met that shows that there is either intentional or unintentional breach of the MOU's orginal commitments/purpose.

In international relations, one of the advantages of MOUs over treaties is that the text of the MOU can be kept confidential. In addition, they can be put into effect in most countries without requiring ratification. MOUs are easier to modify and adapt than treaties which may require lengthy negotiating processes. The decision concerning ratification, however, is determined by the parties' internal law and depends to a large degree on the subject agreed upon. Although MOUs in the multilateral field are seldomly seen, the transnational aviation agreements are actually MOUs.

Examples include:

• The Memorandum of Understanding Relating to the Treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the Limitation of Anti-Ballistic Missile Systems on May 26, 1972 signed by US President Richard Nixon and the USSR Successor States updating the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty^[1]
• The Memorandum of Understanding on Hijacking of Aircraft and Vessels and Other Offenses between the US and Cuba, meant to criminalize hijacking in both countries (February 3, 1973)
• The Agreed Framework between the U.S. and North Korea over nuclear weaponry on October 21, 1994
• The Oil for Food program, for which Iraq signed an MOU in 1996
• The agreement between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement on Feb 6, 2006

1. ^ ABM Treaty: Memorandum of Understanding. Treaty Compliance. Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. Retrieved on September 26, 2006.