International/IAP
National Implementation Efforts 

OVERVIEW

On April 28, 2003, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control Stephen Rademaker officially announced at the first Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) that the United States is prepared to assist States Parties in the establishment of their national implementation measures. "The United States stands ready to provide assistance on request, either bilaterally or in coordination with the Technical Secretariat, to States Parties that do not have the means to adopt national implementation measures."

To date, only 55% of States Parties have informed the Technical Secretariat of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) that they have implemented legislative and administrative measures required by the CWC. The adoption of national implementation measures is a fundamental obligation of all States Parties to the CWC, and is critical to maintaining the credibility of the OPCW, enhancing international security, and fighting terrorism.

Under its global outreach initiative the United States will provide assistance to other States Parties in implementation of the requirements of Article VII of the Convention, including:

• establishing penal legislation with respect to activities prohibited by the Convention;
• ensuring that toxic chemicals and their precursors are only developed, produced, otherwise acquired, retained, transferred, or used for purposes not prohibited; and
• establishing a National Authority.

In addition, our global outreach effort will provide advice to States Parties in the development of administrative measures to implement the declaration and inspection requirements of Article VI regarding the following:

• implementation of requirements for facilities, plant sites, trading companies, and persons under a State Party's jurisdiction to submit declarations on production, processing, consumption, exports, and imports of scheduled and unscheduled discrete organic chemicals, including identification of the activities, chemicals, thresholds, and treaty terms relevant to implementing measures;
• identification of industry sites that must be declared;
• development of mechanisms by which a government can coordinate with industry (e.g., chemical facilities and plant sites, trading companies);
• development of information technology infrastructure to process and transmit declarations to the OPCW; and
• development of standard operating procedures for hosting inspections.

States Parties seeking information or assistance on Article VII and/or Article VI implementation measures may contact the U.S. Department of State point of contact, Ms Edna Sidler at phone: (202) 647-5165, fax: (202) 647-8333, email: inspections@cwc.gov.