Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations
 
PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT ANALYSIS
Supporting Statement for Chemical Weapons Convention Declaration Forms 0694-0091 (reinstated)

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Approved: May 10, 2003
Expiration Dated: May 31, 2006

 

1. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a multilateral arms control and non-proliferation treaty that seeks to achieve an international ban on chemical weapons (CW). The CWC prohibits, inter alia, the use, development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, and direct or indirect transfer of chemical weapons. Furthermore, each State Party to the Convention is required to make initial and annual declarations on certain facilities which produce, process, consume, transfer, or import/export toxic chemicals and their precursors as specified in three lists or schedules of chemicals contained in the Convention's Annex on Chemicals. In addition to traditional CW agents, the Schedules include chemicals that have both large-scale commercial uses and CW applications (referred to as "dual-use chemicals"). Information is also required on facilities which produce a broad class of chemicals referred to as "unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals," or "UDOCs." Finally, information is also required from facilities subject to inspection by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This information is in addition to information provided in initial and annual declarations.

The Convention was signed by the United States in Paris on January 13, 1993, and submitted to the United States Senate on November 23,1993, for its advice and consent to ratification. The U.S. Senate provided its advice and consent to ratification on April 24, 1997. The United States deposited its instrument of ratification with the United Nations on April 25, 1997. The Convention entered into force on April 29, 1997. To date, the CWC has been signed by 174 countries and ratified by 147.

The United States is under obligation by this international treaty to: (1) report data on certain chemical activities by U.S. companies; (2) impose certain trade controls; and (3) permit the inspection of certain U.S. facilities by international inspection teams from the OPCW. Therefore, on October 21, 1998, the United States enacted the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6701 et. seq.) (the "Act" or CWCIA), which, inter alia,:

• authorizes the promulgation of regulations to require declarations by U.S. chemical and related industries;
• sets forth procedures for international inspection of U.S. commercial facilities;
• directs the establishment of a "National Authority" to serve as the liaison between the U.S. and the international organization, the OPCW; and
• prohibits all persons within the United States, as well as all U.S. nationals outside the United States, from engaging in activities prohibited under the Convention.

Executive Order 13128 authorizes the Commerce Department to issue regulations necessary to implement the Act and U.S. obligations under Article VI and related provisions of the Convention. Therefore, on December 30, 1999, the Department of Commerce published its Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations (CWCR) implementing the CWCIA in accordance with the Executive Order as an interim rule (15 CFR Parts 710 Through 721).

The implementation of the Convention's requirements necessitates development of a working relationship between the U.S. Government and private industry which is unprecedented in terms of the degree of industry-government cooperation. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the Department of Commerce, is the principal liaison between the U.S. Government and the chemical industry. BIS is responsible for receiving industry declarations and submitting them to the United States National Authority (USNA), which coordinates and facilitates administrative and logistical matters related to CWC implementation. The USNA forwards declarations received from the Departments of Commerce and Defense, as well as from other U.S. agencies, to the OPCW, located in The Hague.

2. Declarations and reports: The Convention requires States Parties to submit initial and annual declarations for activities involving Schedule 1, Schedule 2, Schedule 3 and UDOCs above specified threshold quantities. The frequency of declarations for a given facility is dependent upon the activity, chemical and amounts involved in the previous calendar year for Schedule 1, Schedule 2, Schedule 3 and UDOCs, and anticipated for the next calendar year for Schedule 1, Schedule 2 and Schedule 3. The initial and first annual declaration were based on calendar year 1996, because the Convention entered into force in April 1997. The frequency of this collection, as implemented in the CWCR, is the minimum required under the Convention.

Schedule 1: The CWC requires initial declarations for facilities that produced in excess of specified aggregate quantities of Schedule 1 chemicals in calendar year 1997, 1998 or 1999. Annual declarations are required from facilities that produced Schedule 1 chemicals in excess of specified quantities in the previous calendar year, are anticipated to do so in the next calendar year, or exported or imported any amount of Schedule 1 chemicals in the previous calendar year.

Schedule 2: The Convention requires entities to review production, processing and consumption data from the three previous calendar years to determine whether there is a declaration requirement on past activities. Therefore, initial declarations are required from plant sites that had one or more plants that produced, processed or consumed one or more Schedule 2 chemicals in excess of specified quantities in 1994, 1995 or 1996. Such facilities report data from all 3 calendar years to provide a base-line for monitoring trends in production, processing or consumption of Schedule 2 chemicals. However, data are required only for those plants and activities which exceeded the applicable declaration threshold (i.e., for production, processing, consumption, export, or import) during a particular year. Zero is entered for any plant, plant site (export & import), or activity which is below threshold for a given year (i.e., for 1994, 1995, or 1996). Plant sites also declare certain plant-site information, including domestic transfers. Finally, they also declare imports and exports of Schedule 2 chemicals in excess of specified threshold quantities. Plant sites not subject to an initial declaration, and trading companies initially report imports and exports in excess of specified quantities for 1996. Annual declarations are required from plant sites that had one or more plants that produced, processed or consumed Schedule 2 chemicals in excess of specified quantities in any of the three previous calendar years. Note that for annual declarations on past activities, plant sites must review data from the three previous calendar years, but report data from only the previous calendar year. This provides an opportunity for the OPCW to observe production, processing and consumption trends. Annual declarations are also required from plant sites that anticipate producing, processing or consuming Schedule 2 chemicals in the next calendar year in excess of specified quantities, and "additionally planned activities" declarations are required to report changes in anticipated activities. Finally, annual reports are required for imports and exports during the previous calendar year.

Schedule 3: The CWC requires initial declarations from plant sites that had one or more plants that produced in excess of specified quantities of one or more Schedule 3 chemicals in calendar year 1996. Initial declarations and reports are also required for exports from and imports to a plant site of Schedule 3 chemicals in excess of specified quantities in calendar year 1996. Annual declarations are required from plant sites that had one or more plants that produced in excess of specified quantities of Schedule 3 chemicals in the previous calendar year, and for such production anticipated for the next calendar year. "Additionally planned activities" declarations are required to report changes in anticipated activities. Finally, annual declarations or reports are required for exports and imports of Schedule 3 chemicals in excess of specified quantities in the previous calendar year.

UDOCs: Although the majority of declarations come from plant sites that produced UDOCs, the declaration requirements for such production involve the fewest forms. The CWC only requires declarations from plant sites that produced UDOCs in excess of specified quantities in the previous calendar year. Initial declarations were required for such production in calendar year 1996.

BIS officials review the information collected from the data declarations for completeness and accuracy. The data is compiled into a report for transmittal to the USNA and subsequent presentation to the OPCW.

Inspections: Each State Party to the CWC, including the United States, has agreed to allow inspections of certain declared facilities by inspectors employed by the OPCW to ensure that their activities are consistent with obligations under the Convention. The Department of Commerce is responsible for leading, hosting and escorting inspections of all facilities in the United States, except Department of Defense and Department of Energy facilities and other U.S. Government facilities that notify the USNA of their decision to be excluded from the CWCR. U.S. Government facilities are those owned by or leased to the U.S. Government, including facilities that are contractor-operated. Only facilities that produced or anticipate producing in excess of specified quantities of Schedule 1, Schedule 3, or UDOCs, or produced, processed or consumed, or anticipate producing, processing, or consuming, in excess of specified quantities of Schedule 2 chemicals, are subject to routine inspection. The primary purpose of routine inspections is to verify previously submitted declarations. The OPCW conducts, on average, 15-20 inspections of U.S. facilities declared under the Convention per year.

During the initial inspection of a declared facility, inspectors from the OPCW Technical Secretariat and the United States' Host Team, led by the Department of Commerce, negotiate a draft facility agreement. While facility representatives act as "de facto" Host Team members during inspection activities, the Act imposes certain requirements on federal employees that legally cannot be performed by facility representatives (e.g., obtaining administrative warrants, negotiating facility agreements, and representing the United States' interests as a State Party). Therefore, the term "Host Team" in the CWCR refers to the U.S. Government team that accompanies inspectors from the OPCW at facilities subject to inspection, and does not include civilian site representatives. The Department of Commerce participates in the negotiation of, and approves, all final facility agreements with the OPCW. Prior to the development of a facility agreement for Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 facilities subject to inspection, the Department of Commerce notifies the owner, operator, occupant, or agent in charge of the facility, and if the owner, operator, occupant or agent in charge so requests, the notified person participates in preparations with Department of Commerce representatives for the negotiation of such an agreement.

Model facility agreements implement the general provisions of the Convention pertaining to inspections, including health and safety procedures, confidentiality of information, media and public relations, information about the plant site, inspection equipment, pre-inspection activities, conduct of the inspection (including access to and inspection of areas, buildings and structures, access to and inspection of records and documentation, arrangements for interviews of facility personnel, photographs, and sampling), and logistical arrangements for the inspectors, such as communications and lodging. Attachments to the facility agreements provide site-specific information such as working hours, special safety and health procedures, as well as site-specific agreement as to documents and records to be provided, specific areas of a facility to be inspected, site diagrams, sampling, photography, and interview procedures, use of inspection equipment, procedures for protection of confidential business information, and administrative arrangements. Although facility agreements are negotiated between the U.S. Government (represented by the Department of Commerce) and the OPCW, the Department of Commerce needs certain information described above from the facility to conclude the facility agreement. This is on a case-by-case basis.

Section 716.9 of the CWC Regulations (CWCR) requires any facility that has undergone an inspection to report to BIS within 90 days on its total costs related to that inspection. Although not required, such reports should identify categories of costs separately if possible, such as personnel costs (production-line, administrative, legal), costs of producing records, and costs associated with shutting down chemical production or processing during inspections.

Finally, under the CWC, declared Schedule 1 facilities are potentially subject to systematic verification through monitoring with on-site instruments. However, this monitoring will only occur on a voluntary basis or by warrant in accordance with the constitutional rights of the inspected facility.

Regarding, information quality, BIS limits the collection of information under the CWCR to that which is minimally necessary to fulfill the United States' treaty obligation and does not distribute to the public any information collected in declarations, reports, notifications. BIS also limits collection of proprietary information during inspections, but may collect limited information that is available in the public domain.

BIS maintains the confidentiality of the information in accordance with the CWC Implementation Act (CWCIA), as well as the Export Administration Regulations and the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (22 CFR parts 120 through 130). Certain non-proprietary data collected, such as a company name and point of contact, may be released under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request; but none have been received to date. Supplement 1 to Part 718 list the information that may or may not be released under a FOIA request.

The CWCR provides for specific procedures for release of information to the public only when it is determined that the release is in the national interest. These determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis. BIS must also notify the affected person of our intent to disclose its confidential business information based on the national interest determination. There have not been any national interest determinations to date.

3. The Office of Nonproliferation Controls and Treaty Compliance (NPTC) of BIS has developed a user-friendly software product that allows U.S. companies to complete forms on their computers and respond by mailing us a floppy disk. This software is called the Data Entry Software for Industry (DESI) and was developed by Technology Concepts and Design, Incorporated (TCDI). It allows industry to complete Schedule 1, 2, and 3, and UDOC declarations and reports on personal computers and save the data on a floppy disk. Respondents then print a copy of the completed certification form, sign the certification form (an original signature is required to make the submission legally binding) and mail the form and floppy disk to the Department of Commerce. The DESI software is available for downloading over the Internet.

BIS is actively working toward designing and implementing a web-based system to collect the information via the Internet. BIS received funding for this project in its FY 2003 budget and anticipates deploying a new system by October 21, 2003 to be compliant with the Government Paperwork Elimination Act.

However, the current declaration forms have been designed with scanning and optical character recognition (OCR) in mind. BIS has incorporated a forms scanning subsystem into our information management system (IMS). The complete IMS and scanning subsystem were designed to reduce the reporting burden by automatically replicating information from one form field onto the multiple form fields that may be required by the OPCW. This will reduce the burden on industry by reducing duplication of data collection.

4. The information BIS requests from the U.S. industry under the provisions of the CWC has not been obtained previously. Thus, no significant or material duplication of information exists.

A Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) report (Domestic Reporting Requirement for Chemical Industry- DNA-TR-92-66) stated that existing state and federal government reporting requirements fail to provide the full and detailed information on the chemical industry needed to satisfy the annual data reporting requirements of the CWC and the international treaty community.

The same conclusion was also drawn by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) in its report (The Chemical Weapons Convention: Effects on the U.S. Chemical Industry (OTA-BP-ISC-106)) which stated "the information currently envisioned as necessary for CWC verification differs both quantitatively and qualitatively from that collected for internal management or for domestic regulatory purposes." Some major discrepancies between the reporting requirements mandated by the CWC and by U.S. domestic environmental regulations are: chemicals relevant to the CWC are not all covered by the environmental regulations; environmental regulations are applicable only to chemical manufacturers, not to processors or consumers, which are covered under the CWC; and the reporting deadlines under the CWC are shorter than those required by the Environmental Protection Agency. Therefore, for these reasons the U.S. Government cannot "piggyback" on existing reporting requirements to meet its CWC declaration obligations

5. The interim rule implemented a number of reporting changes suggested by industry which are designed to reduce the burden imposed on all companies. During a BIS initiated "field test" of the reporting documents, a number of key points were raised by industry which minimize the collection burden. Several companies asked for clearer definitions, "overviews," and "flow charts" in data declaration instructions. A telephone "hot-line" for forms completion assistance and a facsimile request line for chemical determination requests have been implemented.

Also, at industry's request, BIS has deleted the previous form requirement for Harmonized Tariff System Codes, dropped the requirement for submitting only original forms, and provided clarification of the thresholds and the specific forms which must be completed. Companies may now submit duplicate copies of all the forms, including the "certification form." However, the "certification form" must have an original signature for each submission in order for it to be legally binding. All of the suggestions BIS has received, particularly those from industry, have been carefully considered with the objective of form simplification and reduced burden to industry. Industry burden has been reduced even further by developing the DESI software described in question 3 which make it easier for companies and organizations to complete our forms and file electronically.

Finally, in response to public comments on the regulations, BIS worked with other agencies to further minimize the burden on entities subject to the requirements of the CWCR in the interim rule, as follows.

• The interim rule incorporates a "round to zero" rule for Schedule 1 chemicals contained in mixtures as unintended or unavoidable byproducts or impurities below 0.5% aggregate. BIS believes that the production, import, or export of trace amounts of Schedule 1 chemicals as unintended or unavoidable byproducts or impurities does not pose a threat to the object or purpose of the Convention and has therefore crafted its revised rule to exempt these trace components.
• The interim rule also incorporates a uniform 30 percent concentration threshold for declaring the production, processing, consumption, import, or export of Schedule 2 chemicals and a 10 percent concentration threshold for the importation of Schedule 2 chemicals from non-State Parties to the Convention after April 28, 2000. BIS believes that the new thresholds for Schedule 2 mixtures are consistent with our treaty obligations and non-proliferation goals and will make implementation much less complicated for both industry and government. They also create a more level playing field for our industry vis a vis our major trading partners and avoid subjecting to declaration requirements consumers of Schedule 2 chemical products who pose no risk to the object and purpose of the Convention.
• The interim rule also includes a declaration exemption for UDOCs produced by synthesis that are ingredients or by-products in foods designed for consumption by humans and /or animals and for products from refineries of crude oil, including sulfur-containing crude oil.

6. The Convention requires States Parties to submit initial and annual declarations for all public and private facilities and/or trading companies which produce, process, consume, store, domestically transfer, or import/export CW-related chemicals. If the requested collections are made less frequently or not at all, the United States will not be able to meet its reporting obligations, and would then be in a position of technical non-compliance with the Convention. The other States Parties could suspend the United States' rights and privileges under the Convention (CWC, art. XII, para. 2). For example, the United States could become subject to trade restrictions and sanctions from our allies and trading partners (CWC, Verification Annex, pt. VI, para. 1 (Sched. 1); pt. VII, para. 31 (Sched. II); pt. VIII, para. 26 (Sched. III)). These barriers to free trade would effectively shut the U.S. industry out of international trade in chemicals which is vital to U.S. interests both economically and militarily. The economic burden and handicap thereby imposed on the U.S. industry would be much greater than that imposed by the proposed collections.

7. There are no special circumstances that will result in the collection of information in a manner inconsistent with the guidelines of 5 CFR 1320.6. Declarations will be submitted on 8½ x 11" paper, some of which may be accompanied by a DESI data disk. Some will contain proprietary information, which will be protected by the Department of Commerce as confidential business information (CBI), under the CWC implementation legislation (Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998, secs. 103(g), 304(e)(2), 404).

8. The Department of Commerce published a request seeking public comments on the renewal of this paperwork collection package in the Federal Register on June 26, 2002 (page 43090, copy attached), and no public comments were received.

During the development of this program, BIS solicited public comments on the paperwork collection on two occasions (Federal Register Notices dated February 19, 1998, page 8432, and June 21, 1999, page 73743) and received substantial response from the public. BIS adopted the majority of the public comments. A summary of the public comments and BIS's response was included in the preamble to the CWCR, dated December 30, 1999 (copy attached).

9. There will be no payment or gifts to respondents, other than remuneration of contractors or grantees.

10. The "Confidentiality Annex" of the Convention protects CBI by mandating that the OPCW require only the minimum amount of information and data necessary to carry out its responsibilities. The OPCW established a regime for restricting access to information provided by States Parties, evaluated all data received for CBI content, and ensured that CBI is not released without the proper safeguards and access controls. As part of this information security, all OPCW employees with access to CBI must obtain security clearances, effective procedures have been established for dealing with breaches in security, and States Parties may take additional measures they deem necessary to protect CBI during inspections.

Section 404 of the Act also addresses the protection of proprietary and confidential business information. CBI, as defined in the Act, is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). CBI may only be disclosed to the Technical Secretariat and, in certain cases, to other States Parties, to Congressional committees with appropriate jurisdiction, and/or to law enforcement agencies for the enforcement of the CWC Implementation Act or other law. The USNA must notify the submitter if it intends to release information exempted from disclosure. Penalties are provided in the Act for the unlawful disclosure of confidential information collected under the Act by any individual, including a government official or OPCW inspector. The interim rule, in response to public comments, consolidates provisions for CBI in one part.

Finally, Commerce's CWC IMS, which collects, processes, and stores CWC-related data, was designed specifically as a separate standalone network and is not directly connected to other Commerce or agency networks. This ensures physical and electronic isolation of all collected data and promotes information security. The operating system is certified at Trusted Security Evaluation Criteria (TSEC) Level C2 and provides inherent protections for the security of data.

11. There are no questions of a sensitive nature.

12. The total public burden for this collection is 20,538 hours (4,401 hours for declarations/ reports/notifications and 16,137 for inspections). This renewal collection package represents a reduction of 6,482 burden hours (27,020 - 20,538) because it based on actual declarations, reports and notifications submitted for activities that occurred in CY 2001 and actual inspections that occurred during CY 2000 and CY 2001.

The burden hours on U.S. industry for CWC declaration and reporting obligations are 4,401 total hours, which is based upon the total number of declarations, reports, and notifications (929) submitted for Calendar Year (CY) 2001 activities multiplied by the estimated number of hours to complete each type of declaration. The number of hours to complete each declaration is estimated based upon a field test of BIS's forms with nine different companies done prior to implementation of the program.

The estimated annual cost to all respondents is $167,572. The cost per hour for the respondents was derived from the cost per hour of the salaries and overhead of the Federal employees working on this project. Thus, the estimated total annual cost burden to all respondents or recordkeepers is:

• 4,401 hours x $31.73/hour (GS-13 Step 1) x 1.2 (20% Overhead) = $167,572.

BIS anticipates that the annual cost and hour burden for industry will remain constant in the future, however, there may be slight reduction in burden hours when industry directly submits its declarations and reports over the internet.

 
BURDEN HOUR CHART FOR DECLARATIONS AND REPORTS

The information in this chart is based upon actual bona fide declarations, reports and notifications submitted by U.S. chemical facilities for Calendar Year (CY) 2001 activities, as required by the Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations (15 CFR Parts 710-722). Certain facilities may have submitted multiple declarations or reports under different chemical regimes. This data includes CY 2001 Declarations on Annual Past Activities and Annual Anticipated Activities as well as Annual Reports on Exports and Imports (excluding those cases returned without action or amendments to cases), which were received by the Department during Calendar Years 2001 and 2002.

 

CHEMICAL REGIME	BURDEN HOURS	NUMBER OF DECLARATIONS & REPORTS RECEIVED	TOTAL BURDEN HOURS
SCHEDULE 1	10.6*	3	32
SCHEDULE 2	11.9*	67	797
SCHEDULE 3	2.5**	123	307
UDOC'S	5.3**	616	3,265
SCHEDULE 1 EXPORT/IMPORT ADVANCE NOTIFICATIONS	0.17x3***	2	1
TOTAL	30.81	929	4,401

 

Inspections - The total burden hours related to inspections during Calendar Years (CYs) 2000

(April-Dec) and 2001 is 16,137 hours (576.33 hours per inspection x 28 facilities). (Note: Inspection data is based upon a 21 month period due to the United States' lateness in submitting declarations to meet its treaty obligations.) This is based on the average of the total burden hours associated with inspections of Schedule 1, 2, and UDOC facilities conducted during CYs 2000 and 2001 and the average time required to prepare a report of inspection related costs. Further, based upon U.S. industry data reported, the average cost to each respondent including preparation, on-site activities, and inspection report, is $29,092. Preparation includes, but is not limited to, reviewing declarations previously submitted, providing information to be included in a draft facility agreement, identifying confidential business information, and developing a pre-inspection briefing for inspectors about the facility.

 
BURDEN HOUR CHART FOR INSPECTIONS

 

	Inspection	Report	Total per Inspection	Total for 28 inspections in CYs 2000 and 2001
Burden hours	568	8.33	576.33	16,137
Cost	$28,672	$420	$29,092	$814,576

 

BIS estimates that the increased burden on industry as a result of on-site monitoring of activities at Schedule 1 facilities with instruments will be negligible because BIS anticipates that the OPCW will rarely use such a verification method at Schedule 1 facilities subject to the CWCR. If such monitoring does take place, the information collected would be confined to the type of information authorized to be collected during an inspection. The OPCW will be responsible for justifying, acquiring, installing, and maintaining any such equipment at a facility.

In addition to the $814,576 in direct costs resulting from CWC reporting and verification obligations, businesses and other entities, particularly small ones, potentially could suffer additional indirect, non-quantifiable, costs due to their involvement with inspections when they could be engaging in profitable activities. BIS makes every effort to work with facility officials to minimize these costs. Inspections are managed to limit costs (both direct and indirect) borne by private facilities and to protect their proprietary and confidential business information.

13. This collection involves a recordkeeping requirement. The largest of companies is anticipated to file less than100 pages of forms or letters per year. Although the quantity of actual records required to support these forms and letters varies from company to company, most if not all of these records are already being saved in some form by each company for other purposes (environmental protection, occupational health and safety, Securities and Exchange Commission, etc.). Note that such records, while useful for other purposes, are not normally in a format useful to declarations, and therefore cannot be substituted for declarations. A worst case assumption assumes a ten fold excess of underlying records for each submitted form or letter (i.e. 1,000 pages for the largest of companies). Given a five year storage requirement, as specified in the CWC Regulations (15 CFR Part 721.2(b)), this amounts to a total permanent storage of 5,500 pages of documents to be contained in a filing cabinet occupying 1.5 square feet of office space. Estimates of office space costs in the Washington, DC area range from approximately $30/sq.ft. to $40/sq.ft. with an average value of $35/sq.ft./year. Applying this worst case assumption to the 929 declarations and reports received for CY 2001 activities results in an estimated recording keeping cost for this collection of $48,772 (1.5 sq.ft. x $35/sq.ft. x 929 declarations/reports). It must be emphasized that this is a worst case assumption only. Most respondents will file far less than the anticipated 100 pages per largest of companies and hence will have much lower record keeping expenses.

14. The estimated annualized cost to the Department of Commerce for declarations and reports is $996,271. A major portion of this estimate is the cost for personnel to receive, validate, process and archive the data and to implement the reporting requirements. The chart below provides a breakout of the annualized estimate cost of the collection. The annual cost is based on the annual salaries of the 6 full-time Federal employees, and 5 full-time and 1 part-time employees that will provide contractual support. Also included is the annual cost for equipment and printing needs.

 

Number of Personnel	Cost
6 full-time federal employees (6 x 2080 hrs/yr x $31.73/hr {GS-13 Step 1} x 1.2 {Overhead})	$ 395,990
5 full-time contractual support	$ 519,096
1 part-time contractual support	$ 51,110
Equipment	$ 50,000
Printing Cost	$ 25,000
Total Cost	$ 996,271

 

Other U.S. Government agencies incur costs for data declarations under the CWC. Commerce, however, does not have knowledge of the costs being incurred by these agencies.

The estimated annualized cost to the government to host inspections in the United States is $1,191,148 ($42,541 average per inspection x 28 inspections). The estimated annualized cost includes salaries for the host team, travel and per diem expenses, equipment for the host team (e.g., laptops) and testing inspection equipment used by international inspectors. The actual cost for an inspection will vary depending upon the facility to be inspected. For example, an inspection of a Schedule 1 facility may last 5 days, and an inspection for a UDOC facility will last 2 days.

15. The adjustment reported in Item 12 from the previously approved collection is based upon actual declarations, reports and notifications received for activities that occurred in CY 2001 and actual inspections that occurred during CY 2000 and CY 2001. Previous collections were based upon projected data prior to implementation of the program.

16. There are no plans to publish this collection.

17. BIS is requesting exemption from printing the expiration date on forms for this collection of information because the implications of an expiration date would only serve to confuse the public. The presence of an expiration date would tend to give the public the impression that these collections are only temporary and are no longer required after the expiration date. In fact, there are no present plans either to change the present forms or to discontinue the collection requirement. Also, estimates of how many forms will be required by the public are extremely approximate and could be either grossly low, requiring reprinting of forms with a very short shelf life, (i.e. due to the expiration date), or very high, requiring the discarding of many forms at expiration. Therefore, including expiration dates on these forms is not cost effective or appropriate at this time. As experience is gained in implementing the CWC and regulating related activities, estimates on the level of demand for declaration forms will improve and it will be more practical to anticipate the likely shelf life of declaration forms and hence the appropriate expiration date.

18. Not applicable.

 
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(1) Will the information be collected via the Internet or through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI)? If not, why not? Please briefly outline the prospects for future collection of this information electronically.

BIS is actively developing a web-based Information Management System (IMS), which will allow industry to directly submit declarations and reports over the internet. BIS anticipates introducing the new system by October 21, 2003, as required by the Government Paperwork Elimination Act. BIS envisages using a Public Key Infrastructure for the program and may also require digital signatures or a suitable secure alternative.

(2) Will the information be made available to the public through the Internet? If not, why not? Please briefly outline the potential for future dissemination of this information electronically.

BIS is studying available encryption technologies that will allow us to provide respondents secured access to information they have previously submitted to BIS over the web-based IMS. It is unknown at this time, if BIS can allow access to our database, as we must ensure that only the respondent has access to its information because public release of the information collected in CWC declaration or report forms is a violation of Section 404 of the CWC Implementation Act of 1998 and is punishable by fines or imprisonment for up to 5 years.

 
LISTING OF CWC FORMS

 

Schedule 1 Forms
Certification Form
Form 1-1	Schedule 1 Facility or Trading Company Identification
Form 1-2	Declaration on Schedule 1 Chemical Activities at the Facility During the Previous Year
Form 1-2A	Declaration on Schedule 1, 2, and 3 Precursor Chemicals(s) Used to Produce a Schedule 1 Chemical
Form 1-2B	Declaration on Transfers of Schedule 1 Chemical to Other Schedule 1 Facilities in the United States
Form 1-3	Declaration or Report on Schedule 1 Chemical Exported to or Imported From Other States Parties
Form 1-4	Declaration on Schedule 1 Anticipated Activities
Form A	Attachments for Schedule 1 Facility or Trading Company Form B Optional Comments

 

Schedule 2 Forms
Certification Form
Form 2-1	Schedule 2 Plant Site or Trading Company Identification
Form 2-2	Declaration of Schedule 2 Plant
Form 2-3	Declaration of Schedule 2 Chemical
Form 2-3A	Declaration of Schedule 2 Chemical Sold or Transferred from the Plant Site in the United States
Form 2-3B	Exports and Imports of Schedule 2 Chemical
Form 2-3C	Declaration on Anticipated or Additionally Planned Activities of Schedule 2 Chemical
Form 2-4	Declaration on Schedule 2 Chemical Produced at any time Since 1 January 1946 for Chemical Weapons (CW) Purposes
Form A	Attachments for Schedule 2 Plant Site or Trading Company
Form B	Optional Comments

 

Schedule 3 Forms
Certification Form
Form 3-1	Schedule 3 Plant Site or Trading Company Identification
Form 3-2	Declaration of Schedule 3 Plant
Form 3-3	Declaration or Report on Schedule 3 Chemical
Form 3-4	Declaration of Schedule 3 Chemical Produced at any time Since 1 January 1946 for Chemical Weapons (CW) Purposes
Form A	Attachments for Schedule 3 Plant Site or Trading Company
Form B	Optional Comments

 

Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemical Forms
Certification Form
Form UDOC	Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemical Declaration, consists of 2 pages: Part A - UDOC Plant Site Identification, and Part B - UDOC Plant Site Activities
Form A	Attachments for Plant Site
Form B	Optional Comments

 

LISTING OF ATTACHMENTS

1. Convention on the prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC)
2. Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998
3. Executive Order on Chemical Weapons, June 1999
4. Chemical Weapons Convention Regulations (CWCR), December 1999
5. CWC Handbooks and Forms
   
   • Schedule 1
     Schedule 2
     Schedule 3
     Unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals
6. Federal Register Notice, June 26, 2002, Request for Public Comments on Renewal of Paperwork Collection 0694-0091
7. Listing of Forms