Chemical Weapons Convention First Review Conference

Report of the First Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties [of the Chemical Weapons Convention] to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (First Review Conference), document RC-1/5,9 May 2003, para. 7.16. 

Report of the First Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention [First Review Conference] 28 April 9 May 2003, OPCW Doc. RC-1/5, 9 May 2003, p. 22, para. 7.88. For the Review Conference itself, see Alexander Kelle, The CWC after Its First Review Conference Is the Glass Half Full or Half Empty , Disarmament Diplomacy, No. 71 (June/July 2003), pp. 31-40 Kerry Boyd, CWC Members Meet to Review Progress, Goals , Arms Control Today 33 4 (May 2003), p. 38. 

Recalling the recommendations that the First Speeial Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (First Review Conference) made on national implementation measures (as eovered under agenda item 7(c)(v) of its report, subparagraphs 7.74 to 7.83 of RC-1/5, dated 9 May 2003), in particular the agreement in subparagraph 7.83(h) of that report to develop, at its next regular session, a plan of action based on a recommendation from the Executive Council (hereinafter the Coimcil ) regarding the im-... 

Key WOrds Chemical Weapons (CW), CW Convention (CWC), CW Production Facilities (CWPF), CW destruction, CWPF destruction conversion, CW nonproduction, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), First Review Conference, Chemical terrorism. ... 

For a summary of the conclusions from the workshop, see Graham S. Pearson, Maximising the Security Benefits from the First Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention, First CWC Review Conference Paper No. 2 (Bradford Department of Peace Studies, December 2002). 

On the preventive side, there is first the need to make the regime against chemical weapons truly universal. This has two aspects the need to attract all states into the CWC regime, and the need to ensure that all States Parties fully implement the treaty. Of particular importance is that States Parties enact and enforce the prohibition of chemical weapons in their penal codes so as to ensure that the international ban on chemical weapons finds expression in national laws and that any violator can be apprehended, prosecuted and punished no matter where an offence is committed. This important relationship between quantitative and qualitative factors in relation to universahty was clearly recognized by the First Review Conference, which called for two Action Plans one on universality and one to ensure full national implementation of the Convention by aU States Parties. ... 

For a detailed discussion, see the report from the lUPAC Workshop, Impact of Scientific Developments on the Chemical Weapons Convention , Bergen, Norway, 30 June-3 July 2002, published in Pure and Applied Chemistry (official journal of the International Union of Pure and Apphed Chemistry), 74 12 (December 2002). See also the Note by the Director-General Report of the Scientific Advisory Board on Developments in Science and Technology , document of the First Review Conference, RC-1/ DG.2, dated 23 April 2003. 

The First Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention A drafter s perspective... 

US Delegation to the OPCW United States of America, National Statement to the First Review Conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention by Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Stephen G. Rademacher, The Hague, 28 April 2003. 

Statement by the Russian Federation at the First Session of the Conference to Review the Functioning of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The 1 per cent destruction represents the target for the first intermediate destruction deadline, which, according to Part IV(A) of the CWC s Verification Annex, should have been met three years after entry into force. Russia was granted an extension to this deadline by the Executive Council in 2000. 

The Review Document simply stated The First Review Conference considered the impact of developments in science and technology on the Convention s prohibitions. The definitions contained in Article II, in particular of the terms chemical weapons and chemical weapons production facihty , were found to adequately cover these developments and to provide for the apphcation of the Convention s prohibitions to any toxic chemical, except where such a chemical is intended for purposes not prohibited by the Convention, and as long as the types and quantities involved are consistent with such purposes (Review Document, para. 23). 

The risk to the Chemical Weapons Convention from incapacitating chemicals is addressed in Malcolm R. Dando, The Danger to the Chemical Weapons Convention from Incapacitating Chemicals, University of Bradford, Department of Peace Studies, First CWC Review Conference Paper No. 4, March 2003 (available at http //www.brad.ac.uk/acad/scwc). 

It is generally agreed that the community of practising chemists and their professional societies played an important positive role in the negotiation of the Chemical Weapons Convention. This positive role has continued, with the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) making a major contribution on scientific developments for the 2003 First Review Conference of the CWC. More recently, IUPAC had joined with the OPCW in its efforts to develop new educational aids to inform the profession of the importance of the CWC. 

Initial declarations under Article III remain the very first requirement to eliminating chemical weapons stockpiles and former CWPFs. Their timely and accurate submission is an important condition for the functioning of the Convention s verification system. Since the First Review Conference, one additional State Party, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, has declared the possession of chemical weapons and of former CWPFs. 

Extract of RC-2/S/1 containing a Note by the Technical Secretariat dated 31 March 2008 and entitled Review of the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention since the First Review Conference . The annexes referred to in this Note are not reproduced in this volume. 

Recalling that the First Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to Review the Operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter the First Review Conference ) attached great importance to the attainment of universal adherence by States to the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter the Convention ) and acting upon the recommendation of the First Review Conference that the Executive Council (hereinafter the Council ), with the cooperation of the Technical Secretariat, develop and implement a plan of action to further encourage, in a systematic and coordinated manner, adherence to the Convention, and to assist States ready to join the Convention in their national preparations for its implementation ... 

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