Verification Annex

CWC, Article X, paragraph 2. States were allowed to produce 1 ton annually of chemical agents for research, medical and pharmaceutical or protective purposes. Monitoring of these activities is detailed in CWC Verification Annex, Part IV, Sections A-E. 

CWC, Article VI Verification Annex, Parts VI-IX Annex on Chemicals. 

The Convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and of their destruction (the Chemical Weapons Convention, CWC) was signed on January 13, 1993, and entered into force on April 29, 1997. The CWC includes 24 Articles, the Annex on Chemicals, the Annex on Implementation and Verification (so-called Verification Annex), and the Confidentiality Annex. The Verification Annex, which by the length occupies the majority of the CWC, is written in 11 parts. Article I lists the general obligations of the CWC as shown in Figure 1. 

The general rules for verification (Verification Annex, Part II, paragraphs 52-54) describe sample taking (sampling, sample collection) and analysis. By way of example, sampling and analysis shall be undertaken to check for the absence of undeclared scheduled chemicals during inspections under... 

The CWC (1) makes extensive reference to S A in its Annex on Implementation and Verification (Verification Annex) . First in part II, under General Rules of Verification, but also in later sections that describe verification activities for particular types of inspections or inspectable facilities as shown in Table 1. The full wording of the respective provisions is included in Annex 1. 

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) provides sampling and analysis as a tool for verification. General procedures to use sampling and analysis are outlined under the general rules of verification in the Verification Annex (VA) Part II paragraph 52-58, special provisions concerning different types of inspections are given in various parts of the VA. 

C-I/DEC.7, Procedures for the Inspection of Equipment in Accordance with Part n, Paragraph 29 of the Verification Annex, 1st Conference of State Parties, The Hague, 1997. 

The proficiency test timeline is 15 calendar days upon receipt of the samples the test period is based on Paragraph 62 of Part II of the Verification Annex of the CWC, stipulating that the final inspection report must be completed within 30 days after the inspection. 

The CWC describes the general responsibilities for sampling, sample transport to the off-site DLs, confidentiality of samples, sample analysis, and compilation of the report of analysis results of laboratories (1). The Verification Annex of the CWC, Part II, General Rules of Verification, paragraph E, Conduct of Inspections, and subparagraph Collection, handling and analysis of samples, and paragraphs 52-58 read as follows ... 

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. 

Perhaps most notable in this respect was the key role taken by Canada, while an observer in the Executive Council in 1997-1998, in the consideration of transfers of small quantities of Saxitoxin (a Schedule 1 chemical used in many countries for medical and diagnostic purposes). The first use of the simplified amendment procedure for administrative or technical purposes (Article XV, paras 4 and 5) resulted in a new provision for transfers of very small quantities of Saxitoxin (para. 5bis in Part VI of the Verification Annex). 

In any event, the inspection team is allowed to have access, within the requested perimeter , not later than 108 hours after the arrival of the inspection team at the point of entry (Verification Annex, Part X, para. 39). It should be noted, however, that the inspected State Party must have been provided with information regarding the location of the requested inspection site at the latest 12 hours before the inspection team s arrival at the point of entry (Verification Annex, Part X, para. 6). Thus, the inspected State Party would have at maximum roughly 120 hours (five days) to prepare for the inspection. 

Nevertheless, the hard fact stiU remains that non-State Party B is a state that has chosen not to join the CWC and, as such, seems to be not in favour in the provisions of the CWC. It is almost inconceivable that non-State Party B would voluntarily accept an on-site challenge inspection carried out on its territory, even if it were limited to the military bases of State Party A. And yet one cannot easily abandon the possibility of conducting inspections in non-State Party B without making any effort, recalling the possible loophole mentioned above. Thus, the CWC has introduced the following paragraph in its Verification Annex, Part II ... 

A similar question would arise in the obverse situation where State Party A hosts on its territory military bases of non-State Party B. In this case, it is perhaps more difficult than in the case mentioned earlier to imagine that non-State Party B would voluntarily accept an on-site challenge inspection of its military bases on the territory of State Party A, because the direct object of inspection is the bases of non-State Party B itself. Nonetheless, to address this problem, the CWC has introduced another paragraph that is analogous to paragraph 20 quoted above. Paragraph 21 of the Verification Annex, Part II, stipulates as follows ... 

It is true that the same paragraph of the Verification Annex (Part X, para. 41) states that [t]he provisions in this paragraph may not be invoked by the inspected State Party to conceal evasion of its obligations not to engage in activities prohibited under this Convention . How effective this provision could be in practice, however, is an open question. 

Such demonstration may be accomplished by means of the partial removal of a shroud or a visual inspection of the interior of an enclosed space from its entrance, etc. (CWC, Verification Annex, Part X, para. 50). 

Information provided by former negotiators of the CWC. According to them, part of the ad hoc inspection proposal has metamorphosed into the current inspection system for the other chemical production facilities in Part IX of the Verification Annex to the Convention. 

The broad restrictions of Article I with respect to toxic chemicals are elaborated in the Convention, particularly with respect to the chemicals listed on the attached Schedules and related facilities and the other chemical production facilities (OCPFs) described in Part IX of the Verification Annex to the CWC. The basic implementation obfigation in this regard is set out in Article VI, paragraph 2, of the Convention, which states that each State Party must... 

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