Conference of the States Parties
Membership and functions
A session of the OPCW Conference of the States Parties
The Conference of the States Parties is the plenary organ consisting of all members of the OPCW. It is the "principal organ of the Organisation", and has the general power to oversee the implementation of the Convention, and to act in order to promote the object and purpose of the Convention. In this regard, the Conference may make recommendations and take decisions on any questions, matters, or issues within the scope of the Convention. The Conference oversees the activities of the Council and the Secretariat, and may issue guidelines in accordance with the Convention to either of them in the exercise of their functions. The specific activities to be undertaken by the Conference are listed in Article VIII, paragraph 21, and include: taking measures necessary to ensure compliance with the Convention; deciding on the programme and budget and the scale of financial contributions to be paid by States Parties; approving the annual report of the Organisation; electing the members of the Council; appointing the Director-General; fostering international cooperation for peaceful purposes in the field of chemical activities; and reviewing scientific and technological developments that could affect the Convention.
Upcoming sessions
About the sessions of the Conference
The Conference normally meets in regular annual sessions, unless it decides otherwise. During the first year of the life of the OPCW, two sessions of the Conference were held, in order to accommodate the decision-making necessary for the prompt and efficient implementation of the requirements of the Convention. Since that year, the Conference has met once annually in regular session. Sessions of the Conference are held in The Hague, unless the Conference decides otherwise.
In addition to Member States, certain categories of observers may attend sessions of the Conference in accordance with its Rules of Procedure. These include signatory States, non-signatory States, the Secretary-General of the United Nations or his/her representative, representatives of the specialised agencies and of other international organisations, and, upon invitation, representatives of non-governmental organisations. Observers do not, of course, have a vote, and the conditions and extent of their participation vary.
The regular sessions of the Conference provide a forum for a wide ranging general debate on the policies and programmes of the OPCW and an examination of matters brought forward by the Council, individual States Parties and the Director-General. In particular, consideration by the Conference of the status of implementation of the Convention provides a valuable opportunity for States Parties, on the basis of the reports of the Council and of documentation supplied by the Director-General, to identify implementation-related problems, and to draw the attention of their fellow States Parties to any issue related to compliance with the Convention.
A special session of the Conference may be convened at the decision of the Conference itself, upon a request of the Council, or at the request of any member of the Conference, supported by one-third of the members of the Conference (Article VIII, paragraph 12). In addition, special sessions of the Conference are required to undertake reviews of the operation of the Convention not later than one year after the end of the fifth and tenth years after entry into force, every five years thereafter, and at such other times as may be decided on (Article VIII, paragraph 22). The Second Review Conference was held from 7 to 18 April 2008. The First Review Conference was held from 28 April to 9 May 2003. Finally, if the doubt or concern of a State Party about any possible non-compliance with the Convention is not resolved within 60 days after submission to the Council of a request for clarification of a situation or an ambiguity, or if a State Party believes that, notwithstanding its right to request a Challenge Inspection, its doubts warrant urgent consideration, it may request a special session of the Conference (Article X, paragraph 7). If the request is supported by one-third of all States Parties, the special session shall be convened.
Browse all sessions of the Conference
Decision making
A majority of members of the Organisation constitutes a quorum for sessions of the Conference. Each member has one vote.
The Conference takes decisions on questions of procedure by a simple majority of members present and voting. Substantive decisions should, if possible, be taken by consensus. If consensus is not attainable, a 24-hour period of deferment is called by the Chairman of the Conference and every effort is made to facilitate consensus. If this procedure is not successful, the Conference may take a decision by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting. If the issue arises as to whether or not a question is one of substance, that question is to be treated as a matter of substance, unless the Conference decides otherwise by the majority required for decisions on matters of substance. So far, the majority of Conference decisions have been taken by consensus.
Subsidiary bodies
The Convention requires the Conference to establish two subsidiary bodies: the Commission for the Settlement of Disputes related to Confidentiality (the "Confidentiality Commission") and the Scientific Advisory Board.
In addition to these two Convention-mandated subsidiary bodies, the Conference is authorised to establish such subsidiary organs as it finds necessary for the exercise of its functions (Article VIII, subparagraph 21(f)). On the basis of this authority the Conference has established several committees.
Under its rules of procedure, the Conference appoints at each session a General Committee which addresses administrative/organisational issues such as the provisional agenda for the session, requests for additional items, the establishment of committees and the allocation of tasks to them.
At each regular session, the Conference also elects the chairperson of its main committee, the Committee of the Whole. The Committee of the Whole serves as the forum for the discussion of issues which, in the estimation of the Conference, are not yet ripe for decision-making, and which accordingly require consultations and discussion involving all members in attendance at the session. If the Committee of the Whole is able to resolve such issues, it makes recommendations for action to the Conference. In the first years of the OPCW's existence the Committee of the Whole continued to function between sessions of the Conference to consider unresolved issues. In 1999, however, the Conference transferred all unresolved issues that had hitherto been the province of the Committee of the Whole to the Council, for consideration by the Council's working groups, which are open to all Member States. The functioning of the Committee of the Whole as the principal intersessional forum for the resolution of unresolved issues thus came to an end, although its role during sessions of the Conference remained unchanged. Intersessional work on unresolved issues has become the ongoing responsibility of the Council, with the participation of all Member States.
In addition, the Credentials Committee is appointed at the beginning of each session of the Conference, at the proposal of the Chairman of the Conference. The Credentials Committee, which consists of ten members, is required to examine the credentials of all representatives to that Conference session. Pending a decision of the Committee on their credentials, representatives are entitled to participate provisionally in the session. Any representative to whom another member of the OPCW has objected is seated provisionally with the same rights as other representatives until the Committee has reported, and the Conference has taken a decision on the objection.