Legal

Welcome to the OPCW!

Thanks for visiting our website. By using our website, you are agreeing to these terms. Please read them carefully.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), located at Johan de Wittlaan 32, 2517 JR, The Hague, Netherlands, provides and maintains the OPCW website to enhance public access to general information about the OPCW and its activities. We attempt to keep this information timely and accurate and any errors brought to our attention will be corrected as soon as possible. The OPCW cannot, however, guarantee that all information or data on this website is correct. Therefore, the OPCW accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information or data on this website. Access to, and use of, this website is provided by the OPCW subject to the following Terms and Conditions:

  1. The OPCW hereby disclaims any liability or responsibility arising from the use of information or data contained on this website, including any inappropriate, improper or fraudulent use of information or data provided to users.
  2. The OPCW, members of its staff, its contractors and its employees shall not be liable for any financial or other consequences whatsoever, arising from the use of information or data contained on this website, including the inappropriate, improper or fraudulent use of such information or data.
  3. Information or data contained on this website shall not be reproduced or used for commercial purposes, except for where otherwise noted.
  4. The OPCW provides to users of this website information which the OPCW deems, on the basis of its own criteria and in its sole and complete discretion, to be appropriate for disclosure.
  5. Information or data provided sometimes refers to external websites over which the OPCW has no control and in respect of which it disclaims all liability.
  6. The consultation and/or use of this website shall automatically constitute full acceptance of these Terms and Conditions.

We use data to build a better website experience for our users.

The information we collect helps to ensure our website is working as intended, such as troubleshooting issues or analysing performance. We also use this information to make improvements to our website — for example, understanding which search terms are frequently misspelled helps us improve search results for other users.

How we use cookies and similar technologies

Like many other websites, OPCW.org uses small files called cookies to help improve your user experience. We use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your device for a set period of time or until you delete them). We use the following types of cookies:

Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary to allow us to deliver content to your web browser. For example, they let us recognise what features are enabled in your browser settings so we can provide you with the best user experience. These cookies do not hold any information to identify an individual person, but are instead used to identify a browser on an individual device.

If you prefer, you can restrict or block these cookies by changing your browser settings but that may mean that some features on our website won’t work.

Performance and Analytics Cookies

We use these cookies to analyse how opcw.org is accessed and is performing. We use this information to measure, maintain, operate, and continually improve our website. These cookies can tell us if you have visited our website before, allowing us to measure how many individual users we have, and how often they visit the site. These cookies do not collect information that identifies you; all of the information that these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous.

Functional Cookies

These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make while browsing our website, such as language preference and multimedia player settings, so they do not have to be set each time you return to the site. The information that these cookies collect do not personally identify you, and cannot track your browsing activity on non-OPCW websites.

Third-Party Cookies

Our website contains links to social media sites including Facebook, and Twitter that enable users who are logged in to social media services to share content via that service. When you share a page using a social media sharing button (for example, Facebook) from opcw.org, the social media site may generate a cookie. Since the cookie policies of these companies change over time, you should review their policies by visiting the privacy policy pages of these websites directly.

Web Beacons

We use web beacons (invisible images often referred to as pixel tags or clear GIFs) on our website in order to recognise users, assess traffic patterns, identify preferred content and measure website engagement. We also include web beacons in our e-mail distribution campaigns to count how many e-mail messages have been opened. All of the information that these becons collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous.

Public Information Requests and Media Guidelines

The OPCW Technical Secretariat receives thousands of questions about its work each year. Before contacting OPCW Public Affairs, make sure you have identified all relevant information on the website. This remains a rich source of information about OPCW’s mission, structure, activities, and official documents. 

OPCW Public Affairs endeavours to be as open and accessible as possible in providing public and factual information on the activities of the OPCW Technical Secretariat. Due to the OPCW’s stringent confidentiality regime, some materials, information, and types of information are not available to the public or media.

Media representatives should submit all requests in writing through the Media Requests form.

Consider the following before submitting your request:

Speculation

OPCW Public Affairs cannot respond to speculative questions, and is only able to provide information that is both public and factual.

Governments

OPCW Public Affairs does not provide comments on any statements made by governments or representatives of governments.

Confidentiality

OPCW Public Affairs cannot share confidential information, including, but not limited to: details of State Party declarations, Designated Laboratories, confidential documents, personnel matters, and personal information relating to its current and former staff.

Violations of Policies and Procedures

OPCW Public Affairs does not respond to requests that encourage Secretariat staff to violate OPCW policies, rules, and procedures.

On-going Investigations

OPCW Public Affairs cannot release information about on-going investigations. This policy exists to preserve the integrity of the investigatory process and its results as well as to ensure the safety and security of OPCW experts and personnel involved. All parties are asked to respect the confidentiality parameters required for a rigorous and unimpeded investigation.

Hours of Operation

The Public Affairs Branch operates Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 18:00 Central European Time, except for holidays. Requests submitted outside of these hours will be reviewed the next working day.

Copyright

All rights reserved. None of the materials provided on this website may be used, reproduced or transmitted, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or the use of any information storage and retrieval system, except as provided for in the Terms and Conditions, above, without permission in writing from the OPCW, except for where otherwise noted. To request such permission and for further enquiries, contact OPCW Public Affairs.