1.               Declarations to Which this Handbook Applies

2.               Overview of Declaration Requirements

3.               Definitions and Terms Related to the Declaration Requirements

3.1.            Definitions

Annex A:        A  Practical  Approach to  Determining Specialised Equipment

Annex B:        Instructions Regarding Data Formats and Technical Guidelines for Completing the Declaration Forms

Annex C:        Declaration Forms for Chemical Weapons Production Facilities

1.         Declarations to Which this Section Applies

This section applies to the declaration requirements for chemical weapons production facilities (CWPFs), including, inter alia, all chemical weapons production facilities owned or possessed by a State Party or that are located in any place under its jurisdiction or control at any time since 1 January 1946. This section also applies to all chemical weapons production facilities which have been located on the territory of a State Party at any time since 1 January 1946 and are or were owned by another State. Any transfers or receipts of chemical weapons production equipment which were made at any time since 1 January 1946 must also be declared.

2.         Overview of Declaration Requirements:

The CWPF forms are divided into seven categories:

3.         Definitions and Terms Related to the Declaration Requirements

3.1       Definitions

The following CWC definitions are important when making declarations:

Chemical Weapons Production Facility:

(a)        Means any equipment, as well as any building housing such equipment, that was designed, constructed or used at any time since 1 January 1946:

(i)         As part of the stage in the production of chemicals ("final technological stage") where the material flows would contain, when the equipment is in operation:

a. Any chemical listed in Schedule 1 in the Annex on Chemicals; or

b. Any other chemical that has no use, above 1 tonne per year on the territory of a State Party or in any other place under the jurisdiction or control of a State Party, for purposes not prohibited under this Convention, but can be used for chemical weapons purposes;

or

(ii)        For filling chemical weapons, including, inter alia, the filling of chemicals listed in Schedule 1 into munitions, devices or bulk storage containers; the filling of chemicals into containers that form part of assembled binary munitions and devices or into chemical sub munitions that form part of assembled unitary munitions and devices, and the loading of the containers and chemical sub munitions into the respective munitions and devices;

(b)        Does not mean:

(i)         Any facility having a production capacity for synthesis of chemicals specified in subparagraph (a) (i) that is less than 1 tonne;

(ii)        Any facility in which a chemical specified in subparagraph (a) (i) is or was produced as an unavoidable by- product of activities for purposes not prohibited under this Convention, provided that the chemical does not exceed 3 per cent of the total product  and that the facility is subject to declaration and inspection under the Annex on Implementation and Verification (hereinafter referred to as "Verification Annex"); or

(iii)       The single small- scale facility for production of chemicals listed in Schedule 1 for purposes not prohibited under this Convention as referred to in Part VI of the Verification Annex.

Purposes Not Prohibited Under this Convention means:

(a)        Industrial, agricultural, research, medical, pharmaceutical or other peaceful purposes;

(b)        Protective purposes, namely those purposes directly related to protection against toxic chemicals and to protection against chemical weapons;

(c)        Military purposes not connected with the use of chemical weapons and not dependent on the use of the toxic properties of chemicals as a method of warfare;

(d)        Law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes.

Production Capacity means:

(a)        The annual quantitative potential for manufacturing a specific chemical based on the technological process actually used or, if the process is not yet operational, planned to be used at the relevant facility. It shall be deemed to be equal to the nameplate capacity or, if the nameplate capacity is not available, to the design capacity. The nameplate capacity is the product output under conditions optimised for maximum quantity for the production facility, as demonstrated by one or more test- runs. The design capacity is the corresponding theoretically calculated product output.

(b)        For a facility where chemical weapons were filled, production capacity shall be expressed in terms of the quantity of chemical that the facility can fill into each specific type of chemical weapon a year.

Building as referred to in the definition of chemical weapons production facility in Article II comprises specialised buildings and standard buildings.

(a)        Specialised Building  means:

(i)         Any building, including underground structures, containing specialised equipment in a production or filling configuration;

(ii)        Any building, including underground structures, which has distinctive features which distinguish it from buildings normally used for chemical production or filling activities not prohibited under this Convention.

(b)        Standard Building means any building, including underground structures, constructed to prevailing industry standards for facilities not producing any chemical specified in Article II, paragraph 8 (a) (i), or corrosive chemicals.

Equipment as referred to in the definition of chemical weapons production facility in Article II comprises specialised equipment and standard equipment.

(a)        Specialised Equipment means:

(i)         The main production train, including any reactor or equipment for product synthesis, separation or purification, any equipment used directly for heat transfer in the final technological stage, such as in reactors or in product separation, as well as any other equipment which has been in contact with any chemical specified in Article II, paragraph 8 (a) (i), or would be in contact with such a chemical if the facility were operated;

(ii)        Any chemical weapon filling machines;

(iii)       Any other equipment specially designed, built or installed for the operation of the facility as a chemical weapons production facility, as distinct from a facility constructed according to prevailing commercial industry standards for facilities not producing any chemical specified in Article II, paragraph 8 (a) (i), or corrosive chemicals, such as: equipment made of high-nickel alloys or other special corrosion-resistant material; special equipment for waste control, waste treatment, air filtering, or solvent recovery; special containment enclosures and safety shields; non-standard laboratory equipment used to analyse toxic chemicals for chemical weapons purposes; custom-designed process control panels; or dedicated spares for specialised equipment.

(b)        Standard Equipment means:

(i)         Production equipment which is generally used in the chemical industry and is not included in the types of specialised equipment;

(ii)        Other equipment commonly used in the chemical industry, such as: fire-fighting equipment; guard and security/safety surveillance equipment; medical facilities, laboratory facilities; or communications equipment.

Annex A of Section I
A practical approach to determining specialised equipment at a chemical weapons production facility (EC-XIX/CRP.4¹)

Based on consultations by States Parties, in accordance with the definition of specialised equipment set forth in Part I, paragraph V of the Verification Annex, the following criteria for determining specialised equipment at chemical weapons production facilities will be applied by the Technical Secretariat during inspections of such facilities.

(1) Any equipment from the main production train (in accordance with the common technical meaning of the term in chemical technology):

(a) any substantial part of the main production train, most likely to include, inter alia²:

(i) reactors for synthesis;
(ii) vessels for separation;
(iii) purification vessels;
(iv) distillation columns;
(v) any equipment used directly for heat transfer in the final technological stage (synthesis, separation, purification, distillation);
(vi) tanks, containers for storing the final product of the CWPF before it is transported out of the facility;

(b) any integral part of the main production train (which is directly connected to the substantial part of the main production train), most likely to include, inter alia²:

(i) equipment for feeding the final precursors/raw materials directly into the reactor/distillation column/purification vessels of the substantial part of the main production train (beginning with the feeding vessels);

(ii) equipment for any chemical that has no use above 1 tonne per year on the territory of a State Party or in any other place under the jurisdiction or control of a State Party, for purposes not prohibited under the Convention, but can be used for chemical weapons purposes³;

(iii) air purification and liquid/solid waste treatment equipment for initial substantial decontamination designated for any outgoing gases/liquids/solid chemicals specified in Article II, subparagraph 8(a)(i) of the Convention;

(iv) equipment for handling chemicals recovered from the production process for any chemicals specified in Article II, subparagraph 8(a)(i), of the Convention and which might be reused in that process or used in another chemical weapons associated process;

(v) equipment for handling, pumping, or storing any chemical specified in Article II, subparagraph 8(a)(i), of the Convention, or which would have handled, pumped, or stored such a chemical if the facility were operated and located in the technological train between the equipment specified in subparagraphs (1)(a) and (b)(i)-(iii) above.

(2) any equipment from the filling train (starting from the preparation of chemical munitions/devices for filling and finishing with chambers for testing and packaging the filled munitions/devices);

(a) for filling chemical weapons, including, inter alia, the chemicals specified in Article II, subparagraph 8(a)(i), of the Convention, into chemical munitions/devices;

(b) that is specially designed, built, or installed for operation of the facility as a chemical weapons production facility.

(3) any other equipment not covered by subparagraphs (1) and (2) above which has been specially designed or installed for the operation of the facility as a CWPF as distinct from a facility constructed in accordance with the prevailing commercial industry standards , for industrial facilities not producing any chemical specified in Article II, subparagraph 8(a)(i), of the Convention, most likely to include, inter alia²:

(a) any special waste treatment equipment designated for control and treatment of outgoing gases/liquids/solid chemicals in the specialized equipment mentioned in subparagraph (1)(b) (ii) above, if such equipment is distinct from the prevailing commercial industry standards⁴;

(b) any air filtration, purification, and ventilation equipment designated for control or treatment of outgoing gases that is distinct from the prevailing commercial industry standards⁴, by virtue, inter alia, of its ventilation capacity and/or other special design features;

(c) any custom designed process control panel directly managing the operation of specialized equipment. “Custom designed” means the unique configuration of indicators or controllers specially built or assembled for operations in the facility. The panel cannot be used without reconfiguration for any other commercial industry facility not producing any chemical specified in Article II, subparagraph 8(a)(i), of the Convention;

(d) any special containment enclosures and safety shields designated for the safe handling of toxic chemicals which are distinct from the prevailing commercial industry standards⁴;

(e) laboratory equipment, including the air monitoring alarm systems, used for the analysis of toxic chemicals for chemical weapons purposes which are distinct from prevailing commercial industry standards⁴;

(f) any equipment made of any special corrosion-resistant materials which are distinct from the prevailing commercial industry standards⁴:

(4) any dedicated spare for specialised equipment as defined in subparagraphs (1), (2), and (3) above and which are distinct from the prevailing commercial industry standards⁴.

¹The Council noted at its Nineteenth Session the report of the facilitator on the criteria for determining specialised equipment at a chemical weapons production facility (EC XIX/CRP.4*, dated 3 April 2000). The Council also noted the intention of the Secretariat to use the criteria specified in this report for all inspections of CWPFs. Back to main text.

²When appropriate, the inspection team may request additional information and explanations from the inspected State Party on items of equipment to assist in clarifying whether the equipment is specialised or standard. Back to main text.

³In order to confirm the use of any precursor, above 1 tonne per year on the territory of a State Party, for purposes not prohibited under the Convention, the Technical Secretariat requests from the State Party appropriate documentation which indicates, in each specific case, use for purposes not prohibited under the Convention. Back to main text.

⁴In order to confirm the consistency of equipment with the prevailing commercial industry standards, the Technical Secretariat may request from the inspected State Party the appropriate documents containing such standards applying to the item in question. Back to main text.

Annex B of Section I
Instructions regarding data formats and technical guidelines for completing the declaration forms.

INSTRUCTIONS REGARDING DATA FORMATS:

1. NAMES OF COUNTRIES are to be declared using the appropriate code ISO 3166 as contained in Appendix 1.

2. DATES are to be given as DD-MMM-YYYY (e.g., 31-Mar-1994).

3. YES-NO QUESTIONS must always be answered.

4. CHEMICALS shall be identified by chemical name in accordance with current International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) nomenclature, structural formula and Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) registry number, if assigned.

5. The PRODUCTION CAPACITY of a chemical weapons production facility shall be expressed in terms of the annual quantitative potential for manufacturing a specific substance on the basis of the technological process actually used, or, in the case of processes not actually used, planned to be used at the facility. to the nearest metric tonne in the case of nameplate or designed capacity; in the case of facilities not actually used, the planned capacity is expressed to the nearest metric tonne. The rules specified for binary chemical weapons should always be taken into account.

6. The FILLING CAPACITY is the quantity expressed in terms of the quantity of chemical that the facility can fill into each specific type of chemical weapon a year. metric tonnes of chemical the facility could fill into each specific type of munition, sub-munition, device, equipment, bulk containers or other containers in one year.

7. The LOADING CAPACITY is the number of submunitions and containers the facility could load into the type(s) of munition(s), device(s) and equipment in one year in units.

8. RESIDUAL PRODUCTION CAPACITY: is the residual production capacity at the end of each destruction period and is based upon the aggregate percentage for all CWPFs within a State Party.

9. The weight measure used in declaring NOMINAL WEIGHT OF CHEMICAL FILL per unit is kilograms.

10. GEOGRAPHICAL CO-ORDINATES are to be declared to the nearest second according to the following formats:

Latitude: 00 (degrees)/00 (minutes)/00 (seconds)/0 (North or South)
Example: "55/45/28/N"
Longitude: 000 (degrees)/00 (minutes)/00 (seconds)/0 (East or West)
Example: "005/32/53/E"

The geographic reference system shall be indicated. The co-ordinates of the centre of mass of each facility shall be provided.

11. ATTACHMENTS, if any, are to be identified by unique labels, reference numbers or file names.

12. A SITE DIAGRAM for a chemical weapons production facility shall include:

(a) a clearly identify declared perimeter. This perimeter will be used during inspections and should be indicated, where possible, by man-made or natural features (roads, fences, railroad tracks or rivers).;

(b) geographic co-ordinates to the nearest second indicating the centre of mass of the area involved in declarable activities - preferably associated with a geographic feature (i.e. corner of a building, an intersection, etc.);

(c) roads, fences, railroads, rivers and any significant geographical features in the vicinity of the facility;

(d) location of all buildings, bunkers, and storage areas (with building numbers/structure numbers);

(e) arrow indicating true North;

(f) legend explaining any abbreviations and map scale;

(h) all entrances/exits (road, rail).

13. A LIST OF BUILDING numbers shown on the site diagram indicating the general function/purpose of each building/structure.

14. SITE DIAGRAMS will be provided for former chemical weapons production facilities which have been destroyed. Diagram will show the area as it currently exists with the area of the former production facility identified.

15. For TRANSFERS and RECEIPTS OF EQUIPMENT, separate forms are required for each supplier and recipient State.

16. Individual items and entire declarations may be labelled in accordance with the OPCW system for classifying confidential information by attaching the appropriate letter before a back slash (i.e. "R/") in the forms containing the Primary Declaration Identification. The codes are as follows:
R: OPCW Restricted P: OPCW Protected H: OPCW Highly Protected

Annex C of Section I
Declarations for chemical weapons production facilities

Quick guide through the forms

Declaration Forms