Home > Chemical Weapons Convention
Introduction | The CWC in other official languages | About this version

Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction

Download the PDF version of the Chemical Weapons Convention

• Preamble
• Article I. General Obligations
• Article II. Definitions and Criteria
• Article III. Declarations
• Article IV. Chemical Weapons
• Article V. Chemical Weapons Production Facilities
• Article VI. Activities Not Prohibited under this Convention
• Article VII. National Implementation Measures
• Article VIII. The Organization
  • A. General Provisions
  • B. The Conference of the States Parties
  • C. The Executive Council
  • D. The Technical Secretariat
  • E. Privileges and Immunities
• Article IX. Consultations, Cooperation and Fact-Finding
• Article X. Assistance and Protection against Chemical Weapons
• Article XI. Economic and Technological Development
• Article XII. Measures to Redress a Situation and to Ensure Compliance, Including Sanctions
• Article XIII. Relation to Other International Agreements
• Article XIV. Settlement of Disputes
• Article XV. Amendments
• Article XVI. Duration and Withdrawal
• Article XVII. Status of the Annexes
• Article XVIII. Signature
• Article XIX. Ratification
• Article XX. Accession
• Article XXI. Entry into Force
• Article XXII. Reservations
• Article XXIII. Depositary
• Article XXIV. Authentic Texts
• ANNEX ON CHEMICALS
• A. Guidelines for Schedules of Chemicals
• B. Schedules of Chemicals
• ANNEX ON IMPLEMENTATION AND VERIFICATION ("VERIFICATION ANNEX")
• Part I. Definitions
• Part II. General Rules of Verification
  • A. Designation of Inspectors and Inspection Assistants
  • B. Privileges and Immunitities
  • C. Standing Arrangements
  • D. Pre-Inspection Activities
  • E. Conduct of Inspections
  • F. Departure
  • G. Reports
  • H. Application of General Provisions
• Part III. General Provisions for Verification Measures Pusuant to Articles IV, V and VI, Paragraph 3
  • A. Initial Inspections and Facility Agreements
  • B. Standing Arrangements
  • C. Pre-Inspections Activities
• Part IV(A). Destruction of Chemical Weapons and Its Verification Pursuant to Article IV
  • A. Declarations
  • B. Measures to Secure the Storage Facility and Storage Facility Preparation
  • C. Destruction
  • D. Verification
• Part IV(B). Old Chemical Weapons and Abandoned Chemical Weapons
  • A. General
  • B. Regime for Old Chemical Weapons
  • C. Regime for Abandoned Chemical Weapons
• Part V. Destruction of Chemical Weapons Production Facilities and Its Verification Pursuant to Article V
  • A. Declarations
  • B. Destruction
  • C. Verification
  • D. Conversion of Chemical Weapons Production Facilites to Purposes Not Prohibited under this Convention
• Part VI. Activities Not Prohibited under this Convention in Accordance with Article VI - Regime for Schedule 1 Chemicals and Facilities Related to such Chemicals
  • A. General Provisions
  • B. Transfers
  • C. Production
  • D. Declarations
  • E. Verification
• Part VII. Activities Not Prohibited under this Convention in Accordance with Article VI - Regime for Schedule 2 Chemicals and Facilities Related to such Chemicals
  • A. Declarations
  • B. Verification
  • C. Transfers to States Not Party to this Convention
• Part VIII. Activities Not Prohibited under this Convention in Accordance with Article VI - Regime for Schedule 3 Chemicals and Facilities Related to such Chemicals
  • A. Declarations
  • B. Verification
  • C. Transfers to States Not Party to this Convention
• Part IX. Activities Not Prohibited under this Convention in Accordance with Article VI - Regime for other Chemical Production Facilities
  • A. Declarations
  • B. Verification
  • C. Implementation and Review of Section B
• Part X. Challenge Inspections Pursuant to Article IX
  • A. Designation and Selection of Inspectors and Inspection
  • B. Pre-Inspection Activities
  • C. Conduct of Inspections
  • D. Post-Inspection Activities
• Part XI. Investigations in cases of Alleged Use of Chemical Weapons
  • A. General
  • B. Pre-Inspection Activities
  • C. Conduct of Inspections
  • D. Reports
  • E. States Not Party to this Convention
• ANNEX ON THE PROTECTION OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION ("CONFIDENTIALITY ANNEX")
• A. General Principles for the Handling of Confidential Information
• B. Employment and Conduct of Personnel in the Technical Secretariat
• C. Measures to Protect Sensitive Installations and Prevent Disclosure of Confidential Data in the Course of On-Site Verification Activities
• D. Procedures in case of Breaches or Alleged Breaches of Confidentiality

About this version

Version incorporating:

1. the correction of errors in the Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish texts, pursuant to Depositary Notification C.N.246.1994.TREATIES-5, issued on 31 August 1994;
2. the addition, under Article XV of the Convention, of a new paragraph, 5bis, to Section B of Part VI of the Verification Annex, in accordance with:
   • the change to Section B of Part VI of the Verification Annex, effective 31 October 1999, pursuant to Depositary Notification C.N.916.1999.TREATIES-7, issued on 8 October 1999; together with
   • the correction to the change to Section B of Part VI of the Verification Annex, effective 9 March 2000, pursuant to Depositary Notification C.N.157.2000.TREATIES-1, issued on 13 March 2000; and
3. the addition, under Article XV of the Convention, of a new paragraph, 72bis, to Section D of Part V of the Verification Annex, pursuant to Depositary Notification C.N.610.2005.TREATIES-4, issued on 29 July 2005.

The Chemical Weapons Convention in other OPCW Official Languages

• عـربي HTML | PDF
• 中文 HTML | PDF
• Français HTML | PDF
• русский HTML | PDF
• Español HTML | PDF