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OPCW | Conference of the States Parties | |||
| Seventh Session | C-7/DEC.14 | ||||
| 7 – 11 October 2002 | 10 October 2002 | ||||
| Original: ENGLISH | |||||
| (Unofficial electronic version) | |||||
DECISION
GUIDELINES REGARDING DECLARATIONS OF
AGGREGATE NATIONAL DATA
FOR SCHEDULE 2 CHEMICAL PRODUCTION,
PROCESSING, CONSUMPTION, IMPORT AND EXPORT
AND SCHEDULE 3 IMPORT AND EXPORT
The Conference of the States Parties,
Recalling that the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter the “Convention”) requires States Parties to make declarations of Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 aggregate national data (AND) under the provisions of paragraph 1 of Part VII and paragraph 1 of Part VIII of the Verification Annex of the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter the “Verification Annex”);
Recalling
also that the Conference of the States Parties (hereinafter the “Conference”)
at its Second Session in C-II/DEC.8, dated 5 December 1997, and the Executive
Council (hereinafter the “Council”), in EC‑VIII/DEC.2, dated 30 January
1998, and EC‑IX/DEC.10*, dated 24 April 1998, also requested States
Parties to provide the basis on which Schedule 2 and Schedule 3
chemicals are to be declared; and recalling also the reports by the
Technical Secretariat (hereinafter the “Secretariat”) on information provided
by States Parties in this regard;
Recalling further the guidelines on low concentration limits for the declaration of Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 chemicals adopted by the Conference at its Fifth Session (C‑V/DEC.19, dated 19 May 2000);
Having considered that a standardised approach to declaration obligations is necessary for National Authorities to report AND and relevant plant site import and export data in a uniform and harmonised manner, and to provide more meaningful and comparable information for use by the Organisation in illustrating normal patterns of trade, and in identifying any trends important to the object and purpose of the Convention;
Cognisant of the financial and administrative implications of the implementation of such guidelines by States Parties, and the desirability of a simple, practical approach;
Noting
the decision by the Council at its Thirtieth Session (EC-30/DEC.14, dated
13 September 2002) recommending that the Conference consider and adopt this
decision at its Seventh Session;
Decides on the following:
1. that import and export data aggregated by each State Party in fulfilment of the declaration obligations of paragraph 1 of Part VII and paragraph 1 of Part VIII of the Verification Annex shall include activity by natural and legal persons transferring a declarable chemical between the territory of the declaring State Party and the territory of other States, as specified below;
2. that declarations by States Parties under paragraph 1 of Part VII of the Verification Annex shall include, using the relevant low concentration limit, production, processing, consumption, import, and export quantities of a given Schedule 2 chemical if the total for the year for that activity is more than the threshold specified for that chemical in subparagraphs 3(a), 3(b), or 3(c) of Part VII of the Verification Annex;
3. that declarations by States Parties under paragraph 1 of Part VIII of the Verification Annex shall include, using the relevant low concentration limit, import and export quantities of a Schedule 3 chemical if the total for the year for that activity is more than the threshold specified in paragraph 3 of Part VIII of the Verification Annex;
4. that, in addition, where declarations by States Parties under paragraph 1 of Part VII and paragraph 1 of Part VIII of the Verification Annex have reported the import or export of a Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 chemical in accordance with operative paragraphs 2 or 3 above, separate declarations shall also include, using the relevant low concentration limit, the aggregate quantities of each chemical imported from, or exported to, each given sending or receiving State, which shall be specified. When a quantity reported in this particular declaration is less than the threshold specified for that chemical in paragraph 3 of Part VII or paragraph 3 of Part VIII of the Verification Annex, the quantity should be expressed as “< (relevant threshold quantity)” [1] ;
5. that States Parties are requested to take measures in accordance with paragraph 1 of Article VII of the Convention to implement these guidelines as soon as practicable, and in advance of 1 January 2004;
6. that although this decision does not dictate how and on what basis States Parties should collect data, but rather how data collected should be reported by States Parties to the Secretariat, States Parties shall review this, and the implementation of these guidelines in general, on the basis of the Secretariat’s analysis of the first three years of harmonised AND submissions; and further
7. that the Council shall be tasked to continue work towards harmonising the reporting of Schedule 3 production AND.