Preparatory Commission for the

PC-X/B/WP.15

Organisation for the Prohibition

23 March 1995

of Chemical Weapons

Original:  ENGLISH

Tenth Session

(3 - 7 April 1995)

EXPERT GROUP ON CHEMICAL WEAPONS ISSUES

FOURTH REPORT

1.         Introduction

1.1       In accordance with the Plan of Activities and Schedule of Meetings of Expert Groups under Working Group B approved by the Commission at its Ninth Session and contained in Annex 2 to the Report of the Commission (PC-IX/11), the Expert Group on Chemical Weapons Issues met in The Hague from 20 - 23 March 1995.

1.2       Mr. Sylwin Gizowski of Poland served as Chairman of the Group.  He was assisted by the following Friends of the Chair:

Dr. Graham Cooper of the United Kingdom, on CW production issues;

Lt Col. Patrick Dewez of France on CW destruction issues.

1.3       The work of the Group was assisted by material provided by the Chairman and the Secretariat.  Non-papers were also presented by the delegations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States of America.  A working paper (PC-X/B/WP.14) was presented by the delegation of the Russian Federation.

2.         Tasks of the Group

2.1       The indicative list of tasks assigned to the Group by the Commission and the priority in which the tasks are to be addressed are contained in Annex 2 to the Report of the Commission (PC-IX/11).

2.2       At this meeting the Group concentrated its efforts on the following issues:

(a)        costs of verification related to Articles IV and V;

(b)        model facility agreement for a CWDF;

(c)        conversion of a CWPF for non-prohibited purposes;

(d)        concept of "levelling out" in relation to the destruction of CWPFs; and

(e)        elaboration of an understanding of what is considered a chemical weapon in relation to Article II, paragraphs 1(b) and 1(c).

3.         Costs of verification related to Articles IV and V

3.1       It was understood by the Group that, as provided for under the Convention, in situations where a bilateral agreement exists and the Executive Council elects to limit verification by the OPCW to complementary monitoring, the cost of such monitoring will be borne by the OPCW.

3.2       After discussion of revision 2 of the Chairman's paper on the issue of costs of verification in relation to Articles IV and V of the Convention, a redrafted paper listing those verification activities that might result in costs chargeable to a State Party under Articles IV and V has been prepared by the Chair and is available from the Secretariat.  The Group agreed to return to this issue at its next meeting.

4.         Model facility agreement for a CWDF

            The Friend of the Chair on CWDF issues led the Group in a series of discussions on the development of a draft model facility agreement for a CWDF.  His aim during these initial discussions was to identify a list of the section headings to be included in such a model agreement and to provide the Secretariat with some guidance on the subject matter to be included under each heading.  This would enable the Secretariat to proceed with the development of a draft document for consideration by the Group at its next meeting.  A draft table of contents for a draft model facility agreement for CWDFs was distributed to the Group for its consideration.

5.         Conversion of a CWPF for non-prohibited purposes

5.1       At the meeting of this Expert Group in June 1994 the delegations of the Russian Federation and of the United States of America both tabled papers on the issue of guidelines for the conversion of a CWPF for purposes not prohibited under the Convention.  Whilst the general approaches taken in both papers were similar, there were significant differences.  At the next meeting of this Group in September 1994, in order to facilitate further discussion on this topic, the Secretariat combined the two papers into one paper, highlighting areas of divergence. 

5.2       A view was expressed that the issue of conversion was not fully addressed by this Secretariat paper.  In accordance with that view the status of such guidelines shall be precisely defined in order to determine who would have to use these guidelines.

5.3       The Friend of the Chair led the Group through a second review of this paper to see whether, having had the opportunity for further informal discussions on this issue, delegations were now in a position to reach agreement on these guidelines for the conversion of CWPFs.

5.4       It was clear from the resulting discussion that it was not possible to agree on this issue at this time.


6.         Concept of "levelling out" in relation to the destruction of CWPFs

6.1       The development of an understanding on the concept of "levelling out" and the associated concept of "agreed levels of production capacity" remains outstanding.  A background paper suggesting a possible alternative approach to this issue was tabled by the Secretariat to facilitate further discussion of this issue.  A non-paper by the United States of America on this subject was also presented to the Group.

6.2       The Group held an initial discussion of both these papers and agreed that the Friend of the Chair should hold consultations to produce a discussion paper for the Group's next meeting.

7.         Elaboration of an understanding of what is considered a chemical weapon in relation to Article II, paragraphs 1(b) and 1(c)

The delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran tabled a non-paper on this issue.  The Group agreed to address this issue at its next meeting.

8.         Declaration Handbook

In September and November 1994 the Secretariat circulated to Member States a first draft of the sections of the Declaration Handbook on chemical weapons storage and destruction facilities for comment by delegations.  The Secretariat has so far received comments on these drafts from only two delegations.  The Chairman, therefore, once again requested delegations to review the drafts and to provide comments to the Secretariat, so that a revised text can be reviewed by the Group at its next meeting.

9.         Inspection report format for a CWSF

            The Secretariat presented a first draft of a format for the inspection report for a CWSF.  This document was not discussed by the Group.  However, the Chairman requested delegations to review the draft and to provide comments to the Secretariat.  Comments received by the Secretariat will be collated and made available, on request, to delegations prior to the next meeting of the Group.  The intention would be to discuss the document and any comments received at the next meeting of the Group.

10.       Recommendations

            The Group recommended that Working Group B:

(a)        request the Secretariat, in cooperation with the Friend of the Chair on CWDF issues and in consultation with interested delegations, to develop a "rolling text" for a model facility agreement for a CWDF and to make it available to delegations approximately three weeks prior the next meeting of the Group;

(b)        request the Friend of the Chair on CWPF issues to hold consultations to produce a discussion paper on the concept of "levelling out" for the Group's next meeting; and

(c)        request the Secretariat, in consultation with interested delegations, to produce a revised version of those sections of the Declaration Handbook concerned with CWSFs and CWDFs for discussion at the next meeting of the Group.

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