 |
OPCW | Technical Secretariat | ||
| Office of the Legal Adviser and International Cooperation and Assistance Division | ||||
| S/363/2003 | ||||
| 28 May 2003 2003 | ||||
| Original: ENGLISH | ||||
NOTE BY THE TECHNICAL SECRETARIAT
LEGAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS
1. Article VII, paragraph 5, of the Chemical Weapons Convention (hereinafter “the Convention”) provides that “Each State Party shall inform the Organization of the legislative and administrative measures taken to implement this Convention.” As at 7 May 2003, 82 States Parties (54%) had complied with this obligation.
2. In decision C-V/DEC.20, dated 19 May 2000, the Conference of the States Parties encouraged States Parties that are in a position to do so, to offer assistance to States drafting national legislation to implement the Convention, either bilaterally or through the OPCW, and requested the Executive Council (hereinafter “the Council”), in concert with the Director-General and the Technical Secretariat (hereinafter “the Secretariat”), to assist States Parties in their efforts to fulfil their obligations under Article VII, paragraphs 1 and 5. In decision EC-28/DEC.5, dated 21 March 2002, the Council requested the Secretariat to continue contacting, as a matter of urgency, all States Parties that have not yet informed the OPCW of the legislative and administrative measures they have taken to implement the Convention. As indicated in the Report by the Director?General, “National Implementation Measures” (EC?32/DG.17, dated 13 March 2003), greater dialogue among States Parties is required to persuade those that have not yet done so to allocate the resources necessary to draft and adopt national implementing legislation.
3. The Secretariat is exploring with States Parties what assistance they need in drafting implementing legislation, and is seeking to identify potential assistance providers in States Parties that have already enacted their legislation. To this end, the Secretariat invites the National Authorities of States Parties to submit to the Secretariat the names of legal experts who have in-depth knowledge of the national implementing legislation called for by the Convention. The Secretariat also invites the National Authorities of States Parties that have not yet finished drafting their legislation to submit the names of the drafter or other legal expert who is currently engaged in this task.
4. On the basis of the nominations received, an OPCW network of legal experts will be established, similar to that which was created in 2000 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Latin American network was created to render assistance and advice to States Parties in the region that were engaged in elaborating the national implementing legislation called for by the Convention, taking advantage of similarities among the legal systems, governmental structures, and languages in the region. The objective of the new, broader network of legal experts will be to increase the OPCW’s capacity to assist States Parties in implementing their obligations under Article VII, paragraphs 1 and 5, by providing a framework for States Parties that are in a position to do so to offer bilateral legal assistance, and thereby creating a cost-effective complement to the technical assistance offered on request by the Secretariat to individual States Parties.
5. The Secretariat will convene a meeting of the experts nominated by States Parties, from 3 to 7 November 2003 in The Hague. It will include general-orientation sessions for all participants, a workshop for legal experts currently engaged in drafting implementing legislation, and a coordination meeting of the members of the OPCW network of legal experts to discuss a tentative plan of network activities for 2004. The Secretariat expects to be able to sponsor the participation of a limited number of experts.
6. Depending on the requirements of confirmed participants, as indicated in the nomination form annexed hereto, simultaneous interpretation in all six official languages of the OPCW will be provided throughout the meeting.
7. Interested States Parties are invited to complete the nomination form annexed to this Note. Each nomination should specify whether sponsorship is a condition of the nominee’s participation. The completed form, accompanied by the nominee’s curriculum vitae, should be addressed to the Acting Legal Adviser, OPCW, Johan de Wittlaan 32, 2517 JR The Hague, the Netherlands. Nominations may also be submitted by fax to +31 (0)70 306 3535, or by e?mail to legal@opcw.org. All nominations must be received by the Secretariat no later than 31 July 2003.
8. Additional information about the meeting can be obtained from the Office of the Legal Adviser, which can be contacted as specified in paragraph 7 above.
Annex: Nomination Form
Annex