OPCW	Technical Secretariat
Verification Division
S/403/2004
19 February 2004
Original: ENGLISH

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NOTE BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL

SCHEDULE FOR OFFICIAL OPCW PROFICIENCY TESTS IN 2004

1.         The Director-General wishes to inform Member States of the schedule and arrangements for the two official OPCW proficiency tests, the fifteenth and the sixteenth, to be conducted in 2004.

2.         The tests will be conducted in accordance with the following OPCW procedures:

(a)               “Standard Operating Procedure for the Organisation of OPCW Proficiency Tests”, QDOC/LAB/SOP/PT1;

(b)               “Work Instruction for the Preparation of Test Samples for OPCW Proficiency Tests”, QDOC/LAB/WI/PT2; and

(c)               “Work Instruction for the Evaluation of Results of OPCW Proficiency Tests”, QDOC/LAB/WI/PT3.

3.         The test schedule is as follows:

(a)               The samples for the fifteenth test will be dispatched on 12 April 2004.  The Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Research Institute of Chemical Defence, in China will prepare the test samples, and the Protechnik Laboratories (Pty) Ltd, in South Africa will assist in the evaluation of the results.

(b)        The samples for the sixteenth test will be dispatched on 8 October 2004.  The University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, in the United States of America will prepare the test samples, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Porton Down, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland will assist in the evaluation of the results.

4.         All four laboratories have generously offered to assist the Technical Secretariat at no cost.

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