Title	Date
	ROSTER OF MEMBERS OF THE OPCW NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS, AND OF EXTERNAL LEGAL EXPERTS	05/03/2008

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. As subsequently 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.

Further to the above, the Technical Secretariat invited 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. On the basis of the nominations received, an OPCW network of legal experts has been 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.

The Secretariat convened a meeting of the experts nominated by States Parties, from 3 to 7 November 2003 in The Hague. It included 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.

To top

	Document Symbol	Title	Date
	S/417/2004	LEGAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: ROSTER OF MEMBERS OF THE OPCW NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS	16/04/2004
	S/398/2004	LEGAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: REPORT OF THE FIRST MEETING OF THE OPCW NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS THE HAGUE 4 – 7 NOVEMBER 2003	28/01/2004
	S/385/2003	REPORT BY THE NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS FROM LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ON ITS ROLE IN PROMOTING THE ADOPTION OF NATIONAL IMPLEMENTING LEGISLATION	05/11/2003
	S/381/2003	LEGAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: MEETING OF THE OPCW NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS THE HAGUE, 4 – 7 NOVEMBER 2003	14/10/2003
	S/363/2003	LEGAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE: NETWORK OF LEGAL EXPERTS	28/05/2003
	S/251/2001	REPORT ON THE INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON COOPERATION AND LEGAL ASSISTANCE FOR THE EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS, THE HAGUE, 7 - 9 FEBRUARY 2001	22/03/2001

To top

States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention are under the obligation to extend their penal legislation extraterritorially to prohibited activities undertaken by their nationals abroad. This increases the probability that States Parties may be faced with the need for legal assistance from another State Party, for example for investigation or prosecution of an offence involving chemical weapons.  In this respect, Article VII, paragraph 2, of the Convention, provides:

“2. Each State Party shall cooperate with other States Parties and afford the appropriate form of legal assistance … ”

It is becoming apparent that there is a need to develop a framework within which the obligation to “cooperate and provide legal assistance” can be carried out.  Such a framework will be necessary primarily for the prosecution and punishment of those who violate the requirements of the Convention.  Its necessary components include the “criminalising” of activities prohibited under the Convention; the extraterritorial extension of penal legislation to acts committed by nationals abroad; the harmonising of penalties; and the inclusion of offences against the Convention in extradition treaties as “extraditable” crimes.

In prosecuting a crime, different States could be involved and might require cooperation and legal assistance from other States:

• the State on whose territory the offence has occurred;
• the State on whose territory the accused is residing or in custody;
• the State of whom the accused holds nationality;
• the State affected by the offence or whose natural or legal persons suffered damages from the offence; and possibly
• the OPCW may have a role to play if it has carried out an investigation of alleged use of chemical weapons.

The word “shall” in Article VII, paragraph 2, indicates that States Parties are under an obligation to provide such legal cooperation.  However, there is no customary practice in cooperation and legal assistance in criminal matters. Inasmuch as it exists, it is normally prescribed in either bilateral treaties or a few multilateral instruments. In almost all such cases the modalities of cooperation and legal assistance are not included in a single integrated instrument, and the few such integrated instruments in existence are not universally adhered to.  There is no single multilateral instrument in place which would enable States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, in the absence of the necessary formal undertakings, to afford the necessary legal assistance in each and every such case.  States Parties to the Convention accordingly need to check whether their domestic legislation and their various treaties concerning different forms of mutual legal assistance concluded with other States will allow for such cooperation, since the above provision of the Convention does not of itself provide an adequate mechanism.

Cooperation and legal assistance among States Parties could be viewed from the following two perspectives:  (a) monitoring and preventive cooperation (police and customs enforcement); and (b) cooperation in the prosecution of offences which encompasses, inter alia, identifying suspects, taking testimony or statements, producing or preserving evidence, executing requests for searches and seizures, serving or authenticating judicial or administrative documents, transferring proceedings, and the extradition and transfer of prisoners. The latter issues all belong to the realm of international criminal law, and would typically entail international cooperation between the judiciaries of the jurisdictions in question, and/or between their police forces.

In 2001 the OPCW Secretariat organised a symposium entitled “Cooperation and Legal Assistance for the Effective Implementation of International Agreements”. Over 40 experts in the field gathered together to discuss the practical problems involved. The main conclusion drawn from the symposium was that the problem must be looked at in its wider perspective under international law.  Crime is crime, no matter what the subject matter is – chemical weapons, drugs, small arms, terrorism – and the means to combat it overlap.  In future States, the OPCW, and other treaty implementing bodies may find common areas to address in respect of combating crime.