New Initiatives Announced at 13th Meeting of National Authorities for the Chemical Weapons Convention

The annual meeting was held at the OPCW Technical Secretariat from 25 to 27 November 2011 on the threshold of the Conference of the States Parties. It is traditionally the largest gathering of CWC National Authorities organised by the OPCW, with this year’s event attracting 160 representatives from 110 States Parties.

National Authorities meeting

National Authorities are a cornerstone of the Chemical Weapons Convention, responsible for coordinating the comprehensive implementation of its provisions at national level across all relevant government bodies. The annual meeting is an opportunity for National Authorities to update their knowledge of implementation best practices, share experiences with each other, and consult bilaterally with Technical Secretariat staff on specific issues of interest.

In his opening remarks to the meeting, OPCW Director-General Ahmet Üzümcü commended the National Authorities for their assistance and goodwill in enabling the OPCW to pass a major milestone this year by conducting its 2,000th inspection of industrial facilities under Article VI since the Convention’s entry into force in 1997, aimed at preventing the re-emergence of chemical weapons. He added as other key achievements that 186 of the 188 States Parties have now established National Authorities, and that 70 percent of them have adopted domestic legislation that prohibits the development of chemical weapons and penalizes violations of the prohibition.

Director-General Üzümcü also used the occasion to announce two new initiatives undertaken by the Technical Secretariat to improve its ability to provide effective capacity-building assistance to National Authorities.

One is the production of electronic learning tools on the history and content of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which will be launched in the first quarter of 2012 and made available to National Authorities via the OPCW Internet website. Another is the development of a Cooperation and Assistance Activities Database, which is now accessible to all States Parties via the OPCW External Server. The Director-General said the database makes it possible for the Technical Secretariat and States Parties to share information and details about activities they have undertaken in the past to implement the Convention, or intend to carry out in the future.

OPCW News 48/2011

Categories: National implementation