The Convention provides the basis for the OPCW to monitor the destruction of existing, declared stocks of chemical weapons and the facilities used to produce chemical weapons, as well as by checking industrial sites to ensure that chemicals monitored under the Convention are used in accordance with the chemical weapons ban. The OPCW also promotes international cooperation and the exchange of scientific and technical information so that people and governments can benefit from the peaceful uses of chemistry.

Each country that is a member of the OPCW commits itself never to:

• use chemical weapons;
• develop, produce, acquire, or keep chemical weapons, or transfer chemical weapons to anyone, anywhere in the world; or,
• assist or encourage, in any way, anything that is prohibited by the Convention.

The destruction of all existing chemical weapons, and the destruction or conversion to peaceful purposes of the facilities used to produce them, is a primary goal of the Chemical Weapons Convention and an important aspect of the work of the OPCW. By destroying these weapons and the means of making them, the OPCW strives to ensure that chemical weapons cannot be produced and can never again injure or kill people anywhere in the world.