Germany Hosts OPCW Challenge Inspection Exercise

6 April 2006

The Federal Republic of Germany organised and hosted a challenge inspection exercise from 26 to 31 March 2006. Inspectors and verification experts from the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) were invited to participate in this simulated inspection, designed to test Germany’s preparedness to receive a challenge inspection.

The OPCW implements the Chemical Weapons Convention, which under Article IX foresees that each State Party has the right to request an on-site challenge inspection of any facility or location in the territory or in any other place under the jurisdiction or control of any other State Party for the sole purpose of clarifying and resolving any questions concerning possible non-compliance with the provisions of this Convention, and to have this inspection conducted anywhere without delay by an inspection team designated by the OPCW Director-General and in accordance with the Verification Annex.

The Technical Secretariat conducts and participates in challenge inspection exercises to maintain its readiness to respond swiftly and effectively should such a request be submitted by any of the 178 OPCW Member States. This flows from a request by OPCW Member States. In the first Chemical Weapons Convention Review Conference, the Member States noted the value of challenge inspection exercises to both Member States and the Technical Secretariat. The Member States appreciated Member States’ support for these exercises and invited them to continue to offer it in the future. The First Review Conference also requested the Secretariat to continue maintaining a high standard of readiness to conduct a challenge inspection in accordance with the provisions of the Convention.

The challenge inspection exercise commenced on Friday, 24 March 2006, at the OPCW headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands, with the arrival of a simulated request for a challenge inspection. The simulated request specified the Lagerlechfeld military airbase, located near Augsburg, Germany, as the inspection site for exercise purposes.

On Saturday, 25 March 2006, Germany was notified of the simulated request. In total, fifteen international inspectors from the OPCW were deployed in response to the request, arriving at Munich, the simulated point of entry on Sunday, 26 March 2006. The entry procedures were concluded on the day of arrival.

The OPCW inspection team was granted swift access to the inspection area upon their arrival on Monday, 27 March 2006. The OPCW inspection team was mandated to gather the facts to be able to clarify the simulated reports of illicit activity at the airbase.

To ensure realism, the inspection area covered the entire twelve square kilometres of the Lagerlechfeld airbase. After the pre-inspection briefing, the inspection team conducted helicopter over-flights of the extensive inspection area. During the inspection, the OPCW inspectors followed the standard procedures and employed the equipment that would normally be deployed during a challenge inspection, including non-destructive testing equipment, detection equipment and a mobile laboratory to conduct analysis of swipe and soil samples.

On 29 March 2006, OPCW Director-General Rogelio Pfirter and Ambassador Friederich Gröning, Commissioner of the Federal Government of Germany for Arms Control and Disarmament, visited the inspection area at Lagerlechfeld and received detailed briefings at the exercise site and observed inspection activities, including chemical analysis.

PR17 / 2006