OPCW: The Legal Texts

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction entered into force on 29 April 1997. The treaty sets a time-frame of 10-15 years to destroy all stockpiles of chemical weapons held by States Parties and all facilities used to produce them. To achieve those broad objectives, to monitor compliance and to provide a forum for States Parties, the Convention established an international organisation, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague. The OPCW is composed of three organs: the Conference of the States Parties, the Executive Council, and the Technical Secretariat. Actual implementation of the complex text requires interpretation by OPCW organs. OPCW: The Legal Texts draws together the text of the Convention, the interpretative decisions and understandings reached by the organs, the policies, model agreements, rules of procedure, regulations and key background texts.