Opcw: The Legal Texts

The 1997 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC) bans an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. The CWC has now been in force for more than a decade, and has achieved almost universal adherence. To achieve its objectives, the CWC established the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). This second edition of OPCW: The Legal Texts brings together the text of the Convention, the interpretative decisions and understandings reached by the organs of the OPCW, policies, rules of procedure, regulations, the conclusions of the two reviews undertaken by the States Parties of the operation of the Convention and key background texts. The volume provides a comprehensive overview of the Convention regime, as it has developed over the last decade.

This second edition brings together the texts of the decisions, policies, understandings, regulations and other legal instruments that have guided the operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention over the last decade, including its regime for verification of the destruction of chemical weapons.