ICC CWC HELPDESKS

DOWNLOAD BROCHURE

ICC CWC HELP DESKS - NATIONAL AUTHORITY FOR CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (NACWC)

Introduction:

Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a universal, non-discriminatory, multilateral, Disarmament Treaty, which bans the development, production, acquisition, transfer, use and stockpile of all chemical weapons.

• This convention is an outgrowth of the 1925 Geneva Protocol, which prevents the use of chemical and biological weapons in warfare. The disarmament committee formed by the United Nations focused on establishing treaties which members of the United Nations could sign. The CWC treaty entered into force in 1997, with the goal of destroying all stockpiles of Chemical Weapons and also to prevent the re-emergence of Chemical Weapons.
• The Convention is enforced by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) located at The Hague. This organisation is given the mandate to achieve the objective and purpose of the Convention, to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including those for international verification of compliance with it.
• The organisation (OPCW) oversees mainly four important activities for the implementation of the convention. These four activities are Demilitarisation, Non-proliferation, Assistance and Protection, and International co-operation.

National Authority - Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC)

• Each State Party has to designate or establish a National Authority to serve as the national focal point, to fulfil the obligations enunciated in the Chemical Weapons Convention, for effective liaison with the Organisation for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and other State Parties. Hence, the National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC) was set up by a resolution of Cabinet Secretariat dated 5 May 1997.
• Each State Party shall subject toxic chemicals and their precursors listed in Schedules 1, 2 and 3 of the Annex on Chemicals, facilities related to such chemicals, and other facilities as specified in the Verification Annex, that are located on its territory or in any other place under its jurisdiction or control, to verification measures as provided in the Verification Annex.

Relevance of CWC to Chemical Industry

• Besides the complete prohibition and destruction of chemical weapons, the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) has an important component of non-proliferation. In order to secure this objective, the Convention has devised a verification and inspection regime, which applies to specified chemical industry. For this purpose, the Convention has specified three schedules in the Annex on chemicals of the Convention. They are schedules 1, 2 and 3.
• Article VI of the Convention specifies that each State Party shall adopt the necessary measures to ensure that toxic chemicals and their precursors are only developed, produced or used for purposes that are not prohibited under the Convention. To this end and in order to verify the activities, each Member State of the Convention shall subject toxic chemicals and their precursors listed in the three schedules, facilities related to such chemicals and other specified facilities, to declaration and verification measures.
• Declarations and verification are the two important aspects for implementation of the Convention. Each State Party is required to make annual declarations of the production, import and export of scheduled chemicals and their production facilities.

Classification of Chemicals as per CWC:

• Schedule 1 list contains chemicals that are produced and stockpiled as chemical weapons such as nerve agents, blister agents, blood agents, choking agents etc.
• Schedule 2 list contains such precursors which pose significant risk to the objective and purpose of CWC, since these chemicals are capable of generating Schedule 1 chemicals.
• Schedule 3 list also contains precursors and dual purpose chemicals but they have large number of legitimate civilian commercial applications
• Discrete organic chemicals (DOCs) produced by Other Chemicals Production Facilities (OCPFs) including those containing elements, phosphorus, sulphur and fluorine.

Obligations under CWC and CWC Act 2000:

• Declarations and verification are the two important aspects for implementation of the Convention. Each State Party is required to make annual declarations of the production, import and export of scheduled chemicals and their production facilities. Declarations in respect of a relatively large number of plant sites producing other Organic Chemical Industries (OCPF - Other Chemical Production Facilities) are required to be made

To be able to discharge the obligations under the Convention, each country is required to have a domestic legislation, which makes the filing of declaration to OPCW, as per the category of chemicals, mandatory. The Chemical Weapons Convention Act 2000 which was passed by the Parliament of India in August, 2000 has been brought into force with effect from 1st July, 2005. Copy of the CWC Act 2000, the notifications issued for implementation of the Act and other relevant details are available at the website of NACWC and could be viewed at https://nacwc.gov.in/

Chemical Weapons Convention Act 2000 was enacted in India to implement the provisions of the Convention. As per the CWC Act 2000, declarations are mandatory in respect of:

• production, processing, consumption, import, export data of Schedule 2 chemicals (see the Annex 1 below);
• production, import, export data of Schedule 3 chemicals (see the Annex 1 below);
• production data of discrete organic chemicals (DOCs) produced by Other Chemicals Production Facilities (OCPFs) including those containing elements, phosphorus, sulphur and fluorine.

Non-submission of declarations will attract penal provisions being invoked under the Chemical Weapons Convention Act 2000 which is in force in the country.

In order to create awareness on CWC Act and its provisions and the obligations required to be fulfilled by the companies dealing with Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 chemicals, NACWC, Government of India have arranged for CWC Help Desks being managed by Indian Chemical Council (ICC) in various regions in India, which, at present, are located at Vadodara, Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad. (Ref: Annex 1: List of Sched 1, Sched 2 and 3 chemicals)

To create awareness on the obligations to be carried out under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the ICC CWC Help Desks have been organising several CWC Awareness Programmes in various locations in India since 2008 with the support of the National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention, Government of India

Non-compliance with the provisions of CWC Act will attract stringent penal provisions being initiated by the authorities as per the Act. The CWC Help Desks interface between industries (declaring facilities) falling under their jurisdictions and NACWC. They help the industries to submit the Error free declarations.

These "ICC-CWC Helpdesks" connect with the chemical industries in their respective region and create awareness about: -

• Role of National Authority Chemical Weapons Convention and Implementation of CWC
• Creating Awareness on the International Treaty on Chemical Weapon Convention
• Creating awareness about provisions and obligation of Chemical Weapons Convention Act 2000
• Awareness to Industries on no-compliance actions, penalties and further stringent measures under CWC ACT 2000
• Educating, enabling and supporting Industries on obligation of annual declarations and providing complete and accurate information in stipulated time under the provisions of CWC Act 2000 especially e-filing and Digital Signature certificate (DSC)
• Awareness about SCOMET regulations regarding export/import of listed chemicals in DGFT notifications

ICC - CWC Helpdesks of Indian Chemical Council periodically conduct CWC Awareness Programmes and guide industries to achieve error-free filing of annual declaration. Through these programmes CWCHDs arrange for interactive sessions with the industry which have experienced CWC inspection from OPCW in the recent past. Such interactions help participants to resolve their queries on CWC inspection readiness and other technical issues besides confidence building. The ADAA camps are conducted usually in August / September mainly for the Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 chemicals declaring facilities and the CWC Awareness events are conducted from November till January.

The various CWC related programmes / events conducted by ICC - CWC Helpdesks are given below:

• Programme on Annual Declarations of Representatives from Schedule Past Activities (ADPA).
• Programme on Annual Declarations of Anticipated Activities (ADAA).
• Programme for identification of potential declarable chemical facilities and traders under the CWC Act, 2000.
• Programme for the benefit of the upcoming industries relevant to Convention.
• Programme on CWC Awareness and OPCW training for Facilities. Sharing experiences of OPCW Inspectors/ trainees participated in OPCW trainings.
• Export / Import of Scheduled chemicals as per the Foreign Trade (Development and Regulation) Act, 1992 (No. 22 of 1992) and for the Scheduled Chemicals as listed under ewe Act, 2000.

The Chemical Units handling Schedule 2 and Schedule 3 chemicals are requested to contact the CWC Help Desks for getting necessary clarifications to enable them to file their declarations, comply with the provisions of the CWC Act and avoid penal provisions being invoked.

ANNEX 1