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Background In 1992, after a decade of long and painstaking negotiations, the Conference on Disarmament agreed to the text of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which was then adopted by the General Assembly at its forty-seventh session, on 30 November 1992, in its resolution entitled Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (A/RES/47/39). The Convention is the first disarmament agreement negotiated within a multilateral framework that provides for the elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction. Its scope, the obligations assumed by States Parties and the system of verification envisaged for its implementation are unprecedented. The Convention prohibits all development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer, and use of chemical weapons. It requires each State Party to destroy chemical weapons and chemical weapons production facilities it possesses, as well as any chemical weapons it may have abandoned on the territory of another State Party. The verification provisions of the CWC not only affect the military sector but also the civilian chemical industry, world-wide, through certain restrictions and obligations regarding the production, processing and consumption of chemicals that are considered relevant to the objectives of the Convention. They will be verified through a combination of reporting requirements, routine on-site inspections of declared sites and short-notice challenge inspections. The Convention also contains provisions on assistance in case a State Party is attacked or threatened with attack by chemical weapons and on promoting the trade in chemicals and related equipment among States Parties. The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the Depositary of the Convention. The Convention was opened for signature on 13 January 1993 in Paris by the Secretary-General of the United Nations with 130 States signing the Convention. On 31 October 1996, Hungary became the 65th State to deposit its instrument of ratification, thus triggering the process of entry into force of the CWC 180 days later. The Convention entered into force on 29 April 1997. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was established in The Hague and is responsible for the implementation of the Convention. The OPCW is mandated to ensure the implementation of its provisions, including those for international verification of compliance with it, and to provide a forum for consultation and cooperation among States Parties. ENTRY INTO FORCE: 29
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