Chemical Weapons Convention

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) is a unique multilateral disarmament agreement with the aim to reduce the threat of chemical weapons. The CWC strives for destruction of existing chemical weapons stockpiles and prohibits activities like development, production, possession, storage, transfer and use of chemical weapons and their precursors.

In April 1997, the CWC entered into force. The Netherlands ratified it in 1995. By signing and ratifying the CWC, a country becomes a Member State of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), a so-called State Party. Every State Party has the obligation to implement the Convention in its national legislation; the "National Authority" is responsible for that. In the Netherlands, the National Authority for the CWC is part of the ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (DG International Relations, Export control and strategic goods).

A State Party is obliged to submit timely and complete information about the activities in its country regarding specific toxic chemicals and precursors. Companies handling these so-called scheduled chemicals are legally bound to timely report their activities (like production, processing, storage, import and/or export) to their National Authority on a regular basis. The National Authority officially hands over the information provided by chemical industry and by traders in chemicals to OPCW. OPCW uses the declared information to select plant sites for verification and inspection activities.

More information on the Chemical Weapons Convention can be found on the Dutch  language  website of the Government of the Netherlands in the section externe link: Verdrag chemische wapens.

For questions concerning the classification of chemicals and other questions about scheduled chemicals, the required declarations or license applications, please contact the Dutch licensing office externe link: CDIU (details on our contact page.)