The verification regime’s implementation by the OPCW Technical Secretariat.

 

The OPCW Technical Secretariat, headquartered in The Hague, is tasked with facilitating the implementation of the Convention. Two of its divisions, the Verification Division and the Inspectorate Division, are central to the administration and operation of the verification regime. Moreover, the International Cooperation and Assistance Division supports States Parties in their efforts to meet their obligations under the Convention. The OPCW Laboratory, a part of the Technical Secretariat’s Verification Division, backs the Convention’s verification regime by maintaining advanced sampling and analytical technologies functional to both routine inspections and field missions. Moreover, it shares with the Inspectorate Division training and certification responsibilities for analytical chemist inspectors. The OPCW Laboratory is located in the OPCW Centre for Chemistry andTechnology, a state-of-the-art facility just outside of The Hague that was inaugurated in 2023 and is commonly referred to as the ChemTech Centre. The ChemTech Centre also serves as an excellent venue for the Inspectorate Division’s ongoing training exercises for inspectors and the execution of their duties, thus further underscoring its significance to the OPCW’s mission. The OPCW Laboratory is at the center of a network of over 20 OPCW-designated laboratories from different States Parties. These laboratories are certified to analyze environmental and/or biomedical samples for the identification of chemical weaponsrelated chemicals. They are regularly subjected to proficiency tests, administered by the OPCW Laboratory, to ensure they meet stringent criteria for accuracy and reliability. The OPCW Laboratory also manages the OPCW Central Analytical Database (OCAD), a reference library of analytical data of chemicals relevant to the CWC, intended to support the work of the OPCW inspectors and the OPCW-designated laboratories around the world. When samples are collected, whether from routine inspections or in response to suspected use of chemical weapons, they are either analyzed on-site by the OPCW inspectors with a deployable laboratory or are split (either on-site or by the OPCW Laboratory) and sent to at least two different OPCW-designated laboratories for independent analysis. Samples collected in Syria have been analyzed by OPCW designated laboratories. Conversely, analyses for routine Article VI industrial inspections are typically conducted on-site by OPCW inspectors. These routine sampling and analyses missions, which are much more frequent than non-routing missions, are of key importance to establish and solidify processes and procedures that can be applied to non-routine missions as well when the need arises. In addition to the abovementioned IAUs, as required by paragraph 38(e) of Article VIII, the OPCW Technical Secretariat also provides Technical Assistance Visits (TAVs) to States Parties that request the Secretariat’s technical expertise. This assistance is vital for tasks such as identifying chemical agents used in attacks, without the necessity of a full investigation or rapid response. Moreover, given the extensiveness of chemical weapons incidentswithin the context of the Syrian Civil War, the OPCW Technical Secretariat has three Syria-specificmissions. The first is the Fact Finding Mission (FFM), which is tasked with establishing whether chemical weapons incidents have occurred. The second one is the Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), which is tasked with attributing to specific actors the incidents ascertained by the FFM. The third one is the Declaration Assessment Team (DAT), which is tasked with verifying the veracity and completeness of the declarations submitted by the Syrian Arab Republic when it joined the CWC in 2013, in relation to chemical weapons stockpiles, precursors, facilities etc.