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g o v e r n m e n t & policy U.S. still out in the cold on chemical arms treaty News Analysis Prediction: The U.S. won't fully comply with the Chemical Weapons Convention until the first quarter of next year. Although the U.S. has ratified the trea- ty and Congress has passed legislation implementing it domestically, President Clinton has yet to issue an executive order establishing responsibilities among the rel- evant executive agencies. As a result, the U.S. remains out of compliance with a ma- jor treaty it spearheaded and is angering countries that have complied fully. Once Clinton signed the implement- ing legislation into law, U.S. military fa- cilities that made or stored chemical weapons could be declared and inspect- ed. These declarations and inspections have been done, and all U.S. military fa- cilities are in compliance. The civilian chemical sector is another matter. Without the executive order, the Commerce Department cannot issue regulations affecting the civilian chemi- cal industry. With no regulations, U.S. chemical companies are under no legal obligation to declare their facilities, nor are they subject to inspections by the treaty organization's inspectors. Excepting the U.S., all nations with a major chemical industry have declared their civilian facilities. A majority of these facilities making dual-use Sched- ule II chemicals have also had initial in- spections. Several of the countries that have undergone these inspections now ask why their civilian facilities should be subjected to further inspections when their competitors in the U.S. have not been inspected at all. So, to ensure that additional inspec- tions do not take place at facilities al- ready inspected, countries party to the treaty have voted a tightly constrained inspection budget for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weap- ons (OPCW) this year. The 1999 budget allows for a total of 88 inspections at Schedule II facilities, but only 38 can take place at declared facilities that have not yet undergone their initial inspec- The Pure Standard. \M Hfc i SACHEMINC 821 East Woodward Austin, Texas USA 78704 tel:+01.512.444.3626 fax:+01.512.445.5066 email: [email protected] web: www.sacheminc.com SACHEM SACHEM satisfies the high-purity needs of chemical processing companies by manufacturing large- scale chemical products, providing custom manufacturing, and offering additional support services. Custom Manufacturing Clean Room Manufacturing Quick Time to Market Impeccable Safety & Environment Record ChemscaS Products Metal-Free Strong Bases Phase Transfer Catalysts Strong Base Catalysts SACHEM is ISO 9001 certified. We have 3 manufacturing locations backed by 48 years of experience. CIRCLE 65 ON READER SERVICE CARD tions. The remaining 50 are dedicated to initial inspections of U.S. Schedule II fa- cilities, once these are declared. With the U.S. unlikely to comply soon, the mainstay of the treaty's verification scheme—inspections—is being under- mined, and about 200 international in- spectors are likely to be underutilized this year. 'The verification regime is not operating in the way the framers of the convention intended it to," says John Gee, OPCW's deputy general director. Why the U.S. remains out of compli- ance has nothing to do with the chemi- cal industry and everything to do with executive agency jurisdictional jockey- ing. The dispute is especially heated in the area of responsibility for civilian en- forcement of the treaty. The Commerce Department would like carte blanche for everything having to do with commercial facilities, including civil- ian fines for willful failure to file declara- tions or refusal to permit inspections, sev- eral knowledgeable sources tell C&EN. But the implementing legislation delegates final authority on all treaty issues, includ- ing enforcement, to the State Department. The Justice Department was called in to mediate the enforcement dispute, and it ruled in favor of State because of the language in the implementing law. Commerce has asked Justice to revisit the issue, which it is now doing. The regulations dealing with civilian facilities have been written and rewrit- ten several times. 'They are now being polished while the issue of enforcement authority is being subjected to legal re- view by Justice," says a source knowl- edgeable about the deliberations. The delay in proposing rules con- cerns Michael P. Walls, the Chemical Manufacturers Association's chemical weapons treaty expert. 'The harm is the erroneous perception that industry has encouraged the delay, when, in fact, that is not the case." Industry has no reason yet to lobby the Administration to act. The choke point comes on April 29, 2000, three years after the treaty entered into force. Then, chemical companies in those countries in compliance with the treaty will no longer be able to trade in Sched- ule II chemicals with U.S. companies. So sometime before April 29,2000, the industry will begin to lay on the heavy pressure, much like it did when it prod- ded the U.S. Senate to ratify the treaty a mere four days before it entered into force. Lois Ember 42 APRIL 19,1999 C&EN
