The use of chemical weapons may have started with World War I, but as a result of the armed conflicts in the Middle East the monitoring of chemical production has gained an unprecedented immediacy. This volume is the first comprehensive analysis of on-site test inspections conducted in the chemical industry. These inspections helped to design and test the verification mechanisms for future international Chemical Weapons Conventions. The author analyzes these inspections to predict future inspection methods. He also describes problems encountered and proposes improvements to increase the...

This book provides an article-by-article commentary on the text of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and its Annexes, one of the cornerstone disarmament and arms control agreements. It requires the verified elimination of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction and their means of production by all its States Parties within established time lines, and that prohibits any activities to develop or otherwise acquire such weapons.
Cross-cutting chapters alongside the detailed commentary, by those intimately involved in the development of the Convention, assess the history of the...

Explaining the provisions of the articles and annexes of the Chemical Weapons Convention and their interrelationship, this text is a guide through the Convention. It draws attention to provisions which need further elaboration and clarification by the work of the Preparatory Commission of the CWC.