Annual Report 1999-2000
Operation of the
national authority for implementation of the CWC, including contribution to
effective international implementation of the CWC, particularly in Australias immediate region.
Milestone
D1
Effective performance as the national focal
point for liaison with the OPCW and other States Parties in relation to the
fulfilment of Australias obligations under the CWC.
Activities
Interaction with the OPCW
In accordance with Australias obligations
under the CWC, ASNO prepared and submitted routine declarations and
notifications to the Technical Secretariat of the OPCW during the year, and
facilitated the conduct of four routine on-site inspections in Australia by the
OPCW.
In September and October 1999, ASNO
submitted routine CWC Article VI declarations on activities anticipated for
2000 for a total of 12 facilities working with Scheduled chemicals. In March 2000, declarations were submitted
for 1999 on international transfers of Scheduled chemicals and for work in 60
facilities with CWC-relevant activities.
These declarations were compiled using information gathered through the
operation of the Chemical Weapons
(Prohibition) Act 1994, and information on imports and exports of Scheduled
chemicals obtained from Customs data, export-licensing records and also through
extensive industry surveys.
In the reporting period ASNO facilitated four routine OPCW
inspections, including the first sequential inspection to take place in
Australia.
During October/November 1999, the OPCW
carried out sequential inspections at two commercial large-scale Schedule 3
production facilities, one located in Western Australia and the other in Queensland. Inspectors checked consistency of activities
with declarations and confirmed the absence of any Schedule 1 chemical at both
sites. The OPCW agreed with the
assessments of both ASNO and the facility operators that facility agreements
under the CWC were not warranted in either case. Given the geographic location of the two sites, facilitating the
smooth transfer of inspectors and their equipment between sites was a major
logistical challenge.
The third OPCW inspection took place in
February 2000 at a commercial facility producing a Schedule 3 chemical in
significant quantities. As with the
earlier inspections, the accuracy of the declaration and the absence of
Schedule 1 chemistry on-site were checked.
Again the OPCW agreed with the assessments of both ASNO and the facility
operator that a facility agreement was not warranted.
The second systematic re-inspection of
Australias single declarable Schedule 1 facilitythe Defence Science and
Technology Organisation Aeronautical and Maritime Research Laboratories in
Maribyrnong, Victoriatook place in April 2000. In accordance with CWC requirements, the objective of the
inspection was to verify the information provided in Australias declarations
with respect to this facility, and that Schedule 1 chemicals were not being
diverted or used in undeclared activities.
Other Article VI declarations and
notifications to the OPCW during 1999-2000 included: six advance notifications
of proposed imports of Schedule 1 chemicals; notifications in relation to
approval of inspectors designated to Australia; and as a means of promoting
transparency and consistency amongst States Parties, details of the criteria
which Australia had used for reporting Schedule 2 and 3 aggregate national data
and for making plant site declarations.
In accordance with obligations under
Article X, and for the purposes of promoting transparency between States
Parties, ASNO submitted to the OPCW an annual declaration of Australias
national chemical defence program. ASNO
worked closely with the Department of Defence in compiling this declaration.
During November 1999, Mr Jos Bustani,
Director-General of the OPCW, visited Australia, including a visit to ASNO
where he discussed a range of CWC related issues. In particular, this visit provided a useful opportunity to
explain to Mr Bustani our initiatives with regard to both raising public
awareness of the CWC in Australia and ASNOé s involvement in regional and
international work relating to effective implementation of the Convention.
ASNO (alternately Dr Geoffrey Shaw,
Head CWC Implementation and Mr Andrew Leask, AS ASNO) actively
participated in a series of industry cluster meetings convened by the OPCW and
held in The Hague on an approximately quarterly basis, to resolve outstanding
technical issues faced by States Parties in implementing the CWC. Issues included, inter alia: low concentration limits for plant site declarations
and international transfers of Scheduled chemicals; rounding rules for plant
site declarations; access to records during Schedule 2 and 3 inspections; and
Schedule 3 plant site selection methodology.
In addition, Dr Shaw was invited by
the OPCW Technical Secretariat to present a paper to the second Annual Meeting
of National Authorities and Chemical Industry, held in The Hague in May 2000
and attended by delegates from over 100 States Parties. The aim of such international meetings is to
promote transparency and cooperation between national authorities, including
regional cooperation, as a means of improving the effectiveness of national
implementation of the Convention.
Drawing upon practical experiences, Dr Shaws presentation focused
on Australian experiences with import-export control under the CWC and the
harmonised export system. Following on
from this meeting, Dr Shaw participated in the OPCW Fifth Conference of
States Parties.
Dealings with other States Parties
Following an invitation from the Government
of Vietnam, ASNO, in conjunction with the OPCW, organised and participated in a
CWC workshop in Hanoi during November 1999. The aim of the workshop was to provide
practical assistance to Vietnamese officials to help them understand and
implement national obligations under the CWC.
ASNO has received a request from another State Party to provide similar
assistance.
Dr Shaw received an invitation to make
a presentation on Australias implementation experiences at the inaugural
Singapore CWC Regional Forum, held in Singapore in May 2000, and attended by
delegates from approximately 25 countries.
This provided a good opportunity to advance Australias position on a
number of technical implementation issues, while bilateral discussions with
other delegates at the meeting provided useful insights into how the CWC is
being implemented in a number of ASEAN States.
ASNO continued its extensive liaison with
counterparts in Canada throughout the year in providing assistance with respect
to enacting implementing CWC legislation and coordinating efforts at industry
cluster meetings. Also ASNO continued
to liaise with New Zealand counterparts to help them identify potentially
declarable CWC activities in that country.
In collaboration with the Royal Australian
Chemical Institute (RACI), the Department of Defence and the OPCW, ASNO has
commenced preparations to host a regional CWC workshop in Melbourne in May
2001. The focus of the meeting will be
twofold: namely to facilitate the exchange of information and experiences; and
to promote cooperation amongst participants, especially at the government, industry
and academic levels. A national symposium building upon tangible ideas from the
workshop will follow immediately. It is
intended that this symposium will target domestic industry and academic
representatives.
Performance Assessment
By providing accurate and timely
declarations and notifications to the OPCW, ASNO has maintained Australias
strong record of performance in meeting its CWC commitments. Recognition of excellence is reflected in
invitations from the OPCW and other States Parties to participate in
international meetings and to present on Australias experiences in
implementing the Convention.
The four inspections conducted by the OPCW
during the year proceeded smoothly.
While inspectors were able to fulfil their mandate, ASNO ensured that
legitimate commercial and other activities were not unduly affected by these
exercises. Inspection reports reflected
well upon the performance of ASNO in effectively facilitating these
inspections.
A number of recommendations resulting from
the series of industry cluster meetings were adopted by the 5th
Conference of States Parties in May 2000.
Following the implementation workshop,
Vietnam was able to submit its initial CWC declaration. Formal expressions of gratitude for
assistance provided either at the workshop in the case of Vietnam, or
throughout the year in the case of Canada, have been received from respective
Governments.
Milestone D2
Activities and facilities in Australia
relevant to CWC declarations are identified and the systems of permits and
notifications established by the Chemical
Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994, and Regulation 5J of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations
are operated effectively and/or amended as necessary.
Activities
Permits and Notifications
During the year ASNO identified one
additional facility which required a permit under the Act to process a Schedule
2 chemical.
Scheduled Chemical Facilities held at 30 June 2000
Subsection
19(4)
19(5)
19(6)
18(1)
18(1)
Facility
Schedule 1
Schedule 1
Schedule 1
Schedule 2
Schedule 3
Type
Protective facility
Research facility
Consumption facility
Processing facility
Production facility
Number
1
7
2
11
4
Valid
notifications under subsection 29(1) were received from 49 companies in
relation to production of discrete organic chemicals during 1999.
ASNO provided reminders to each company or
organisation of their obligations to ensure legislative requirements were met.
Industry Consultations
As from May 2000, the OPCW verification
regime has been extended to cover facilities producing unscheduled discrete
organic chemicals. While the
probability of any one site receiving an inspection is low, ASNO has,
nonetheless, been active in consulting with industry to advise of this
possibility and provided details on how such inspections may work in
practice. To this end, ASNO has
published and distributed information packages to all potentially affected
facilities, in addition to carrying out a series of comprehensive on-site
consultations with facility representatives.
Amendments to Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations
Minor amendments to Regulation 5J of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations,
necessary to implement an OPCW Executive Council decision with respect to
international trade in the CWC Schedule 1 chemical saxitoxin, and to regulate
the import of CWC Schedule 2 and 3 chemicals from January 2000, received Royal
Assent in December 1999.
The amendments mean that import licensing
arrangements have been extended to cover Schedule 2 and 3 chemicals. However, as Australias reporting
obligations for Schedule 2 and 3 chemicals are less intensive than for those
applying to Schedule 1 chemicals, a simplified licensing arrangement has been
introduced which allows for multiple shipments of a particular Schedule 2 or 3
chemical in any given year.
The need to regulate Schedule 2 and 3
chemicals has arisen because, as from April 2000, trade in Schedule 2 chemicals
is restricted to CWC States Parties, while similar trade restrictions may also
extend to Schedule 3 chemicals from April 2002. The permit system introduced clarifies the legislative basis for
Australia collecting the international trade data needed to fulfil Treaty
obligations, and also ensures Australia does not inadvertently breach
Convention obligations by importing Schedule 2 chemicals from non-States
Parties.
ASNO published and distributed
approximately 500 information packages to importers detailing the change to the
import regulations as pertaining to CWC Scheduled chemicals. In addition, ASNO personally contacted all
known importers of CWC Schedules chemicals to explain these amendments.
During the year, ASNO issued 28 import
permits covering Schedule 2 and 3 chemicals, and 3 permits covering Schedule 1
chemicals.
While permits to import Schedule 2 and
Schedule 3 chemicals have been required since January 2000, in order to collect
trade data for 1999 ASNO was required to conduct an extensive survey of
chemical importers. Therefore over 220
importers were contacted, although it transpired that very few companies
actually imported Schedule 2 and 3 chemicals (less than 25 companies were
identified).
Performance Assessment
The system of permits and notifications
operated satisfactorily during 1999-2000.
As indicated, ASNO was very pro-active in assisting Australian industry
to make the various declarations and in notifying industry of changes, such as
commencement of the OPCW inspection regime for non-Scheduled chemical producers
and changes to import requirements for Scheduled chemicals. Australian industry has expressed strong
appreciation for ASNO's efforts in this regard.
Amendments to Regulation 5J of the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations
were agreed with Customs, proceeded through Executive Council and received Royal Assent in December 1999.
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