Chemical Weapons Convention is an international arms control treaty signed by participating countries on 13 January 1993 and made effective on 29 April 1997. The treaty prohibits production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons and their precursors. It is administered by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an intergovernmental organization based in The Hague, The Netherlands. The member states are obliged is to prohibit the use of chemical weapons and also destroy their current chemical weapons stockpile. The chemical weapon destruction activities are supervised by OPCW.
Below are a few key points of convention: - Prohibition of production and use of chemical weapons, - Destruction (or monitored conversion to other functions) of chemical weapons production facilities, - Destruction of all chemical weapons (including chemical weapons abandoned outside the state parties territory), - Assistance between State Parties and the OPCW in the case of use of chemical weapons, - An OPCW inspection regime for the production of chemicals which might be converted to chemical weapons, - International cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry in relevant areas.