[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 51 (Thursday, April 30, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H2693]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CERTIFICATION IN CONNECTION WITH EFFECTIVENESS OF AUSTRALIAN GROUP 
 REGARDING EXPORT OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS-RELATED MATERIALS 
                 AND TECHNOLOGY (H. DOC. NO. 105-246 )

  The SPEAKER pro tempore laid before the House the following message 
from the President of the United States; which was read and, together 
with the accompanying papers, without objection, referred to the 
Committee on International Relations and ordered to be printed:
To the Congress of the United States:
  In accordance with the resolution of advice and consent to 
ratification of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, 
Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their 
Destruction, adopted by the Senate of the United States on April 24, 
1997, I hereby certify in connection with Condition (7)(C)(i), 
Effectiveness of Australia Group, that;
  Australia Group members continue to maintain an equally effective or 
more comprehensive control over the export of toxic chemicals and their 
precursors, dual-use processing equipment, human, animal and plant 
pathogens and toxins with potential biological weapons application, and 
dual-use biological equipment, as that afforded by the Australia Group 
as of April 25, 1997; and
  The Australia Group remains a viable mechanism for limiting the 
spread of chemical and biological weapons-related materials and 
technology, and that the effectiveness of the Australia Group has not 
been undermined by changes in membership, lack of compliance with 
common export controls and nonproliferation measures, or the weakening 
of common controls and nonproliferation measures, in force as of April 
25, 1997.
                                                  William J. Clinton.  
  The White House, April 29, 1998.

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