    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book I)]
    [June 29, 1993]
    [Page 958]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Senate Transmitting the Convention on the Marking of
    Plastic Explosives for Detection
    June 29, 1993

    To the Senate of the United States:
        I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to
    ratification, the Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for
    the Purpose of Detection with Technical Annex, done at Montreal on March
    1, 1991. The report of the Department of State is also enclosed for the
    information of the Senate.
        The terrorist bombing of Pan Am 103 in December 1988 with the
    resultant deaths of 270 (including 189 Americans), and the terrorist
    bombing of UTA flight 772 in September 1989 with the resultant deaths of
    171 (including 7 Americans), dramatically demonstrate the threat posed
    by virtually undetectable plastic explosives in the hands of those
    nations and groups that engage in terrorist savagery.
        This Convention is aimed at precluding such incidents from
    recurring, as well as others where plastic explosives are utilized, by
    requiring States that produce plastic explosives to mark them at the
    time of manufacture with a substance to enhance their detectability by
    commercially available mechanical or canine detectors. States are also
    required to ensure that controls are implemented over the sale, use, and
    disposition of marked and unmarked plastic explosives.
        Work on the Convention began in January 1990 under the auspices of
    the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on the basis of an
    initial draft prepared by a special subcommittee of the ICAO Legal
    Committee. That work was completed, and the Convention was adopted by
    consensus, at an international conference in Montreal in March 1991. The
    United States and 50 other States signed the Convention. Early
    ratification by the United States should encourage other nations to
    become party to the Convention.
        I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration
    to the Convention and give its advice and consent to ratification,
    subject to the declaration described in the accompanying report of the
    Secretary of State.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,
    June 29, 1993.