[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 7 (Monday, February 20, 1995)]
[Pages 256-257]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on the Proliferation of Chemical and Biological 
Weapons

February 16, 1995

To the Congress of the United States:

    On November 16, 1990, in light of the dangers of the proliferation 
of chemical and biological weapons, President Bush issued Executive 
Order No. 12735, and declared a national emergency under the 
International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.). 
Under section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 
1622(d)), the national emergency terminates on the anniversary date of 
its declaration unless the President publishes in the Federal Register 
and transmits to the Congress a notice of its continuation.
    On November 14, 1994, I issued Executive Order No. 12938, which 
revoked and superseded Executive Order No. 12735. As I described in the 
report transmitting Executive Order No. 12938, the new Executive order 
consolidates the functions of Executive Order No. 12735, which declared 
a national emergency with respect to the proliferation of chemical and 
biological weapons, and Executive Order No. 12930, which declared a 
national emergency with respect to nuclear, biological, and chemical 
weapons, and their means of delivery. The new Executive order continued 
in effect any rules, regulations, orders, licenses, or other forms of 
administrative action taken under the authority of Executive order No. 
12735. This is the final report with respect to Executive Order No. 
12735.
    This report is made pursuant to section 204 of the International 
Emergency Economic Powers Act and section 401(c) of the National 
Emergencies Act regarding activities taken and money spent pursuant to 
the emergency declaration. Additional information on chemical and 
biological weapons proliferation is contained in the annual report to 
the Congress provided pursuant to the Chemical and Biological Weapons 
Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
    The three export control regulations issued under the Enhanced 
Proliferation Control Initiative are fully in force and continue to be 
used to control the export of items with potential use in chemical or 
biological weapons (CBW) or unmanned delivery systems for weapons of 
mass destruction.
    During the final 6 months of Executive Order No. 12735, the United 
States continued to address actively in its international diplomatic 
efforts the problem of the proliferation and use of CBW.
    At the termination of Executive Order No. 12735, 158 nations had 
signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and 16 had ratified it. On 
November 23, 1993, I submitted the CWC to the Senate for its advice and 
consent to ratification. The United States continues to press for prompt 
ratification of the Convention to enable its entry into force as soon as 
possible. We also continue to urge those countries that have not signed 
the Convention to do so. The United States has remained actively engaged 
in the work of the CWC Preparatory Commission headquar- tered in The 
Hague, to elaborate the tech- 

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nical and administrative procedures for implementing the Convention.
    The United States was an active participant in the Special 
Conference of States Parties, held September 19-30, 1994, to review the 
consensus final report of the Ad Hoc Group of experts mandated by the 
Third Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Review conference. The Special 
Conference produced a mandate to establish an Ad Hoc Group whose 
objective is to develop a legally binding instrument to strengthen the 
effectiveness and improve the implementation of the BWC. The United 
States strongly supports the development of a legally binding protocol 
to strengthen the Convention.
    The United States maintained its active participation in the 
Australia Group (AG), which welcomed the Czech Republic, Poland, and 
Slovakia as the 26th, 27th, and 28th AG members, respectively. The Group 
reaffirmed members' collective belief that full adherence to the CWC and 
the BWC provides the only means to achieve a permanent global ban on 
CBW, and that all states adhering to these conventions have an 
obligation to ensure that their national activities support these goals.
    The AG also reiterated its conviction that harmonized AG export 
licensing measures are consistent with and indeed actively support, the 
requirement under Article I of the CWC that States Parties never assist, 
in any way, the manufacture of chemical weapons. These measures also are 
consistent with the undertaking in Article XI of the CWC to facilitate 
the fullest possible exchange of chemical materials and related 
information for purposes not prohibited by the Convention, as they focus 
solely on preventing assistance to activities banned under the CWC. 
Similarly, such efforts also support existing nonproliferation 
obligations under the BWC.
    The United States Government determined that one foreign individual 
and two foreign commercial entities--respectively, Nahum Manbar, and 
Mana International Investments and Europol Holding Ltd.--had engaged in 
chemical weapons proliferation activities that required the imposition 
of trade sanctions against them, effective on July 16, 1994. A separate 
determination was made and sanctions imposed against Alberto di Salle, 
an Italian national, effective on August 19, 1994. Additional 
information on these determinations will be contained in a classified 
report to the Congress, provided pursuant to the Chemical and Biological 
Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991.
    Pursuant to section 401(c) of the National Emergencies Act, I report 
that there were no expenses directly attributable to the exercise of 
authorities conferred by the declaration of the national emergency in 
Executive Order No. 12735 during the period from November 16, 1990, 
through November 14, 1994.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
February 16, 1995.