[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 17 (Monday, April 28, 1997)]
[Pages 582-584]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on the Chemical Weapons Convention

April 25, 1997

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 that:
        In connection with Condition (1), Effect of Article XXII, the 
      United States has informed all other States Parties to the 
      Convention that the Senate reserves the right, pursuant to the 
      Constitution of the United States, to give its advice and consent 
      to ratification of the Convention subject to reservations, 
      notwithstanding Article XXII of the Convention.
        In connection with Condition (7), Continuing Vitality of the 
      Australia Group and National Export Controls: (i) nothing in the 
      Convention obligates the United States to accept any modification, 
      change in scope, or weakening of its national export controls; 
      (ii) the United States understands that the maintenance of 
      national restrictions on trade in chemicals and chemical 
      production technology is fully compatible with the provisions of 
      the Convention, including Article XI(2), and solely within the 
      sovereign jurisdiction of the United States; (iii) the Convention 
      preserves the right of State Parties, unilaterally or 
      collectively, to maintain or impose export controls on chemicals 
      and related chemical production technology for foreign policy or 
      national security reasons, notwithstanding Article XI(2); and (iv) 
      each Australia Group member, at the highest

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      diplomatic levels, has officially communicated to the United 
      States Government its understanding and agreement that export 
      control and nonproliferation measures which the Australia Group 
      has undertaken are fully compatible with the provisions of the 
      Convention, including Article XI(2), and its commitment to 
      maintain in the future such export controls and nonproliferation 
      measures against non-Australia Group members.
        In connection with Condition (9), Protection of Advanced 
      Biotechnology, the legitimate commercial activities and interests 
      of chemical, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical firms in the United 
      States are not being significantly harmed by the limitations of 
      the Convention on access to, and production of, those chemicals 
      and toxins listed in Schedule 1 of the Annex on chemicals.
        In connection with Condition (15), Assistance Under Article X, 
      the United States shall not provide assistance under paragraph 
      7(a) of Article X, and, for any State Party the government of 
      which is not eligible for assistance under chapter 2 of part II 
      (relating to military assistance) or chapter 4 of part II 
      (relating to economic support assistance) of the Foreign 
      Assistance Act of 1961: (i) no assistance under paragraph 7(b) of 
      Article X will be provided to the State Party; and (ii) no 
      assistance under paragraph 7(c) of Article X other than medical 
      antidotes and treatment will be provided to the State Party.
        In connection with Condition (18), Laboratory Sample Analysis, 
      no sample collected in the United States pursuant to the 
      Convention will be transferred for analysis to any laboratory 
      outside the territory of the United States.
        In connection with Condition (26), Riot Control Agents, the 
      United States is not restricted by the Convention in its use of 
      riot control agents, including the use against combatants who are 
      parties to a conflict, in any of the following cases: (i) the 
      conduct of peacetime military operations within an area of ongoing 
      armed conflict when the United States is not a party to the 
      conflict (such as recent use of the United States Armed Forces in 
      Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda); (ii) consensual peacekeeping 
      operations when the use of force is authorized by the receiving 
      state, including operations pursuant to Chapter VI of the United 
      Nations Charter; and (iii) peacekeeping operations when force is 
      authorized by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United 
      Nations Charter.
        In connection with Condition (27), Chemical Weapons Destruction, 
      all the following conditions are satisfied: (A) I have agreed to 
      explore alternative technologies for the destruction of the United 
      States stockpile of chemical weapons in order to ensure that the 
      United States has the safest, most effective and environmentally 
      sound plans and programs for meeting its obligations under the 
      convention for the destruction of chemical weapons; (B) the 
      requirement in section 1412 of Public Law 99-145 (50 U.S.C. 1521) 
      for completion of the destruction of the United States stockpile 
      of chemical weapons by December 31, 2004, will be superseded upon 
      the date the Convention enters into force with respect to the 
      United States by the deadline required by the Convention of April 
      29, 2007; (C) the requirement in Article III(1)(a)(v) of the 
      Convention for a declaration by each State Party not later than 30 
      days after the date the Convention enters into force with respect 
      to that Party, on general plans of the State Party for destruction 
      of this chemical weapons does not preclude in any way the United 
      States from deciding in the future to employ a technology for the 
      destruction of chemical weapons different than that declared under 
      that Article; and (D) I will consult with the Congress on whether 
      to submit a request to the Executive Council of the Organization 
      for an extension of the deadline for the destruction of chemical 
      weapons under the Convention, as provided under Part IV(A) of the 
      Annex on Implementation and Verification to the Convention, if, as 
      a result of the pro

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      gram of alternative technologies for the destruction of chemical 
      munitions carried out under section 8065 of the Department of 
      Defense Appropriations Act of 1997 (as contained in Public Law 
      104-208), I determine that alternatives to the incineration of 
      chemical weapons are available that are safer and more 
      environmentally sound but whose use would preclude the United 
      States from meeting the deadlines of the Convention.
        In connection with Condition (28), Constitutional Protection 
      Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure: (i) for any challenge 
      inspection conducted on the territory of the United States 
      pursuant to Article IX, where consent has been withheld, the 
      United States National Authority will first obtain a criminal 
      search warrant based upon probable cause, supported by oath or 
      affirmation, and describing with particularity the place to be 
      searched and the persons or things to be seized; and (ii) for any 
      routine inspection of a declared facility under the Convention 
      that is conducted on an involuntary basis on the territory of the 
      United States, the United States National Authority first will 
      obtain an administrative search warrant from a United States 
      magistrate judge.
    In accordance with Condition (26) on Riot Control Agents, I have 
certified that the United States is not restricted by the Convention in 
its use of riot control agents in various peacetime and peacekeeping 
operations. These are situations in which the United States is not 
engaged in a use of force of a scope, duration and intensity that would 
trigger the laws of war with respect to U.S. forces.
    In connection with Condition (4)(A), Cost Sharing Arrangements, 
which calls for a report identifying all cost-sharing arrangements with 
the Organization, I hereby report that because the Organization is not 
yet established and will not be until after entry into force of the 
Convention, as of this date there are no cost-sharing arrangements 
between the United States and the Organization to identify. However, we 
will be working with the Organization upon its establishment to develop 
such arrangements with it and will provide additional information to the 
Congress in the annual reports contemplated by this Condition.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
April 25, 1997.