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CONTENTS
Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Amendment Bill
1997
Date Introduced: 26 November 1997
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Foreign Affairs
Commencement: Royal Assent, except for certain
items specified in the Main Provisions section of this Digest which
are to commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation. Such
provision must commence not later than six months after this Act
receives the Royal Assent.
To make a number of changes designed to improve the
administration of the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act
1994.
Australia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) on 13
January 1993, ratified it on 6 May 1994, and implemented it by
passing the Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994.The
Chemical Weapons Convention Office (CWCO) is a unit of the
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was established on 15
February 1995 as Australia's national authority for CWC
implementation.The Chemical Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994
established a system of permits and notifications which allows the
CWCO to collect information from chemical facility operators in
Australia in order to complete declarations required by the
Convention.
For Australia, which does not have chemical weapons facilities
or stocks to destroy, the main focus of CWC verification is related
to the production and use of the chemicals listed in the
Convention.Historically, parts of the chemical industry have played
a major role in chemical warfare production programs.Industrial dye
production factories supplied chlorine, phosgene and mustard agents
used during World War I.More recently, Iraq's chemical warfare
production used equipment originally designed for the production of
commercial pesticides.(1) The types of chemical processes that are
involved in the production of chemical warfare agents are also very
commonly employed in the production of a large number of legitimate
commercial chemicals.Within the commercial chemical industry, there
are many chemical plants which are not involved in the production
of any of the chemicals that have been used for chemical warfare
purposes, but which would be capable of producing at least some of
them.
Monitoring of the chemical industry under the CWC has two main
elements:
- declaration of activities involving certain chemicals, and the
quantities involved; and
- inspection, to verify that activities are consistent with
declarations and that facilities are not used for purposes
prohibited by the CWC, including the clandestine production of
chemical warfare agents.
Approximately 100 Australian companies and organisations may be
directly affected by the routine requirements of the Chemical
Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994.Around 20 hold permits under
the Act, including companies in the chemical, foam rubber and
textile industries, as well as several non-commercial organisations
such as the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO)
facility at Maribyrnong in Victoria.(2)
The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force on 29 April
1997.Up until now the Chemical Weapons Convention Office has
undertaken the preparatory work required for Australia to meet its
obligations when the Convention entered into force, including:
- liaising with the chemical industry and other areas likely to
be affected;
- identifying and gathering information on industrial chemical
facilities;
- working with declarable facilities to prepare for the
possibility of inspection by the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons, the international body established under the
CWC; and
- putting into place regulatory, administrative and logistic
mechanisms to allow Australia to fulfil its CWC
obligations.(3)
This Bill seeks to improve the operation of the Chemical
Weapons (Prohibition) Act 1994, based on experience gained in
its initial implementation, through simplifying administration of
the Act and reducing the administrative burden on companies and
organisations directly affected.The following changes are included
in the Bill:
- replacement of the yearly permit cycle in the Act, so that
permits may be valid for up to five full calendar years.Provision
for facility operators to retain a permit beyond the year in which
the permit activity ceases or falls below threshold amounts;
- replacement of regulations with approved forms for submitting
information required for declarations of past year activities, and
for any periodic or special reports.The approved forms may be
submitted electronically;
- amendment of the requirement for all notifiers to provide
reports, so that reports may not be required from certain classes
of notifiers; and
- amendment to the permit transfer provisions so that
notification must be given by the transferor.
The effect of Item 4 is to enable electronic
lodgement of permit applications, notifications or reports under
the Act.
The effect of Item 13 is to provide for the
automatic renewal of permits up to a maximum of four times, making
a one year permit valid for up to five years.Item
16 requires the permit holder to notify the Minister for
Foreign Affairs if the ownership of the facility is to be
transferred.
Several amendments proposed by this Bill further clarify
Australia's obligations under the CWC.Item 5
enables regulations to be made defining more precisely the meaning
of the terms 'production', 'processing' and
'consumption'.Item 6 enables regulations to be
made setting out details of the methods by which quantities of
chemicals are to be calculated for the purposes of the Act.The
effect of this amendment is to clarify the definition of those
facilities which are subject to the permit and notification
requirements.
The effect of item 26 is to remove from the
record keeping and reporting obligations certain chemical
facilities which produce hydrocarbons and explosives in a manner to
be specified by regulations (items 21 and 22
refer).Items 27 and 28 allow for the form and
content of reports which are submitted to be defined in an approved
form, rather than specified by regulations. Items 5 to 15,
17 to 22 and 24 to 29 inclusive are to
commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation and not later than
six months after this Act receives Royal Assent.
Inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) may undertake routine compliance inspections of
certain Australian chemical facilities.The effect of items
30 to 51 is to clarify when an international compliance
inspection may take place and the respective roles of the
international and national inspectors.
Item 59 enables regulations to be made
prescribing the diplomatic privileges and immunities to be provided
to certain persons under the Chemical Weapons
Convention.Australia's obligations to provide privileges and
immunities are spelt out in its agreement with the OPCW.Most of the
privileges and immunities required by that Agreement can be
effected through regulations made under the International
Organisations (Privileges and Immunities) Act 1963.The purpose
of item 59 is to allow regulations to be made to
deal with cases where the coverage of that Act is not
sufficient.Items 45, 48 to 50 and 55 to 59
inclusive are to commence on a day to be fixed by Proclamation and
not later than six months after this Act receives the Royal
Assent.
- Office of the Secretary of Defense (U.S.), Proliferation:
threat and response, April 1996, U.S. Government Printing
Office, Washington, 1996: 20 21.
- Chemical Weapons Convention Office, Annual report
1996-1997, AGPS, Canberra, 1997: 49.
- ibid.: 5.
Rosemary Bell
4 December 1997
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1997
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
1997
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