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Key Terms From 'Prospects for Progress: an Interview with Ambassador Tibor Toth'
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Key Terms: Compliance Measures
DECLARATIONS
Declarations: The initial step for ensuring compliance with the Biological Weapons Convention, under which states-parties will be required to submit information on facilities and activities relevant to the BWC. The scope of the declaration net—exactly what types of facilities and activities states-parties will have to declare—remains a point of contention.
VISITS
Clarification Visits: A visit by the technical secretariat that would occur after a consultation process—which could involve written clarification and a meeting—fails to resolve concern over an "ambiguity, uncertainty, anomaly or omission" in a state-party's declaration. Whether these visits would be mandatory or include undeclared facilities are points of contention.
Randomly Selected or Transparency Visits: Mandatory, infrequent visits to states-parties by the technical secretariat that will be selected on a random basis to increase transparency of declared facilities and activities. Whether these visits should also be used to verify the accuracy of declarations is disputed.
Voluntary Assistance Visits: Visits by the technical secretariat that are initiated by states-parties to obtain technical advice or to acquire information on the protocol's implementation.
INVESTIGATIONS
Facility Investigations: Investigations to facilities suspected of conducting biological weapons-related activity.
Field Investigations: Investigations to areas in which biological weapons-use is suspected or in which a disease outbreak is suspected to be related to BWC-prohibited activity.
Other Terms
Australia Group: An informal body comprised of 30 member states and one observer (the European Commission) that has met annually since 1985 to coordinate export controls for items that could be used in biological and chemical weapons production.
Brackets: In the rolling text, words in brackets are considered disputed text.
Chairman's Text: A draft of the protocol that the Ad Hoc Group chairman intends to issue at a later date. It will replace the rolling text as a basis for the negotiations and include compromises on language that will hopefully promote a quick conclusion to the negotiations.
Executive Council: The executive decision-making body of the future BWC protocol implementing organization. It will be comprised of representatives from states-parties and oversee the activities of the technical secretariat.
Friends of the Chair: Delegates appointed by the chairman of the Ad Hoc Group to draft text, lead discussions, and advise the chairman on specific portions of the rolling text.
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons: The Chemical Weapons Convention's implementing organization, based in The Hague.
Rolling Text: A draft of the protocol used as the basis for negotiations since the summer of 1997. It is usually updated and reissued after each Ad Hoc Group session to reflect changes made during the session.
Technical Secretariat: A body within the future BWC protocol implementing organization that will have no political power and will primarily be responsible for carrying out the activities mandated by the protocol.