Chemical Weapons Prohibition

Overview

The Chemical and Biological Weapons Prohibition Division (CBWPD) as a part of the State Office for Nuclear Safety (SONS) is responsible for the technical implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention in the Czech Republic.

The Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (also Chemical Weapons Convention or CWC) is an international convention that entered into force in 1997 with the goal of eliminating chemical weapons and preventing their reemergence.

The duties of CBWPD include international cooperation with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW; www.opcw.org), which oversees the CWC, as well as with colleagues from foreign national authorities.

Within the Czech Republic, the CBWPD ensures that the implementing legislation of the CWC is upheld. These are Act No. 19/1997 Coll., as amended, on some measures concerning chemical weapons prohibition and Decree No. 459/2020 Coll. which list all the obligations that bind subjects within the Czech Republic.

Scheduled Chemicals

The Chemical Weapons Convention lists 3 schedules of chemicals. Act No. 19/1997 Coll. and Decree No. 459/2020 Coll. establish obligations that arise by handling chemicals from these schedules.

List of scheduled chemicals, alternatively visit the official database on the OPCW website.

Licences

Subjects who intend to handle schedule 1 chemicals in any amount are required to request a licence from SONS. The request must be submitted at least 30 days in advance.

A licence may only be granted to a legal entity seated in the Czech Republic, however a natural person must be appointed as a responsible representative. This representative must reside in the Czech Republic, have EU or Swiss citizenship, have a clean criminal record, and have the necessary chemical education as well as 3 years of practice, among other conditions.

For more information and the required forms please contact a CBWPD staff member.

Records-keeping

Subjects who handle any scheduled chemicals, be it from schedule 1, 2 or 3, have an obligation to keep clear records of any movements of these chemicals.

These records may be kept electronically within a system that enables monitoring and tracing of changes, including the originator of these changes. (Examples of satisfactory systems: SAP, Helios, K2. Examples of non-satisfactory systems: MS Excel.)

If records are kept in paper form, individual sheets must be bound together, numbered consecutively and contain a title page including the identification of the company, the record keeper, the scheduled chemicals handled, dates covered, and signatures.

Reports

Subjects are obliged to report their activities to SONS if they:

• Handle any amount of schedule 1 chemicals.
• Handle more than 100 kg of schedule 2 chemicals annually.
• Handle more than 1 t of schedule 3 chemicals annually.
• Produce over 200 t of DOC* chemicals annually.
• Produce over 30 t of PSF** chemicals annually.

*DOC – Discreet Organic Chemicals – include all organic chemicals that are not scheduled, with the exception of explosives, polymers and pure carbohydrates.

**PSF chemicals are DOC chemicals that incorporate an atom of phosphorus, sulfur or fluorine in their structure.

Note: Handling includes development, production, consumption, holding, other forms of acquisition, processing or transfers, which include trade.

More information on reports

National Inspections

The CBWPD regularly conducts physical inspections among all subjects that have an obligation to file reports.

Via inspections:

• We verify, if the subject has upheld the conditions of their licence (in case of schedule 1)
• We verify the accuracy of the reports,
• We check records and compare them with the actual situation,
• We conduct a physical verification of the scheduled chemicals at the site,
• We check whether any other scheduled chemicals are present at the site,
• We prepare the subject for a potential OPCW inspection.

OPCW Inspections

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) may conduct inspections within member states for the purpose of verifying the accuracy of the declaration submitted by the Czech Republic. OPCW inspections are only conducted in facilities that:

• Produce schedule 1 chemicals in any amount,
• Produce, process or consume more than 1 t of schedule 2A chemicals or more than 10 tons of schedule 2B chemicals.
• Produce more than 200 t of schedule 3 chemicals.
• Produce more than 200 t of DOCs or more than 30 t of PSF chemicals.

More information on the OPCW website: What to expect and PIB

Contacts