§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the status under the Chemical Weapons Convention of the 3.6 million United States chemical weapons, some of which will not be destroyed until 2004, and whether any international control is to be expected over these chemical weapons or those also as yet undestroyed in the Soviet Union.
§ Baroness Chalker of WallaseyThe Chemical Weapons Convention has not yet entered into force. We expect it to do so in late 1996 or early 1997. States Parties will have to declare any stocks of chemical weapons they hold, and destroy them within a maximum of 15 years. Declarations and destructions will be verified by inspectors from the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The United States and the countries of the former Soviet Union will be subject to these international controls once they have ratified the convention.
The United States and Russia are also negotiating a bilateral agreement, complementary to the Chemical Weapons Convention which would provide for mutual verification of destruction of chemical weapons stockpiles.