UNCLAS THE HAGUE 002576

SIPDIS

STATE FOR AC/CB, NP/CBM, VC/CCB, L/ACV, IO/S
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISP
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (GOLDMAN)
NSC FOR CHUPA
WINPAC FOR FOLEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL EIND ETTC CWC
SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): DELINEATION OF
INDUSTRY PLANTS AND PLANT SITES

This is CWC-101-03.

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Delineation of Industry Plants and Plant Sites
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1. On 2 October 2003, Larry Denyer, Department of Commerce,
presented the U.S. practice on plant and plant site
delineation that is used to support the declarations and
inspections of industry facilities under the Chemical Weapons
Convention (CWC). This issue underlies many of the past
difficulties and treaty interpretation miscommunications
encountered during U.S. industry inspections. While all such
problems have been resolved via subsequent inspections in the
U.S., the TS inspection teams continue to have inconsistent
approaches to plant/plant site delineation during industry
inspections. In the interest of assisting the TS in
developing a common-approach, the U.S. offered to share its
presentation on plant/plant site delineation routinely
provided to U.S. industry during advance preparation
activities to TS policy and inspection personnel. The
presentation was not a policy discussion on this subject but
rather a presentation of U.S. practice regarding this issue,
and it included discussions on treaty definitional issues,
interpretation and implementation issues, and common
practices meant to avoid a number of declaration and
inspection pitfalls. In attendance from the TS were the
majority of the Inspection Team Leaders, Per Runn (Deputy
Director, Verification Division), Faiza Patel-King
(Verification Division), Mohammed Doudi (Verification
Division), and other staff. Other Del members in attendance
were Brandon Williams, Tom Underwood, and Lisa Benthien.



2. The U.S. message was well received. In addition to a
number of specific questions, TS staff presented a number of
hypothetical plant site scenarios for discussion. Given that
the U.S. sees the application of this methodology as a
successful approach to inspection management over the past
2-plus years, the TS questioned whether the U.S. would be
comfortable if other States Parties used the same approach.
The Del assured the TS that it would be and pointed out that
such consistency on all parts could lead to smoother
inspection execution. From the discussions, it is clear that
the TS remains fractured on their understanding of plant site
delineation. While some of the team leaders retained
positions that fencelines should in all cases be the starting
point for plant site delineation regardless of ownership or
operational control issues, other team leaders offered
support for the U.S. delineation process. Much of the
misunderstandings appear to be related to U.S. legal and
constitutional processes (e.g., limitations on USG in
querying companies on submitted declarations and warrants,
holdings and 'search and seizure' issues). Much explanation
of how the U.S. establishes the requirements for, solicits,
collects and analyzes declarations and the impact of this
process on advance and host team activities was provided.
The TS expressed appreciation for the U.S. initiative in
discussing this issue.


3. Javits sends.

SOBEL