IRAQ ENACTS CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION

UNCLAS BAGHDAD 003428 SENSITIVE SIPDIS SECDEF PASS TO ASD(GSA) BENKERT STATE FOR NEA/I/PM, ISN/CB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL OPCW CWC IZ SUBJECT: IRAQ ENACTS CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION LEGISLATION; NEXT STOP, ACCESSION REF: A. 07 STATE 162259 ¶B. STATE 95569 ¶1. (SBU) After long administrative delays, legislation authorizing the Government of Iraq to accede to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention - CWC) was published in the Official Gazette October 20. The instruments of accession have been prepared and required declarations were shared with U.S. Embassy The Hague in July. ¶2. (SBU) The CWC legislation, passed by the Council of Representatives in November 2007 and signed by the Presidency Council in December 2007, had been languishing at the Ministry of Justice awaiting publication in the Official Gazette, a requirement for the enactment of legislation. With its enactment, the Iraqi National Monitoring Directorate, the National Authority for the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, may proceed with the submission of the instruments of accession to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations. CROCKER