Canada

Canada proposes the establishment of a BWC Secretariat, or an “implementation support unit,” mandated to carry out specific activities, potentially including:

• Tracking implementation and preparing an annual overview of the status of national implementation
• Working with States Parties to improve performance in implementation, including providing assistance in drafting legislation and regulations, and enhanced CBM support
• Facilitating and supporting the efforts of member states to achieve universal adherence to the Convention
• Serving as a “clearing house” in conveying requests for implementation assistance to members willing to provide it
• Providing preparation, substantive service to and institutional memory for annual meetings
• Coordinating with other fora and International Organizations (IOs) whose mandates and work are relevant to the BWC

The European Union

The EU proposes that the States Parties establish, finance and agree on a mandate for an enhanced BWC Secretariat, or an “implementation support unit.” hosted within the UN Department of Disarmament Affairs (UNDDA) in Geneva, with only minor increases in costs over the current arrangement of meeting support. The support unit would be assigned tasks such as:

• Providing a central point of contact and standard channel for communication among member states for all matters concerning the Convention and its implementation
• Assisting members in their efforts to promote universal adherence to the Convention
• Acting as a “clearing house” to match requests from members for assistance with national implementation, submission of CBMs, bio-security and preparedness with offers of such assistance from other States Parties
• Maintaining a reference collection of existing national implementing legislation, model legislation, international standards, guidelines, codes of conduct, manuals and other resources, providing an annual overview of newly enacted national implementing legislation, and providing basic advice to members on drafting relevant legislation
• Collecting and circulating the annual CBMs, and providing reminders and basic advice to members on preparing and submitting CBMs .
• Assisting the Depositaries (Russia, UK, US) with Convention administration
• Supporting the intersessional process by conducting research on assigned topics, preparing background papers, and liaising with relevant organizations.
• Carrying out other tasks that States Parties consider useful and necessary.

Latin American Group

The Latin American Group proposes the creation of a “Support Facility” whose main functions would be:

• To analyze information received from CBM reports
• To provide assistance to States Parties for submitting CBM reports, when requested
• To provide assistance to members on domestic legislation, when requested
• To develop a database on national standards and legislation related to the Convention
• To create a mechanism for the management of confidential information
• To prepare documentation for meetings related to the Convention
• To provide advice on technical and procedural issues to the Chairman and the States Parties at the meetings of the Convention
• To carry out actions aimed at promoting universalization
• To facilitate the linkage between members and depositaries, international organizations, scientific and academic institutions, as well as non governmental organizations
• To maintain and update the website of the Biological Weapons Convention

Norway

Norway proposes a lean, cost-effective, highly competent and balanced (geographically and gender) Secretariat, or an “implementation support unit,” located within UNDDA but with little or no additional financing, that could:

• Be in charge of the preparations for intergovernmental meetings
• Receive CBM reports from, and disseminate them to, States Parties, providing reminders and assistance as needed
• Draw up an annual report on the CBMs for the States Parties
• Function as a clearing house for technical cooperation on legislation, biosafety and biosecurity without duplicating other relevant institutions, and facilitate technical cooperation between members at their request
• Work systematically towards full universalisation of the BWC
• Maintain regular contact with relevant organizations
• Provide support to the UN Secretary General in the event of a suspicious outbreak of disease, by up-dating the Secretary General’s response mechanism.
• Facilitate consultations between States Parties if and when article V is invoked.

What has not been proposed thus far

Several topics have thus far not been proposed by any State Party, although they have been discussed in pre-Review Conference meetings and by non-governmental organizations. Examples include:

• That the institutional support body provide updates on science and technology
• The establishment of a national authority and contact points in each State Party for implementation of the BWC
• The establishment of a scientific advisory panel, or alternately, a scientific and technical advisors network
• The establishment of a legal advisory panel, or alternately, a legal advisors network
• The establishment of a confidence-building measures unit
• The establishment of a group of experts to consider issues related to investigations and inspections under the BWC

For additional information, see the report of the meeting in Glion, Switzerland, the article by Sims, and the recent report from VERTIC “A new strategy: strengthening the biological weapons regime through modular mechanisms.”