As a State Party to the CWC the UK is obligated to declare information on certain chemical activities to the OPCW on an annual basis, this is a key aspect of the Convention’s non-proliferation objectives.
If you produce, process, consume, import or export any quantity of CWC Schedule 2 chemicals; produce, import or export any quantity of CWC Schedule 3 chemicals; or produce above 200 tonnes of Discrete Organic Chemicals (DOC), or above 30 tonnes of any DOC containing the elements Phosphorus, Sulphur or Flourine (DOC/PSF), then you are legally required to declare this information to the CWC UK National Authority.
Information on licensing, declaration and inspection requirements for Schedule 1 chemicals is provided on the Schedule 1 chemicals web page.
Declarations are divided into three annual exercises:
- Annual Past Declaration (APD) - to be submitted by anyone who, in the previous calendar year, produced, processed and/or consumed any Schedule 2 chemicals, and/or produced any Schedule 3 chemicals and/or unscheduled Discrete Organic Chemicals (DOCs) above the prescribed quantities shown below.
- Annual Anticipated Declaration (AAD) - to be submitted by anyone who anticipates, in the next calendar year, producing, processing and/or consuming any Schedule 2 chemicals and/or producing any Schedule 3 chemicals, above the prescribed quantities shown below:
| Activity |
Schedule 2A* |
Schedule 2A |
Schedule 2B |
Schedule 3 |
DOC-PSF |
| Production |
1kg* |
100kg* |
1 Tonne* |
30 Tonnes* |
200 Tonnes of a DOC chemical
30 Tonnes of PSF chemical |
| Processing |
1kg* |
100kg* |
1 Tonne* |
Not required |
Not required |
| Consumption |
1kg* |
100kg* |
1 Tonne* |
Not required |
Not required |
| Import |
Zero |
Zero |
Zero |
Zero |
Not required |
| Export |
Zero |
Zero |
Zero |
Zero |
Not required |
*lesser quantities are still required to be declared as part of the annual AND exercise, as set out below
- Aggregate National Data (AND) – to be submitted by anyone who, in the previous calendar year, produced, processed, consumed, imported and/or exported any Schedule 2 chemicals, and/or produced, imported and/or exported any Schedule 3 chemicals, in any quantity.
The CWC UK National Authority will submit information obtained from the above declaration exercises to the OPCW. All information is subject to national and International confidentiality restrictions and is security protected whilst being provided on-line and being submitted to the OPCW. Sites declaring APD and AAD activities are individually named to the OPCW, with those carrying out activities ten times above the declaration thresholds also subject to the OPCW’s inspection regime. The AND information is in a generalised and aggregated form suitable simply for CWC compliance purposes.
CWC Declarations Database for Submitting Annual Declarations Electronically
All CWC declarations are to be completed and submitted to the CWC UK National Authority on the UK’s CWC Declarations Database web-based internet application.
In order for you to complete the CWC declarations you will need to register your site details with the CWC UK National Authority who will add this information to the Declarations Database. You will then need to sign-up to the CWC Declarations Database where you will be assigned to your site(s). You will also need to add your Company Secretary/Registrar’s details and allocate them as the legal contact for your site.
This process will enable the CWC UK National Authority to commission the AAD, APD & AND documentation to you through the system so that you are able to complete and submit your site’s declarations electronically. Electronic declaration forms and guidance notes are available to signed-up declarers once they access the Database.
Please contact the CWC UK National Authority if you need to register a site, access the Declarations Database, submit declarations for previous years or have any queries regarding declarations.