1. The Final Declaration of the Third Review Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, in the section dealing with the review of Article XII of the Convention, contained the following decision:

"The Conference decides that a Fourth Review Conference shall be held in Geneva at the request of a majority of States Parties not later than 1996*."

2. By resolution 50/79, adopted without a vote on 12 December 1995, the General Assembly, inter alia, noted that, at the request of the States Parties, a Fourth Review Conference of the Parties to the Convention would be held at Geneva from 25 November to 13 December 1996, and that, following appropriate consultations, a Preparatory Committee for that Conference had been formed, open to all Parties to the Convention, and that the Committee would meet in Geneva from 9 to 12 April 1996.

3. The Preparatory Committee held four meetings at Geneva from 9 to 10 April 1996.

4. The Preparatory Committee, at its 1st meeting, on 9 April, elected by acclamation Ambassador Sir Michael Weston (United Kingdom) as Chairman of the Committee.

5. Also at its 1st meeting, the Committee unanimously elected Ambassador Jorge Berguño (Chile) and Ambassador Tibor Toth (Hungary) as Vice­Chairmen of the Committee. The Committee authorized the Bureau to handle technical and other matters in the period before the Review Conference was convened.

6. The following 65 States Parties to the Convention participated in the session of the Preparatory Committee: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America, Viet Nam.

7. On behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ogunsola Ogunbanwo, Senior Coordinator of the Disarmament Fellowship, Training and Advisory Services Programme, Centre for Disarmament Affairs, Department of Political Affairs, opened the session of the Preparatory Committee. Mr. Ogunbanwo also served as Secretary of the Committee.

8. The Committee decided to take its decisions by consensus.

9. The Committee decided to use Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish as official languages.

10. The Committee, taking note of their written requests, decided to invite the representatives of States Signatories of the Convention, namely, Egypt and Morocco, to participate in its discussions without the right to take part in the making of decisions.

11. The Committee agreed to recommend to the Fourth Review Conference that Ambassador Sir Michael Weston (United Kingdom) preside over the Fourth Review Conference. The Committee also agreed to recommend to the Fourth Review Conference the following distribution of posts of Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen of the subsidiary bodies, among the various Groups:

12. In the course of its session the Committee considered the following questions relating to the organization of the Review Conference:

(a) Date and duration;

(b) Provisional agenda;

(c) Draft Rules of Procedure;

(d) Background documentation;

(e) Final document(s).

Date and duration

13. The Committee decided that the Conference should take place in Geneva from 25 November to 6 December 1996.

Provisional Agenda

14. The Committee agreed to recommend as the provisional agenda of the Fourth Review Conference the agenda of the Third Review Conference, as contained in document BWC/CONF.III/1, with the following change:

A new item 12 was included, entitled "12. Consideration of the work of the Ad Hoc Group established by the Special Conference in 1994.", and the subsequent agenda items were renumbered accordingly.

15. The provisional agenda, as approved by the Committee, is attached to this report as annex I.

Draft Rules of Procedure

16. The Committee agreed to recommend as the draft Rules of Procedure of the Fourth Review Conference the Rules of Procedure of the Third Review Conference, as contained in document BWC/CONF.III/23.

17. The draft Rules of Procedure, as approved by the Committee, are attached to this report as annex II.

18. The Committee agreed to recommend that, with respect to Rule 5, the Review Conference should elect a Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen of the Drafting Committee.

19. The Committee further agreed to recommend that the General Committee referred to in Rule 8 should be composed of the President of the Review Conference, the 20 Vice-Presidents (10 from the Group of Non-Aligned and Other States, 6 from the Western Group, and 4 from the Group of Eastern European States) and the Chairman and the 2 Vice-Chairmen of the Committee of the Whole, the Chairman and the 2 Vice-Chairmen of the Drafting Committee, the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman of the Credentials Committee, to be elected in accordance with Rule 5, and the 3 Regional Group Coordinators.

Background documentation

20. The Preparatory Committee decided to request the United Nations Secretary­General to prepare a background information document providing, in summary tabular form, data on the participation of States Parties in the agreed confidence-building measures since the last Review Conference.

21. The Preparatory Committee decided to request the Secretariat to compile a background information document on compliance by States Parties with all their obligations under the Convention. For the purpose of compiling this document, the Secretariat would request States Parties to provide information regarding compliance with all the provisions of the Convention. The Committee also decided to invite States Parties that wished to do so, including the Depositary Governments, to submit to the Secretariat information on new scientific and technological developments relevant to the Convention. This information should cover the applications being made of such developments and their relevance to various aspects of the Convention.

22. The Committee also decided that all background documentation should be circulated not later than four weeks before the opening of the Conference.

Publicity

23. Regarding publicity for the Review Conference, the Committee decided to request the Secretariat to issue press releases for the meetings of the Review Conference.

Final document(s)

24. With respect to the question of final document(s) of the Review Conference, the Preparatory Committee decided to include an appropriate item in the provisional agenda of the Conference (see annex I).

25. Within the context of draft Rule 10 providing for a Secretary-General of the Review Conference, the Committee decided to invite the Secretary-General of the United Nations, in consultation with the members of the Preparatory Committee, to nominate an official to act on behalf of the Committee as Provisional Secretary­General of the Review Conference, the nominee to be confirmed by the Review Conference in accordance with the Rules of Procedure.

26. The Preparatory Committee considered preliminary estimates, prepared by the Secretariat, of the costs of the Committee and of the fourth Review Conference. It was agreed to revise these estimates to take into account the fact that the session of the Preparatory Committee was considerably shorter than had been envisaged and that it had been agreed that the Fourth Review Conference would meet for two weeks and would be unlikely to require more than 36 meetings with interpretation services. It was agreed to delete the provision for a Secretariat legal affairs officer from New York to attend the Fourth Review Conference since it seemed unlikely that the work of the Conference would require such expertise; if, in the event, legal advice from the Secretariat was required, it was agreed that this could be provided by telephone or facsimile. These decisions of the Preparatory Committee were reflected in document BWC/CONF.IV/PC/3.

27. At its 4th and last meeting, on 10 April 1996, the Preparatory Committee adopted its report. It recommended that this report, without its annexes, be annexed to the final document of the Fourth Review Conference.

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