The Chemical Weapons Convention bans the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention and direct or indirect transfer of Chemical Weapons. It also prohibits the use or preparation for use of CW and the assistance, encouragement, or inducement of anyone else to engage in activities prohibited by the CWC.

Signed by 130 countries in Paris on Jan. 12, 1993, the CWC entered into force on April 29, 1997. As of February 9, 165 countries have signed the CWC, of which 107 have ratified it. See attached list of countries. (Changes from previous list are in bold type.)

CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION SIGNATORIES/RATIFIERS
As of February 9, 1998
TOTAL: MEMBERS = 107; NON-RATIFYING SIGNATORIES = 61
Afghanistan Albania (Ratified 5/11/94) Algeria (Ratified 8/14/95) Argentina (Ratified 10/02/95) Armenia (Ratified 1/27/95) Australia (Ratified 5/6/94) Austria (Ratified 8/17/95) Azerbaijan Bahamas (Signed 3/2/94) Bahrain (Ratified 4/28/97) Bangladesh (Ratified 4/25/97) Belarus (Ratified 7/11/96) Belgium (Ratified 1/27/97) Benin Bhutan (Signed 4/24/97) Bolivia Bosnia-Herzegovina (Ratified 2/25/97) Brazil (Ratified 3/13/96) Brunei Darussalam (Ratified 7/28/97) Bulgaria (Ratified 8/10/94) Burkina Faso (Ratified 7/8/97) Burma (Myanmar) Burundi Cambodia Cameroon (Ratified 9/16/96) Canada (Ratified 9/26/95) Cape Verde Central African Rep. Chad (Signed 10/11/94) Chile (Ratified 7/12/96) China (Ratified 4/25/97) Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands (Ratified 7/15/94) Costa Rica (Ratified 5/31/96) Cote d'Ivoire (Ratified 12/18/95) Croatia (Ratified 5/23/95) Cuba (Ratified 4/29/97) Cyprus Czech Republic (Ratified 3/6/96) Denmark (Ratified 7/12/95) Djibouti (Signed 9/28/93) Dominica (Signed 8/2/93) Dominican Republic Ecuador (Ratified 9/6/95) El Salvador (Ratified 10/30/95) Equatorial Guinea (Ratified 4/25/97) Estonia Ethiopia (Ratified 5/13/96) Fiji (Ratified 1/20/93) Finland (Ratified 2/7/95) France (Ratified 3/2/95) Gabon Gambia Georgia (Ratified 11/27/95) Germany (Ratified 8/12/94)	Ghana (Ratified 7/9/97) Greece (Ratified 12/22/94) Grenada (Signed 4/9/97) Guatemala Guinea (Ratified 6/9/97) Guinea-Bissau Guyana (Ratified 9/12/97) Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary (Ratified 10/31/96) Iceland (Ratified 4/28/97) India (Ratified 9/3/96) Indonesia Iran (Ratified 11/3/97) Ireland (Ratified 6/24/96) Israel Italy (Ratified 12/8/95) Jamaica (Signed 4/18/97) Japan (Ratified 9/15/95) Jordan (Ratified 10/29/97) Kazakhstan Kenya (Ratified 4/27/97) Korea (Rep of) (Ratified 4/28/97) Kuwait (Ratified 5/29/97) Kyrgyzstan (Signed 2/22/93) Laos (P.D.R.) (Ratified 2/25/97) Latvia (Ratified 7/23/96) Lesotho (Signed and Ratified 12/7/94) Liberia Liechtenstein (Signed 7/21/93) Lithuania Luxembourg (Ratified 4/15/97) Macedonia (Ratified 6/20/97) Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives (Ratified 5/31/94) Mali (Ratified 4/28/97) Malta (Ratified 4/28/97) Marshall Islands Mauritania (Ratified 2/9/98) Mauritius (Ratified 2/9/93) Mexico (Ratified 8/29/94) Micronesia Moldova (Rep of)(Ratified 7/8/96) Monaco (Ratified 6/1/95) Mongolia (Ratified 1/17/95) Morocco (Ratified 12/28/95) Namibia (Ratified 11/27/95) Nauru (Rep of) Nepal (Ratified 11/18/97) Netherlands (Ratified 6/30/95) New Zealand (Ratified 7/15/96) Nicaragua (Signed 3/9/93) Niger (Ratified 4/9/97) Nigeria	Norway (Ratified 4/7/94) Oman (Ratified 2/8/95) Pakistan (Ratified 10/28/97) Panama (Signed 6/16/93) Papua New Guinea (Ratified 4/17/96) Paraguay (Ratified 12/1/94) Peru (Ratified 7/20/95) Philippines (Ratified 12/11/96) Poland (Ratified 2/15/95) Portugal (Ratified 9/10/96) Qatar (Ratified 9/3/97) Romania (Ratified 2/15/95) Russian Federation (Ratified 11/5/97) Rwanda (Signed 5/l7/93) Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia (Ratified 8/9/96) Senegal Seychelles (Ratified 4/7/93) Sierra Leone Singapore (Ratified 5/25/97) Slovak Republic (Ratified 10/27/95) Slovenia (Ratified 6/11/97) South Africa (Ratified 9/13/95) Spain (Ratified 8/3/94) Sri Lanka (Ratified 8/19/94) St. Kitts & Nevis (Signed 3/16/94) St. Lucia (Ratified 4/9/97) St. Vincent and The Grenadines (Signed 9/20/93) Suriname (Ratified 4/28/97) Swaziland (Ratified 11/20/96) Sweden (Ratified 6/17/93) Switzerland (Ratified 3/10/95) Tajikistan (Ratified 1/11/95) Tanzania (Signed 2/25/94) Thailand Togo (Ratified 4/23/97) Trinidad and Tobago (Ratified 6/24/97) Tunisia (Ratified 4/15/97) Turkey (Ratified 5/12/97) Turkmenistan (Ratified 9/29/94) Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates (Signed 2/2/93) United Kingdom (Ratified 5/13/96) United States (Ratified 4/25/97) Uruguay (Ratified 10/6/94) Uzbekistan (Ratified 7/23/96) Venezuela (Ratified 12/3/97) Vietnam Yemen (Signed 2/8/93) Zaire Zambia Zimbabwe (Ratified 4/25/97)