Speaker
Murat Gulay
(OPCW)
Description
The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) entered into force in 1997 and the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) have obligations for making declarations under various articles of the convention. These declarations could contain confidential information and until recently the only mechanism to submit confidential information to the OPCW Technical Secretariat was through physical delivery by the permanent representatives of the member states which introduced delays in the exchange of information in general.
In 2012, the Technical Secretariat initiated a strategic project to establish a secure electronic transmission channel that could be used as an alternative option for the exchange of information between the Technical Secretariat and the member states. The Secure Information Exchange (SIX) Project has been given priority by the Director-General and it received support from the member states. A core project team comprising representatives of the main business unit, the office of legal affairs, IT security and implementation teams were established. Following a feasibility study and with continuous communication with the representatives of the member states, the pilot phase of the project was completed successfully in 2013. In the near future, the project will go live and the member states and the Technical Secretariat will benefit from this key initiative.
This paper aims to provide an overview of the project: the solution approach, data gathered in order to assess the delays in communication through traditional means, IT security and implementation issues as well as the legal considerations.
| Country or International Organization | OPCW |
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Primary author
Murat Gulay
(OPCW)
Co-author
Goran Milenkovic
(OPCW)
