Article IV: Each State Party to this Convention shall, in accordance with its constitutional processes, take any necessary measures to prohibit and prevent the development, production, stockpiling, acquisition or retention of the agents, toxins, weapons, equipment and means of delivery specified in Article I of the Convention, within the territory of such State, under its jurisdiction or under its control anywhere.
To fully implement the Biological Weapons Convention, its States Parties are obliged to translate the commitments found in the Convention into effective national action. These necessary measures depend on the circumstances and legal systems of each State Party, with contextualized approaches taken to implement provisions on a national level. Information on common understandings reached by States Parties can be found in the respective meeting reports available on Meetings Place.
National Contact Points
States Parties should designate National Contact Points to improve implementation efforts. These National Contact Points are individuals or entities responsible for:
Coordinating national implementation and communicating with other States Parties and relevant international organizations.
To assist States Parties in this task, the Implementation Support Unit has developed a nomination form for National Points of Contact and makes the contact details of all designated National Contact Points available to all States Parties on a separate, restricted access page. Further information about access to the page can be obtained from the Implementation Support Unit.
UNODA provides dedicated capacity-building to NCPs, whilst creating means and opportunities for dialogue and exchange of information on the national implementation of the BWC among the NCPs, including the sharing of best practices.