Article VII consists of seven paragraphs. This Article sets forth the obligations of States Parties with regard to their domestic implementation of the Convention and their relationships with other States Parties and the Organization.
Paragraph 1 of Article VII, in three subparagraphs, requires each State Party to, in accordance with its constitutional processes, adopt the necessary measures to implement its obligations under the Convention and, in particular, to prohibit or not permit natural and legal persons from engaging in activities prohibited to a State Party. The purpose of Paragraph 1 is to extend the prohibition on activities by States Parties, primarily the Article I prohibitions on the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer or use of chemical weapons, to activities by private individuals and non–governmental entities, such as corporations. Thus, in addition to each State Party's Article I, paragraph 1(d) obligation not to assist, encourage, or induce anyone to engage in prohibited activities, each State Party has an obligation to take affirmative steps to prevent private individuals and non–governmental entities from engaging in prohibited activities.
Subparagraph 1(a) requires each State Party to prohibit natural and legal persons anywhere on its territory or in any other place under its jurisdiction as recognized by international law from undertaking any activity prohibited to a State Party under the Convention, including enacting penal legislation with respect to such activity. This subparagraph thus governs the activities of private individuals and non–governmental entities, regardless of their nationality, on a State Party's territory or anywhere outside its territory that is nevertheless under its jurisdiction, e.g. ships or aircraft flying its flag.
It is understood that for a State Party to "prohibit" activities it must enact legislation governing the conduct of private individuals and non–governmental entities. The term "penal" was understood by the negotiators to mean that the legislation can be of a criminal, civil and/or administrative nature, so long as penalties are involved.
Subparagraph 1(b) requires each State Party to not permit in any place under its control any activity prohibited to a State Party under the Convention. This subparagraph thus governs the activities of private individuals and non–governmental entities, regardless of their nationality, in places under the State Party's control but not under its jurisdiction, such as occupied territory. To "not permit" is understood to mean to not allow such activities in these places.
Subparagraph 1(c) requires each State Party to extend its penal legislation enacted under subparagraph 1(a) to any activity prohibited to a State Party under the Convention undertaken anywhere by its nationals, in conformity with international law. This means that each State Party must extend the reach of its legislation to include activities conducted by its citizens outside its territory or other places under its jurisdiction.
Note that there is no requirement that such legislation extend extra–territorially to non–governmental entities, such as corporations. This provision represents a compromise between the proponents and opponents of extra–territorial reach for the Convention, and recognizes that nationality of individuals is subject to less dispute than legal entities, such as corporations.
Paragraph 2 of Article VII requires States Parties to co–operate with each other and to accord the appropriate form of legal assistance to facilitate the implementation of the obligations under paragraph 1. The purpose of this paragraph is to require States Parties to work together on the enforcement of their domestic prohibitions on the activities of private individuals and non–governmental entities.
Paragraph 3 of Article VII requires each State Party, during the implementation of its obligations under the Convention, to assign the highest priority to ensuring the safety of people and to protecting the environment, and to cooperating as appropriate with other States Parties in this regard. This paragraph creates a general obligation on the part of each State Party to protect people and the environment from activities that are required under the Convention, an obligation that is repeated in more detail for the destruction of chemical weapons (paragraph 10 of Article IV), for the destruction of chemical weapons production facilities (paragraph 11 of Article V), and for the permitted production of Schedule 1 chemicals (paragraph 7 of Part VI of the Verification Annex).
Paragraph 4 of Article VII requires each State Party to designate or establish a National Authority to serve as the national focal point for effective liaison with the Organization and other States Parties and to notify the Organization of its National Authority when the Convention enters into force for it. The purpose of this paragraph is to facilitate the interaction between a State Party and the Organization or other State Parties regarding implementation of the Convention by ensuring that each State Party will have a central point of contact for such interaction.
Paragraph 5 of Article VII requires each State Party to inform the Organization of the legislative and administrative measures taken to implement this Convention.
Paragraph 6 of Article VII requires each State Party to treat as confidential and afford special handling to information and data that it receives in confidence from the Organization in connection with the implementation of the Convention and to treat such information and data exclusively in connection with its rights and obligations under the Convention and in accordance with the provisions set forth in the Confidentiality Annex. The purpose of this paragraph is to protect information gathered by the Organization, and shared with States Parties for purposes of implementing the Convention, from being used by States Parties for purposes that are not related to the Convention, e.g. providing commercial information to domestic chemical industries to enable them to obtain a competitive advantage. The Confidentiality Annex provides guidelines and principles for handling and releasing such information.
Paragraph 7 of Article VII requires each State Party to cooperate with the Organization in the exercise of all its functions and, in particular, to provide assistance to the Technical Secretariat.