From soaps, to fertilizers, to pigments, flame retardants, and more, chemicals underpin global agriculture, medicine, manufacturing, and everyday life. At the same time, some of the same chemicals so foundational to modern life can prove malign – damaging the environment if not managed responsibly, or risking diversion for illicit purposes – illegal manufacturing and trafficking of drugs or explosives, for example, even chemical weapons development.
The availability of weapons or drugs precursor chemicals, especially the “dual-use” chemicals that have legitimate and even vital roles in the global economy, means we need constant vigilance against the illegitimate acquisition and use of such substances. In addition, growth in international chemical trade, valued at $2.39 trillion in 2022, and projected to expand by 2.6 percent a year globally between 2024 and 2031, makes the effort to control the chemical precursors of explosives, narcotics, and chemical weapons one of truly global scope and importance.
A number of international conventions, arrangements, and other legal and political regimes – as well as national legislation – contribute to the framework for the governance of international trade in chemicals for these different purposes. The Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, for example, seek to control the trade in hazardous chemicals and wastes as characterized and listed in Annexes to each Convention, among other objectives. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) controls transfers (as well as production and use) of chemicals covered by its three Schedules. The UN Convention Against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance identifies narcotic precursors and obliges states parties to establish and maintain a system to monitor international trade in those substances. And UN Security Council Resolution 1540 requires all UN member states, among other obligations, to establish export and trans-shipment controls to prevent access by proliferators to chemical and other weapons of mass destruction and related materials. Several voluntary multilateral arrangements complement these legally binding instruments and also feature lists of chemicals and other items of control. The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), for example, a non-binding political understanding among 35 likeminded countries to adhere to a common export policy (the Guidelines) applied to a common list of items that includes propellant chemicals for missiles (fuels, oxidizers, and additives like binders, plasticizers, stabilizers, and burn-rate modifiers). The voluntary Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group also feature lists of chemicals and equipment that members undertake to control for export.
Read the full op-ed on Border Security Report.
