In 1994 steady progress was made towards implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention, although the pace was slower than originally expected. Only 19 states had ratified the CWC by 31 December 1994, making it impossible for the Convention to enter into force on 13 January 1995. The Preparatory Commission for the CWC continued work on procedures related to declarations and verification. The national implementation experiences of states which have ratified the CWC have shown that establishing the legal and organizational framework is more time-consuming and expensive than expected. The 1994 regional seminars provided information about the national preparations in several signatory states. In 1995 significantly more states are expected to ratify the CWC.

The parties to the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) are increasingly interested in strengthening it by legally binding measures, and a relatively large number of states participated in a Special Conference held in September 1994 to evaluate the report submitted by the Ad Hoc Group of Governmental Experts to identify and examine potential verification measures from a scientific and technical standpoint (VEREX). Opinions vary about the feasibility of verification measures and their value in increasing confidence in the BWC. The Special Conference established an Ad Hoc Group, open to all states parties to consider a variety of measures to strengthen the BWC. The Group first met in January 1995 and will hold two more meetings in 1995.

In 1994 the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq (UNSCOM) continued its activities in Iraq to fulfil its mandated obligations, and the destruction of all CW and chemical agents was completed. UNSCOM does not expect that any single element of its system to monitor Iraq's compliance with its obligations not to reacquire proscribed weapons will, operated in isolation, provide sufficient assurance that a clandestine proscribed programme would be quickly detected. However, the system is designed, as a multi-layered whole, to provide such assurance. UNSCOM will continue to develop and evaluate the system in the early months of 1995. Depending on the level of Iraqi cooperation, UNSCOM should be able to judge the effectiveness of the system soon after all its components are in place.