Defense and national security

Executive Order 13128: Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention

President: Bill Clinton

Assigned federal responsibilities for implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention and its 1998 implementing statute.

Status: In effect. Is Executive Order 13128 still in effect? Yes. Executive Order 13128 remains in effect. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13128 do?

EO 13128 allocated executive-branch responsibilities for carrying out the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act and the Convention. It designated the Department of State as the U.S. National Authority, assigned the Department of Commerce rulemaking and related implementation functions, and coordinated other federal agencies’ assistance with declarations, monitoring and international inspections. Commerce’s current Chemical Weapons Convention regulations continue to cite the order as authority. The order implements a treaty and statute; it does not itself create a general ban on ordinary chemicals or authorize inspections without the safeguards and legal process required by law.

Administration position: The order allocated implementation duties; the underlying prohibitions, inspection powers and protections come from the treaty, statute and regulations.
SignedJune 25, 1999
Statutory basisChemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998
National AuthorityDepartment of State
Commerce roleRegulations and delegated implementation functions; current regulations cite EO 13128

Before and after

Before the order

Congress had enacted implementing legislation, but presidential functions still needed allocation among agencies.

After the order

Agencies received defined responsibility for declarations, inspections, regulations, assistance and enforcement.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Department of StateServe as U.S. National Authority and coordinate Convention implementationContinuing statutory and treaty responsibilities
Department of CommerceIssue regulations and administer delegated reporting, monitoring and inspection functionsUnder current regulations
Other agenciesAssist within their assigned statutory responsibilitiesAs required

What happened next

Congress enacted the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act.

EO 13128 assigned implementation responsibilities.