Title 22 — Foreign Relations and IntercourseRelease 119-73not60

§5602 Multilateral Efforts

Title 22 › Chapter 65— CONTROL AND ELIMINATION OF CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS › § 5602

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States must work with other countries to stop the spread of chemical and biological weapons. It will push for bans on selling missiles that can carry chemical or biological warheads, make a fast, worldwide ban on making, using, or storing chemical weapons a top goal, and back international systems to watch and report trade in equipment, materials, and technology that could help make such weapons. The United States will also support multilateral sanctions under United Nations Security Council Resolution 620 against countries that use chemical weapons in violation of international law. The United States will also strengthen controls on chemical agents, precursors, and related equipment by using diplomacy. It will press for a verifiable global ban at the 40-nation Conference on Disarmament and support the Australia Group’s work to stop chemical warfare. It will push complementary steps such as a harmonized export-control list, diplomatic liaisons, closer ties with industry, a public warning list, information-sharing on suspicious suppliers, a denial list of violators, broader cooperation with like-minded countries, and tougher export controls and multilateral sanctions for violators.

Full Legal Text

Title 22, §5602

Foreign Relations and Intercourse — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)It is the policy of the United States to seek multilaterally coordinated efforts with other countries to control the proliferation of chemical and biological weapons. In furtherance of this policy, the United States shall—

(1)promote agreements banning the transfer of missiles suitable for armament with chemical or biological warheads;

(2)set as a top priority the early conclusion of a comprehensive global agreement banning the use, development, production, and stockpiling of chemical weapons;

(3)seek and support effective international means of monitoring and reporting regularly on commerce in equipment, materials, and technology applicable to the attainment of a chemical or biological weapons capability; and

(4)pursue and give full support to multilateral sanctions pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 620, which declared the intention of the Security Council to give immediate consideration to imposing “appropriate and effective” sanctions against any country which uses chemical weapons in violation of international law.

(b)It is also the policy of the United States to strengthen efforts to control chemical agents, precursors, and equipment by taking all appropriate multilateral diplomatic measures—

(1)to continue to seek a verifiable global ban on chemical weapons at the 40 nation Conference on Disarmament in Geneva;

(2)to support the Australia Group’s objective to support the norms and restraints against the spread and the use of chemical warfare, to advance the negotiation of a comprehensive ban on chemical warfare by taking appropriate measures, and to protect the Australia Group’s domestic industries against inadvertent association with supply of feedstock chemical equipment that could be misused to produce chemical weapons;

(3)to implement paragraph (2) by proposing steps complementary to, and not mutually exclusive of, existing multilateral efforts seeking a verifiable ban on chemical weapons, such as the establishment of—

(A)a harmonized list of export control rules and regulations to prevent relative commercial advantage and disadvantages accruing to Australia Group members,

(B)liaison officers to the Australia Group’s coordinating entity from within the diplomatic missions,

(C)a close working relationship between the Australia Group and industry,

(D)a public unclassified warning list of controlled chemical agents, precursors, and equipment,

(E)information-exchange channels of suspected proliferants,

(F)a “denial” list of firms and individuals who violate the Australia Group’s export control provisions, and

(G)broader cooperation between the Australia Group and other countries whose political commitment to stem the proliferation of chemical weapons is similar to that of the Australia Group; and

(4)to adopt the imposition of stricter controls on the export of chemical agents, precursors, and equipment and to adopt tougher multilateral sanctions against firms and individuals who violate these controls or against countries that use chemical weapons.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

22 U.S.C. § 5602

Title 22 — Foreign Relations and Intercourse

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60